How to Change a Facebook Account to Business

Ready to get serious about your brand on Facebook? Using a personal profile for your business limits your growth, hides valuable data about your audience, and mixes your private life with your professional world. This guide walks you through the current and correct ways to establish a professional presence on Facebook, either by creating a dedicated Business Page or by switching your personal profile to Professional Mode. We’ll cover the difference between the two, show you how to set each one up, and give you the next steps to start growing your brand the right way.

Why You Need More Than a Personal Profile for Your Business

You might be getting decent engagement using your regular Facebook profile, so why change? Operating as a business on a platform designed for business gives you access to a completely different set of tools built specifically for growth, marketing, and sales.

Here’s what you unlock when you move beyond a personal account:

• Access to Facebook Insights: This is the big one. A personal profile tells you very little about who is interacting with your content. A Business Page or Professional Mode profile, however, gives you detailed analytics. You can see your audience's demographics (age, gender, location), learn which posts get the most engagement, and track your page's reach over time. This data is essential for understanding what's working so you can do more of it.
• Professional Tools and Features: Business-focused accounts get access to advertising tools (like Facebook Ads Manager), the ability to add a call-to-action button (“Book Now,” “Shop Now,” “Contact Us”), and options to schedule posts directly on the platform or through third-party tools. Pages can also link to a shop, list services, and enable appointment booking.
• Professionalism and Credibility: A dedicated Business Page separates your brand from your personal life. It signals to potential customers that you are a legitimate operation. It also allows multiple people on your team to manage the page without needing your personal login information.
• Unlimited Audience Growth: Personal profiles are capped at 5,000 friends. Facebook Pages, on the other hand, can have an unlimited number of likes and followers, giving you infinite room to grow your community.

The Two Paths to a Business Presence: Page vs. Professional Mode

Years ago, Facebook allowed a direct conversion from a personal profile to a Business Page. That feature is long gone. Today, you have two distinct options for creating a business presence, and choosing the right one depends entirely on your goals.

Path 1: The Facebook Business Page (The Classic Choice)

A Facebook Business Page is a separate entity that you manage from your personal profile. Think of your personal profile as the key and your Business Page as the storefront. They are connected, but your personal activity remains private and doesn't appear on your business page.

Who is a Business Page for?

• Businesses with a physical location (shops, restaurants, offices)
• Brands, products, and services (e-commerce, software, consulting firms)
• Organizations, non-profits, and communities
• Any business that plans to run ads or wants multiple team members to manage the account.

The takeaway: If you are building a brand that is separate from you as a person, a Business Page is the way to go. It offers the most comprehensive set of business tools.

Path 2: Professional Mode (For Creators and Public Figures)

Professional Mode is a newer setting that adds a suite of professional tools directly to your existing personal profile. When you turn it on, your “Friends” become “Followers,” and you gain access to post insights, monetization features (like Stars and ad revenue sharing), and a professional dashboard. Your personal content remains visible, but your profile now functions more like a public creator page.

Who is Professional Mode for?

• Content creators, artists, and musicians
• Public figures, thought leaders, and influencers
• Journalists, coaches, or anyone building a personal brand

The takeaway: If your business is you, and you want to build a public following around your name and expertise without creating a separate brand identity, Professional Mode is an excellent choice. It leverages your existing connections and focuses on audience growth and monetization.

How to Create a Facebook Business Page (Step-by-Step)

Creating a new Business Page is the recommended method for most businesses, brands, and organizations. It provides a clean slate and the full suite of marketing tools.

Here’s how to set it up:

