4

I am a web based software engineer in Sri Lanka and I have own my web design business. It is really important to engage with Facebook groups to get local projects. That's how you build a network and get local projects.

But I don't like to use my personal Facebook profile to start group discussions and answer questions on the group. I don't like to post "I am doing web design business, etc" on my personal profile either. I want to use my personal profile to just connect with my friends and family.

Yes, I can create a FB fan page. I have one. But I can't join groups as a page. Facebook doesn't allow it.

So how can I engage with FB groups without mixing my personal life with professional life?

Improve this question
9
  • 3
    Have you tried to create your company Facebook page?
    – A0o
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 5:53
  • @A0o I have mentioned that I have created a company FB page in question. But Facebook don't allow to pages to join with FB groups... There are a few FB groups in my country which audience is very targeted audince for my business. So engage with them is really important....
    – I am the Most Stupid Person
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 5:59
  • 4
    stop using facebook?
    – SaggingRufus
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 15:37
  • 2
    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it seems like more of a question about Facebook functionality than a workplace question.
    – Bernhard Barker
    Commented Mar 27, 2018 at 16:05
  • 1
    why not just share all your details online about your self? that way you get the full benefit of fb without fb
    – bharal
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 11:37

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
3

The easiest answer to this (I've found), is one of two things;

Create a second profile using your work e-mail (not advised)

While technically against the terms of service unless you are reported no-one will check in all likelihood but be aware there is a risk Facebook will find out and take action.

I wouldn't advise this due to the ToS.

However as a Facebook app developer, I've found this quite handy to have second accounts for different projects.

Privacy settings & lists

Facebook has several features for filtering posts and creating lists for people.

I'd look into making all of your posts viewable to 'friends only' (by default and retroactively), then creating a list specifically for those that add you for work reasons whilst removing them from friends (I split mine off into different categories and industries, such as web design or game development).

Relevant posts are then made with the audience set specifically to those lists and personal posts are set so that friends only can see them (you are also able to set defaults and retroactively change all posts in your privacy settings).

I'd then look at creating a page that can then be used as a workplace (I believe local business or company does this) and setting your workplace to this. That way you can make your posts on this page and then share posts from here that only go out to your work lists.

You should then tinker with your privacy settings to ensure everything you wouldn't want someone classed as a friend not to see be hidden.

Hope this helps!

Improve this answer
4
  • Using same name in both account?
    – I am the Most Stupid Person
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 9:30
  • @iamthemoststupidperson up to you on that one, I personally went with the business or project name when I did that. for actual work-related groups option 2 works well for me
    – Hex
    Commented Mar 28, 2018 at 9:32
  • Encouraging someone to violate ToS of another site because "they are unlikely to catch you" is not cool. Don't do that.
    – Masked Man
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 7:53
  • @maskedman as said in the answer, there's a risk in doing so. The main meat of the answer is in the second part of tinkering with privacy settings, I'm not encouraging but just providing a few options and their upsides/downsides
    – Hex
    Commented Mar 31, 2018 at 13:05
2

Facebook doesn't allow you to create more than one personal account for yourself - I expect you have explored this option and know this already.

What you can do is set the audience when you post so you can control who sees what you post, although this might not cover your needs.

I really suggest that you post this on the Facebook community to ask this question from the experts. There's sure to be people there in your same position.

Improve this answer
1

Beyond creating two accounts (which isn't advisable as it's against the ToS and Facebook have a reputation of catching / blocking these reasonably easily) there's a few things you can do:

  • Use your personal Facebook account for business only, and move all your social, personal content elsewhere. May not be an option if your friendship group is only on Facebook, but it's worth considering.
  • While you can't join Facebook groups as a page / business, you should still be able to post comments / posts in a group as one (there's a drop-down arrow by the text box where you write your post that will let you select who you're posting as.) This should allow you to still post to these groups under a professional guise using your private account, and may be the best middle ground option to take.
  • Use your personal account to post "public" content that's not an advert, so would also be interesting to friends / family. Set all personal content to "friends only", then start a blog where you're talking about interesting trends in the industry; post those as public posts to your Facebook profile. Not an all out solution to posting in groups of course, but friends / family may well still be interested in the sort of thing that you're writing, and then from a public perspective all your potential clients will see is "professional" type content.
Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .