Facebook added the ability to convert your Personal Profile Page to a business page. The business pages use to be called “Fan Pages.” Although Facebook has officially changed the name, many of us still refer to them as Fan Pages.
This is great news for people who incorrectly setup a personal page as a business page. Setting up and maintaining a profile for anything other than an individual person is a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights & Responsibilities. If you don't convert your profile to a page you will run the risk of permanently losing access to the profile and all of the associated content.
Below are details you need to know about converting your personal page to a business page. I have included direct links to the Facebook help section and instructions for converting the profile. I highly encourage you to review all of the associated material BEFORE converting your page. It is a permanent action. Do NOT expect help from Facebook if you inadvertently convert a page.
The Scenario:
1. You were new to Facebook and didn't understand the terms and conditions. You setup a Personal Profile as a business page.
2. The second possibility is that you did understand the Facebook terms and conditions but chose to setup a Personal Profile as your business profile anyway. You assumed the risk and knew at some point you would have to deal with the situation. Well, that time is now friends.
How to Know if You Have a Business Page or a Personal Profile?
The number #1 way you can tell if your page is a personal profile and not an official business page is if you can send and accept friend requests. Only personal profiles are enabled to send and receive friend requests. Business pages can only have “likes”.
How to Convert Your Personal Profile to a Business Page:
1. Review the Facebook Help Section on this Topic here
2. Notify the friends of your personal profile page that you will be converting the page to a business page as required by Facebook terms and conditions.
3. Make a back-up of your personal profile information prior to the conversion. All of your personal profile information will not be transferred to the new business page nor saved by default. It is your responsibility to save and back-up this information if you want to keep a copy. You can learn how to back-up and copy the information here.
4. Complete the conversion process paying close attention to every detail. The conversion is permanent and you will lose data during conversion if you do not perform a back-up.
5. Develop and execute a marketing, engagement and post-like plan on your new business page that supports your business goals and objectives. Remember, it's what happens after the like that matters. You may need to work to keep some of your prior “friends” as “likers.” Communication is key in providing value for them to continue to “like” your new business page.
6. Don't forget to change any redirect urls and domains you had pointing to your personal page. Make note also of any business cards, email signatures, social networks which included the old url path.
Why Convert the Personal Profile Page You Have Been Using as a Business Page to an Official Facebook Business Page?
1. Maintaining the business page as a personal profile is a violation of Facebook's Statement of Rights & Responsibilities.
2. If you don't convert your page to a business page you increase your risk of permanently losing all of your content and access to the page all together.
What Happens Upon Conversion?
1. All of your profile pictures will be transferred to the new business page.
2. All of your content will NOT be transferred to the new business page. Information such as photo albums, profile information will not be transferred.
3. All of your friends on the personal page will automatically become “likers” on the new business page.
4. The account associated with your old personal profile will be converted to a business account.
5. The business account will be the sole admin of your new page until you add another admin.
What Personal Information is Downloaded During the Back-Up Process?
- Personal profile information (groups, information, interests, contacts etc.)
- Photos & videos
- Wall posts
- Status updates
- Content that your friends have uploaded
- Friend lists
- Notes
- Messages sent and received
- Events that you have RSVPd for
- Comments you have received and made on walls, photos etc.
Success Tips & Important Reminders:
1. The conversion is permanent.
2. You can NOT transfer your personal profile page to an existing business page (fan page).
3. If you are using a personal page as a business page, I highly encourage you to complete the conversion to a business page. I have seen many people lose their pages due to breaking the terms of personal vs. business pages. Don't risk it! It is better to do it when you are in control than if Facebook decides to do it for you!
3. Do a back-up of your Facebook personal profile information here. Your personal profile photos, videos and other information will be gone forever unless you download a back-up copy!
4. Communicate the change to your business “friends” prior to making the change. They will become automatic “likers” of your business page once you convert. I encourage you to let them know they will automatically “like” your page upon the conversion.
5. Do a check of your photos and other information to confirm if you want it to appear as part of your business page.
6. None of your personal engagement as a personal profile page will be saved. Your comments, wall posts will be gone forever.
7. Know that you may lose some “friends/likers” on the new page once they find out about the conversion. I for one know that I may have accepted a friend request when I was new to Facebook. It could be the person has moved jobs, started a new business. It is not guaranteed that I genuinely want to “like” the page. Do not take offense if you lose people. Value and support their decisions regardless.
8. Note, this feature is not intended for those with a personal page to decide it's now their business page. Just because I am your friend on your personal page doesn't mean you should decide you are now going to take advantage of that fact and make your “liker.” I highly encourage you to really think about this decision. It may seem like a little decision now but it does involve ethics. People have trusted you with being their friend. Do not take advantage of that trust. If you have thought about creating a business page to promote your business then that might be the best option. This feature is perfect for those who have broken Facebook terms and have two personal profiles, one of which they are using for business.
Additional Resources:
Facebook Help Regarding the Conversion
Facebook Help for Back-up Your Personal Profile Information
Download Your Personal Profile Information from This Page
Facebook Definition of a Business Accounts Note this is different than a “business page.”
