At this point in the digital age, we all know how to make a Facebook profile (heck, you’ve probably been on Facebook for so long, you don’t even remember making your profile anymore). However, many of us are less familiar with the process of creating Facebook Pages, or have never been faced with the need to make one. If you’re a nonprofit with some awesome social impact goals, then you probably do have the need for a Facebook Page. If you already have a profile with followers or information that’s tied to your organization, you may have to start from scratch – but there are some tricks to help avoid starting at 0.
This can be complicated because you have to message the change of a profile page into a page, if you are a social impact organization find a professional marketer to help.
Why would I need to convert a Facebook profile into a Page?
Well, first of all, it’s breaking the Facebook terms of service to use a profile to represent anything other than yourself (i.e., your nonprofit). If you use a personal profile to represent a business and don’t convert it into a Facebook Page instead, you could permanently lose access to your account.
There are also a ton of perks to creating a Facebook Page for your organization: If you convert your Facebook profile into a Page, you’ll have access to Facebook Insights (yay for useful data!), have the chance to share admin access with your colleagues, and be able to create Facebook ads. Even if you’re comfortable with the layout of your profile, a Facebook Page is definitely the better tool for your organization.
Caution, if you are hoping to click a button and move all your friends to a page with likes it isn’t going to work. You are able to make your profile page into something that is more like an influencer page, allowing people to follow your posts – here is a video on making these updates.
How to convert a profile into a Page
The goal for you will be to update your current profile to something that doesn’t violate Facebook TOS and use that profile to build the reputation of your new page through posts/events/FB Live and other communication tactics. Take the following steps to convert your Facebook profile into a Page (note that you must be logged in to your Facebook account):
- Go to Create a Facebook Page Base on Your Profile
- Click “Get Started”
- Follow the on-screen instructions — you will choose the correct categories for your Page, and decide which of your friends, photos, and videos you want to retain
- Review your choices
- Look at the “Publish Page when done” setting — turn this setting “off” if you do not want your Page to publish automatically once converted
- Check your privacy settings
- Begin your marketing strategy to promote the new page (posts/events/FB Live)
Converting your Facebook profile into a Page used to something that was easy to do, but times change and Meta can be a real pain in the face book… Hopefully you’ll be on your way to a better social media strategy and more connections with your customers and supporters. Remember you can find social media experts to help with this at Nonprofit.ist – the trusted network for nonprofit organizations.
Online Course
Social Media for Social Impact
Become your own social media marketing expert!
After upgrading your Profile to a page
The full power of targeting your actual audience with ads is now possible with Facebook ads. We recommend using a Business.facebook.com account connected to your profile to do this!
Once you have your Facebook page, consider how you can use AI content writing tools to help make posts for your organization.
Want to take your nonprofit’s Facebook presence to the next level? Discover how to win at Facebook advertising, learn the do’s and don’ts of Facebook fundraising, and check out our other resources on managing social media. Don’t forget to share your own Facebook tips and tricks with us @WholeWhale!