Facebook Fan Pages vs Groups – What to Choose?

Just recently, I encountered a dilemma on whether I should put Perfect Renders on either Facebook’s group or fan pages. Yes, I considered the notion of having both but my logical sense tells me to dive in with both feet on just one. Though I already have a Facebook group (visit here), a friend told me the disadvantages groups are facing compared to fan pages. I did some research. Doing that, I found out that there are a lot of people facing the same problem. So, what should we really choose between them to get the most out of Facebook? Here’s a brief comparison:

An In-depth look:

Just by looking at the table above, we can see the pros and cons between the two. Pages have an unlimited number of fans whilst groups have a limit of 5,000. The reason for that is groups can send bulk messages that goes directly to its members’ inboxes. Pages can only inform its fans through wall updates. I guess Facebook limited it to 5,000 so it won’t be abused.

You can install external apps in Pages, like have a blog RSS Feed so fans would have a Facebook-friendly way of seeing your blog’s new posts. You can also put in YouTube, Twitter updates, etc. Sadly, groups don’t have that feature.

Pages are considered as separate profiles (just how corporations are under the law) while groups must be managed by administrators. What’s great in groups is that you can send bulk invites. Meaning, you can directly invite your friends, as well as your other appointed administrators’ friends to join your group, thus, making it a great tool for viral marketing. Fan pages don’t have that feature.

Groups have “ugly” URLs. Check out mine: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=102485379094 while it would be http://www.facebook.com/pages/Perfect-Renders/ if it were a fan page. Everyone can access fan pages, even non-members. Groups are like private clubs. Then can only be viewed by members, or VIPs if that’s what the administrators want.

The neatest thing about pages is that they are actually indexed by external search engines! Just like how individual and public profiles are. Big engines like Google and Yahoo! can spot fan pages. That’s very important for getting more viewership.

Bottomline:

Personally, I’d prefer pages. But its really a tie. It depends on how you want to utilize the benefits of the two. Its just like choosing between Xbox or PlayStation. Xbox has Halo, PlayStation has MGS4 but they both have Final Fantasy XIII. For now, I’ll stick to groups and take advantage of the bulk messaging until I reach 5,000 members. It would only be then that I’ll move to pages.

Categories: Business, General  |  Tags: ads, advantage, comparison, disadvantage, discussion, facebook, fans, groups, members, mesaging, pages, perfect renders, posts, rss feed, search engine, statistics, vs, wall  |  No Comments »