1. Find the "Create a Page" Option: Log in to your personal Facebook profile. In the left-hand menu, click "Pages." On the Pages screen, look for a button that says “Create new Page.” You can also access this from the main menu (the grid of nine dots in the top right corner).
2. Enter Your Page Information: You’ll be prompted to fill in three main fields:
   • Page Name: This is your business name. Make it recognizable and easy to find.
   • Category: Start typing what your business does (e.g., "Restaurant," "Marketing Agency," "Clothing Brand"). You can select up to three categories. This helps Facebook show your page to relevant audiences.
   • Bio (Optional but Recommended): Write a short, powerful sentence that explains what your business does and for whom.
   After filling this out, click "Create Page."
3. Add Your Contact and Location Details: On the next screen, you can add your website, phone number, email address, physical address, and hours of operation. Fill out as much as you can. The more complete your profile, the more trustworthy and professional your Page will feel to visitors.
4. Upload Profile and Cover Photos: Your profile picture should be your logo or a clear headshot. Your cover photo is a larger banner space perfect for showcasing your products, team, or brand personality. Use high-quality images that represent your brand well. The ideal size for a cover photo is 851x315 pixels.
5. Finalize Your Setup: Follow the remaining on-screen prompts. These might include adding an action button (like "Send Message" or "Visit Website") and connecting your Page to WhatsApp. Go through these setup steps - Facebook provides a helpful checklist to make sure you haven’t missed anything.
6. Invite Your Friends: This is the key to getting initial momentum. Facebook will prompt you to invite friends from your personal profile to "like" your new Page. This is a great way to build your starting audience. Don't spam everyone, but do invite people you think would genuinely be interested in your new business venture.

Your Business Page is now live! From here, you can start creating content, exploring your Page Insights, and setting up ads through Meta Business Suite.

How to Turn On Professional Mode (Step-by-Step)

If you've decided that your brand is fundamentally you, and you want to build on your existing personal profile, Professional Mode is the right move. The switch is quick and reversible.

Here’s how to enable it:

1. Navigate to Your Profile: Go to your main personal Facebook profile page - the one that shows your timeline.
2. Open the Profile Settings Menu: Below your name and profile picture, you'll see a row of buttons ("Add to story," "Edit profile"). On the far right of that row, click the icon with three dots (...).
3. Turn on Professional Mode: Near the bottom of the pop-up menu, you’ll see an option that says “Turn on professional mode.” Click it.
4. Confirm the Change: Facebook will show you a confirmation screen explaining what will happen (e.g., you’ll get access to new tools, and anyone can follow you). Click “Turn on” to proceed.
5. Complete the Setup: You might be guided through a short setup flow. Your public "Follower" count will now be displayed on your profile. You'll now see a "View tools" button near the top of your profile, which takes you to your Professional Dashboard where your insights and creator tools live.

You’re now operating in Professional Mode. You can dive into your new dashboard to see how your content is performing and who your audience is. To turn it off, just repeat the steps and select “Turn off professional mode.”

What to Do After You’ve switched: Your First 5 Steps

Flipping the switch is just the first step. To make your new business presence effective, you need a plan.

1. Complete Every Section of Your Profile: Don’t leave any fields blank. Whether you’re on a Page or in Professional Mode, fill out your bio, website, contact info, and "About" sections completely. This builds trust and helps with discoverability.
2. Create and Pin an Introductory Post: Your first post should welcome new visitors and clearly explain what you do. Pin it to the top of your page so it's the first thing people see.
3. Develop a Simple Content Strategy: What will you post? Think about a mix of content: educational tips, behind-the-scenes looks at your business, promotions, customer stories, and engaging questions. Consistency is more important than frequency at the start.
4. Get Comfortable with A/B Testing: When you post, keep it simple by first identifying ONE testing element you'd like to improve on. Experiment to learn what your new followers like to see from you and at what cadence they prefer to see it delivered to their feed.
5. Explore Your Insights: Once you have a few posts up, dig into your new Professional Dashboard or Page Insights. Pay attention to reach (how many people saw your post) and engagement (likes, comments, shares). This data will become your guide for creating better content.

Final Thoughts

Making the move from a personal profile to a professional presence on Facebook is a foundational step in building a sustainable brand online. By creating a dedicated Business Page or enabling Professional Mode, you unlock the analytics, advertising capabilities, and professional tools necessary to understand your audience and grow your business effectively.

Once you've made the switch, managing all your new social media tasks can start to feel a little chaotic. That’s why we created Postbase - to give you a simple, intuitive way to manage everything. As you start building your content strategy, lean on our visual calendar to plan everything out, schedule your posts in advance across all your platforms, and use our unified inbox to keep all your comments and DMs in one place without the stress.