How do I access my business Facebook page?

This could be one of the most common questions clients ask me.  The short answer is…before you can claim that you own a business, Facebook wants to know you’re a real-live human being.

You can’t create a business page from scratch. It must be connected to your personal account. This is Facebook’s policy, not ours. And really, it’s for your protection. It’s to safeguard users from the spammers out there. Think of it from that perspective. Would you want to be getting posts and advertisements from a business owned by someone not willing to show their face? Of course not. But that doesn’t mean that you must be an avid ‘Facebooker’ to have a business page. You just need to prove to Facebook that you have a pulse, live in a real town, and that you are claiming ownership of your business.

And because business pages do not have their own specific logins, that personal account is going to be your access to your business Facebook page. And if we are creating or managing your business page, we will need to connect you to your business page via that personal account.

So, if I create a personal account, do I need to post on it to get access to my business page?

No. It’s not necessary for you to consistently post to your personal account to maintain your business page. But you will need to make sure your personal account is set up properly to enable Facebook to authenticate your account before you or I can create your business page. You’re going to need:

• A personal email address (not info@ or support@, etc)
• Personal information such as your name, location, and your birthdate
• A profile picture
• And a post or two in the beginning

All combined this helps prove that the account is being created by a human being and not a robot. Without these things, your account will look spammy to Facebook and we can’t help you create and post on a business page.

You don’t need to post on a regular schedule, but we do recommend that you post to your personal page occasionally to prevent getting put in ‘Facebook Jail’ (meaning your account is frozen and you’re not able to continue posting or engaging).

Once I have my personal account set up, how do I give you or my team access to post on the business page?

I want to reassure you that just because your personal account is technically connected to your business page, that does not mean that people who have access to your business page can post or have any control of your personal account. You’re safe there!

Speaking of access…this is probably the most important thing I want to share with you regarding your business page security. There are three different permission levels you can assign to someone and knowing the appropriate level of access is crucial to ensuring your business page is safe and secure.

• Moderator – limited access. A moderator can respond and engage but they can’t post. They can remove subscribers from the page if necessary.
• Editor – mid-range access. An editor can post, respond, and engage on the page but can’t change the privacy settings or add/change page roles. They do have permission to change information about the business. e.g. business hours, company information, and page setup details.
• Admin – Full access to everything. The key here is that one admin can remove another admin so in reality, the only people that should have this level of access is you and your trusted marketing agency.

Get a full breakdown of permission levels here: https://www.facebook.com/help/289207354498410

I have seen several clients who have given Admin level permission to an employee, a family member, their spouse, or a less than credible marketing representative. And then the employee leaves or they come to us for their marketing, or sadly they have marital issues, and they suddenly find their page has been ‘hijacked’ as a result of the estranged relationships.

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ADMIN LEVEL ACCESS TO ALL YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS!

Make a list of all your social media accounts along with the current login and password information. Write them down and keep them in a secure place.

hint: a post-it-note in your desk drawer is not secure

Twitter and Instagram are different animals altogether; you do not need to have a personal account to create a business page. You simply need a login and password to create and access a business page.

I always advise a client to change the passwords to all their social media channels immediately if they terminate an employee. Especially for Twitter and Instagram since you are not able to limit access all along.

Bottom line, you need a personal account to access your business page but making sure the right people have the right access and the wrong people don’t is your big take away here.