Facebook started out as a way for individual members to interact with each other. But many members have business interests and want the opportunity to promote their business to other members. Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages are two ways you can use to promote a cause, point of view, product or service.
What is a Facebook Page?
A “Facebook Page” is also sometimes referred to as a “Fan Page” or a “Business Page”. The reason you would create a Facebook Page is to allow you to focus on a specific topic or cause. Usually it is for the promotion of a brand, product, organization, band or celebrity.
As Howard Greenstein points out in this article about Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups both of these things (pages and groups) can be used as part of a promotional strategy, but the difference between them can be confusing. It doesn’t help that Facebook has made regular changes to the way Pages works.
Anyone with a personal Facebook profile can create a Page. It has some of the features of a regular Facebook account. A Page can have “friends” – previously referred to as “fans”. It also has a wall that friends (fans) can post on. But unlike an individual page which can have only 5000 friends, a Facebook Page can have an unlimited number.
It is also fairly important that “friends” don’t have to be individually approved or accepted by the admin of the Page. They are more like “followers” in the Twitter sense. That makes it quite a bit easier to get friends for your Page.
The Page owner can enter updates which then show on the page as well as on each friend’s wall if they have set it to allow that. This is the primary way a Page owner can communicate with the friends of the Page.
What is a Group?
A Facebook Group is something like a club in the offline world. A Group can be open to anyone to join, or its membership can be tightly controlled by the administrator.
The Group’s content is also directly associated with the Group administrator. The Group is a sort of extension of the administrator. Group admins can also send messages to group members (maximum 5000) which then show up in their inboxes. This is not the case with Pages.
Differences and Uses
Groups tend to be set up for personal interaction. The Group interface is also not as versatile as that in Pages. For example, Facebook applications cannot be added to a Group.
Groups tend to be better for personal or group causes – e.g., Save The West Montrose Kissing Bridge. Pages, on the other hand are better for building brand recognition, promoting your business or band, or interacting with your fans.
It is also interesting that when you initially set up a Page you are asked to specify whether your Page is for
- Local Business
- Brand, product, or organization
- Artist, band, or public figure
This is an acknowledgment by Facebook that Pages are especially appropriate for local business owners.
More resources:
Creating a Facebook Business Page
8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page – includes samples of some successful pages.
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