Facebook's Statement of Rights & Responsibilitie
Pam, I so needed this!!! thanks so much for sharing!!! i know i’ll questions! i’ll be back!
I need to do this, but I’m SO nervous! I’m worried that I mess it up. :-(
Renee – just make sure you make a back-up and follow the steps. Do not skip any steps! Let me know if you get stuck or if I can help. Read all the FAQs in the links I provided, print out the directions etc. Educate yourself as much as you can on the process and do it when you can have focused time with no interruptions. You can do it! :) Let me know if you get stuck.
What if I already set up a business page under my personal account? Will I lose my business page?
Amanda – what do you mean by a business page? It is an official business page that can get only “likes” and you set it up under your personal account that you are using for business? I want to make sure I understand your question before I answer.
Yes, Pam. That is correct. Thanks for any insight you can provide!
I’m in the same boat as Amanda. I already have a fan/business page (as well as a profile) under my account. What happens to my existing fans if i make the conversion?
Pam, are you able to help on this?
HI, I’m one of those that shuold have to convert my facebook personal profile into a business profile. Do you know how to convert it step by step? Where can I find the way?? (I speak Spanish as first language…) Thanks a lot.
Eleonora
Hello Eleonara. The steps and links are all included in this post. I highly encourage you to follow the steps here and listed on the Facebook pages I provided as links in the post above. Do not skip any steps and ensure you do a back-up! Let me know if I can help or if you get stuck.
Hope this helps :)
Pam
i have create my page, but i have no like’s what’s the problem???
Hi Pam. I have been looking for this info for a while. Thanks for posting. I actually did the download to backup my personal profile info last night. FB said that I will receive an email notifying me when my download had been completed. I went ahead and created a business page immediately after. This morning I got an email from FB that the download had failed and to do it again. Fortunately, my original page is still available so I was able to do the download again but still waiting for a confirmation email. Any idea why the download is failing? Will my original page be deleted automatically or do I have to do something? Also, after I receive my downloaded info (hopefully it works), can I upload this all to my new business page? Thanks for your help!
Im so glad to see facebook doing this. Too many business are incorrectly using profiles instead of pages. Thanks for outlining how to go about making the switch.
Great post,
Dave
[…] profile as a business page, you can easily switch over without losing your contacts. Click here to learn more about how to convert your personal profile to a business […]
i downloaded all my info from facebook. it downloaded all my albums as a file and as a web link. then i changed my account to a page. everything worked well. now my problem is that all my albums have disappeared, now do i have to reload all those albums again? reason why i ask is because when i did the download facebook gave me a web link for all the albums. where is those pics when i click the link. when i did the download facebook gave me a web link for all the albums. where is those pics when i click the link.i downloaded all my info from facebook. it downloaded all my albums as a file and as a web link. then i changed my account to a page. everything worked well. now my problem is that all my albums have disappeared, now do i have to reload all those albums again? reason why i ask is because when i did the download facebook gave me a web link for all the albums. where is those pics when i click the link. when i did the download facebook gave me a web link for all the albums. where is those pics when i click the link.
This was a HUGE help. Thanks so much. We did a google search just now and found your post!
Hi Pam, Thanks for the informatin. Do I understand you correctly when I say that I can’t have both a personal and
business profiles?
Thanks,
Sigal Grosvirt-Dramen
No, you can have a personal profile (Only one of them) and as many business pages as you want.
Quick question: I was under the understanding that you NEEDED to have a personal ‘profile’ in order to create a business ‘page’ from?
and that you cannot have a business ‘page’ independent from your personal profile (in other words, they must be connected and also you have to use your personal profile to create a business ‘page’ from. ?
Is this not correct? In this conversion process you describe, are you deleting your personal profile altogether?
I have a personal profile, in which I used to create a business page, they are both linked and I hate that, I am constantly switching from one to another, trying not to get business and personal mixed is difficult.
If possible, I would LOVE to remove my personal profile from my business ‘page’ and separate them.
1) Do I have to have a personal profile attached to my business page?
2) Can I have a business page completely separate from my personal profile?
3) Yipee if so, and if this is possible, how can I separate the 2, I do not need to forward any information from one to another, just separate them so there is no question which profile I am on.
Thanks a ton for answering this!
Debbie
Prior to reading this article, I was going to setup another Facebook page for my business. And, I thought I was faced with the same issue expressed in the comment by Debbie. Constantly moving back and forth between the two. Then I read your article and have now completed the download but have not converted my personal page to a business page.
My concern is the last part of your article under step (8) “this feature is not intended for those with a personal page to decided it’s now their business page”. That is exactly my situation. I use my business email address on my personal Facebook page. I also post my business blogs on my personal Facebook page. My question is, should I convert my personal Facebook page to a business page, or change my personal Facebook page to my personal email address and setup a separate business Facebook account? Or, convert my existing personal profile to an official Facebook business page?
