By Erika Icon

YNOT EUROPE – Businesses have business pages on Facebook and people have personal profiles and never the twain shall meet, right?

Wrong. If you’re a performer or other creative professional who uses your name as part of your business identity, you may need both kinds of Facebook presences. Or, you may want to consider turning your personal profile into a business page.

Business pages can be amazing marketing tools. They can do things personal profiles can’t.

Analytics
Facebook Insights is one of the biggest benefits attached to business pages, and it’s free. The analysis of traffic to your page indicates how many people visit, where they live, who they engage with and what types of products they find relevant. Details like that are priceless for any business.

Friends vs. Likes
The audience for a personal profile is capped at 5,000 “friends,” but there is no limit to the number of “likes” a business page can collect. Although a 5,000-person audience might seem like an impossible dream, you’d be surprised how quickly fans accrue. Remember: “Friending” someone counts in both parties’ totals; “likes” don’t count against anyone. Fans may like as many business pages as they wish without worrying they’ll use up all their markers.

Conversations
People with personal pages can — and frequently do — yammer on about their kids and cats, but that’s what personal pages are for: keeping up with friends and family. You may not want your friends and family to know about your work in the adult industry. In addition, business pages are ideal for connecting to specific demographics, which probably don’t include your 80-year-old grandmother and definitely shouldn’t include your nieces and nephews. A business page gives you the means to create engaging, relevant content that speaks directly to your target market without worrying what the next-door-neighbors will think.

In 2011, Facebook introduced the ability to change a personal page into a business page. It’s easier than you might think to make the switch. Log into your Facebook account and then navigate to this link, which will walk you through the steps.

Be aware that all of your Facebook friends (and family) will be attached to the new business page, so you might want to spend some time deleting anyone you don’t want in your business community. You can always start a new personal page, and then send and email explaining what’s up.

Also be aware that migrating from personal to business is irreversible. Back up your content, photos, messages and friend lists before making the change, just in case something goes haywire.

Consider separating your professional and personal lives, at least on Facebook. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.