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Your Facebook profile is the web page other members will see if they look you up. It gives people an idea about who you are and what your interests include. Facebook assumes that many of the people with whom you’ll want to connect work for the same company went to the same school or live in the same town as you.

To make it easier to find friends both old and new, Facebook gathers information about you and everyone else to create a dense network of contacts. The upside is that you’ll be able to see old classmates or coworkers who have Facebook accounts; the downside is that everyone else in that network will be able to find you. You can choose not to answer questions or to adjust privacy settings so that others can’t find you, but that tends to defeat the purpose of a social networking site. ­(Source: Facebook)

More importantly, here are a few key reasons why your business or organisation needs a “Facebook business page”:

SEO (Search Engine Optimization):

Facebook Business Pages are indexed by Search Engines.  Personal pages… not so much.   In this day and age, with the unfathomable amount of pages and websites on the Internet, you need to be doing everything possible to improve your online visibility.  A well constructed and engaging “Facebook Business Page” will go a long way in helping make up for what your website is not currently doing for you.

“Friends” verses “Likes” or “Fans”:

There is NO limit on the number of fans… or people who can “Like” your Facebook business page. However, there’s a cap on the number of “Friends” you can have on a profile page.  That cap is 5,000. Do you really want to set limitations like that?

One “Profile” many “Business Pages”:

You can have multiple business pages… however, you can have only one profile page.  Why is this important?  Think outside the box for a moment.  What if you’re a real estate agent by day… and you’re a Karaoke Deejay by night.  Nope… didn’t make that example up!   Or perhaps you own a small Bed & Breakfast, but you also own a consignment shop in town. Point is… you can manage multiple, yet individual, Facebook business pages… all within one Facebook account.

Statistics and Monitoring Activity:

Everyone loves statistics… hits… visits… etc.  Facebook Business Pages have such a thing.  It’s called “Insights”.  These powerful statistics display in a graph format and include “Page Overview”, “User”, and “Interactions”.  How many people viewed your posts?  How many people “Liked” your posts, photos, or videos?  How many people have “Liked” or  “Commented” on those?  How many people “Liked” your page on a certain day?  And much more!  This information is invaluable when it comes to making your Facebook Business page more useful, engaging, and successful!  There’s no such information available on a profile page.

“Landing Pages” and additional “Tabs”:

Technology exists now for you to turn a Facebook business page into a mini website.  For example, you could integrate an interactive business directory or events calendar right into your Facebook business page.  You could introduce an additional tab which might have printable coupons and special “Facebook Only” promotions.   This is impossible with a personal page.

I think sending a friend request is a good process for growing a Facebook profile.