HELP!
why does the URL path change? It is not allowing me to use my old username, yet when I type my old url with that username, it says there is no such page… can I get that old url to point to my new page?
Yes, I would put in a request to Facebook. You should be able to get it changed eventually via their support systems.
@PamMktgNut “Yes, I would put in a request to Facebook”
Pam, what would be the best way to request that?
Hi @TunicoVieira This has happened to us too. Our URL has been lost and it doesnt seem that the profile has been converted to a page successfully either. . Have tried emailing facebook support but just get a generic email returned. Any one else any ideas? My URL is now unavailable to select and comes up page not found when I type it in the address bar. Susan
The same happened to me!
My previous URL and username disappeared after converting my Personal Account to a Facebook Page, though Facebook states that “Your username will become your Page’s username” (https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=158425527557312)
Josie, how did you managed to get your username back?
Hi
I did everything as described above, but something went wrong I guess. I converted my personal page into a fan page, and my friend didn’t become “likes”. So I lost 1400 fans. Did I something wrong? Are my friends somewhere? Thanks a lot!
I have the same problem. I had close to 2000 friends and only 1337 of them were converted. The rest I seem to manually need to invite (there’s a panel on the right where the friends who weren’t converted are located). It’s kind of a pain, really.
Pam – once you complete the backup and the new account is created (I assume Facebook “transfers” your profile to your new business page) is there an option to upload all of your previous wall posts, pictures, ect…? So essentially nothing will have changed except for the switch and all will look the same in the way of photos, wall posts, ect?
@JoyfulJamie No, all of your photos, videos will be lost. You will need to upload them again. Sorry not better news.
@PamMktgNut @JoyfulJamie Hello Pam, Super helpful post! So once the conversion process is complete, is the new “fan” page blank? If not, what’s included? Thanks!
I have recently converted my profile to a page to turn my friends into likes for advertising purposes. However now i have set up a sponsored story to target the friends of likes however the targeted audience is only showing 20 people. I have over 700 likes. Please help as the only reason i converted to a page was for likes and so i could advertise to the people they are friends with. Please help
Hi, thanks for this! Is there a way to keep the the photo albums and video’s from your personal page on your business page? I am busy backing up my page up right now, but can I somehow re-upload them to the business page?
I accidentally set up a personal page and need to convert it to a business page. I also have the wrong name on the page, it should be our company name, not the person’s name I’m setting this up for. So, when I followed the link to have FB convert the page, I clicked on convert and nothing happened. I do not have any pictures or things to back up as I just set this up. What’s going on?
i did exectly as you wrote but the transfer didnt happened
a “create a page” page is open but when i follow throgh it creat a new page and not converting my profile also in many youtube video they show that in a process there is a worning that “you are now converting …”but it dose not show it
what went worng? thanks
@ShmilAtlas Did you get this straightened out? I just had a colleague use this process last week and it worked. It depends on how your profile was setup & how you setup your new page. Are you sure you followed directions? You should have for sure received a warning. The warning happens at the very beginning of the process. Did you download your videos, photos etc. during the process?
Hi,
I converted my profile with over 5000 friends into Artist page and now i have only 381 fans and nothing else was transfered… I can’t get facebook to answer me. What should I do? Please help…
@BajkinNemanja I would contact their support line. Once you kickoff the support process there are sometimes phone numbers given. I know I have been able to call them directly before even on a weekend when dealing with brand issues.
I would have to see your page, login with the admin logon and know more about your account to help you much more than this. Sorry! Good luck!
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Pam,
I accidentally created a FB account with my name. I want this to be a biz account so am starting over. I understand that I cannot delete the original account even thought it’s had no activity because I was still learning and didn’t make ti public. What steps do I take now? I thought I could just change the name on the account from my name to my biz name but that is not possible. Please help me. The email address (below) is my business email address–Healthful Cooking, which I use to sign in on my biz account. I have a separate personal account in my name.
well, the converting personal page to biz page was as helpful as mud. If I understood Facebook’s instructions I wouldn’t have been looking for yours now would I? Guess anything goes to get traffic, eh?
Hi my name Is Athanasios, I produce and present a radio program called the Inner Voice on Global Digital on Monday’s 7 PM – 8 PM, broadcast through 4 EB, Brisbane, should I set up a Facebook Business or Personal page to promote my unique program, thank you if you can be of help.
Regards
Athanasios J Kallis
Hi Pam,
I have recently converted a personal profile to a business account following the instructions given on this and various platforms. It didn’t seem to work properly as my friends did not get converted to likes and I currently have no likes.
Do you know how to fix this or do you think it will be converted later?
I’m not too worried about the other data (profile pics etc.) being transferred but did this with the sole purpose to still be able to reach these contacts.
Any help or advise would be great.
Thanks,
Sahan
hello,
This topic is a bit old, but I have a very big problem, maybe you could help me….
I have two page for the same buisness, the pages name just have a difference with some space between words. But to marge them it seems that they have to be exactly the same. But when I try to change a page name facebook tells me that I can’t cauz I already own a page with this name…. :/
Thanks