Since every business knows they need to have profiles on social networking sites, a question that often comes up is- What’s the difference between a Facebook page and a profile? According to Facebook’s rules, there is a clear distinction between profiles and pages: profiles are only for individuals, and pages are for businesses.

In fact, using a profile to represent a business is against Facebooks TOS (terms of service) and can result in your profile being banned. Here are some other key differences:

• Business pages allow other users to become fans, but access to the individuals profile page is limited.
• Business pages do not allow you to invite friends. Pages do not have ‘friends’, they have ‘fans’.
• Business pages allow you to update your status, which fans see in their news feed.
• Business pages also allow pictures, videos, discussion board, wall posts, groups, apps, and other interactive bits.

Here’s the relevant part of Facebook’s official policy  on profiles and pages:

Facebook profiles are meant to represent a single individual. Organizations of any type are not permitted to maintain an account under the name of their organization. We have created Facebook Pages to allow organizations to have a presence on Facebook. These Pages are distinct presences, separate from user profiles, and optimized for an organization’s needs to communicate, distribute information/content, engage their fans, and capture new audiences virally through their fan’s recommendations to their friends. Facebook Pages are designed to be a media rich, valuable presence for any artist, business or brand.

If you create a profile for your business, your account may be disabled for violating our Terms of Use. If you have questions about how to best leverage your Facebook Page, please check out our Insider’s Guide or FAQ.

UPDATE: Here’s Facebook’s own instructions for converting your profile to a page.

Now that you know the difference between pages and profiles, go ahead and create your Facebook page now. Or, if you want a professionally designed Facebook business page with a custom lead capture app set up for you, click here to learn more about our Social Media Marketing solutions.

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