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Opal Creations Blog | A bit about what we do and what we know!

Jul/11

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Howto: Make your Facebook business page visible to non Facebook Users

This article addresses a common problem among Facebook business pages, and Facebook groups.

Scenario is this: Visitors try and access your facebook business page but instead they are greeted with a Facebook login/signup page. This can be changed!

Whats this article all about?

By default, a visitor must have a Facebook account and be logged into to see your business pages. If they do not have a Facebook account, or are not logged in, then Facebook will display a registration/sign-in page. This isn’t ideal, first impressions count. That’s why we worked out how to make your facebook business page public and we decided to share the knowledge for anyone else in a similar situation.

Many people cant work out why their facebook pages are not visible to the general public. For example, you have just got your new facebook username, and put a link to it on your website, only to discover that if a user is not logged into facebook, then they don’t see your facebook page. Need more clarification? Here are some pictures:

Before:

After:

Before - Accessing our facebook page when we aren't logged in takes us to Facebook's Homepage After - We can now see the facebook business page when we are not logged in
PROBLEM: When you visited http://facebook.com/OpalCreations (or your business page) you were greeted with this page SOLUTION: After you make the fix below, pubilc, non logged in facebook users can now see your business page in all its glory (if it has any!)

Why can’t non logged in users see my Facebook page?

The secret is……… your page’s privacy settings are set too strictly (Not your fault, Facebook sets this by default).

Really, only one select box is controlling your facebook business page’s visibility to the masses of unregistered and unauthenticated users (Assuming there is anyone left without a Facebook account).

The culprit select box in question is titled “Age restrictions”. By default it is set to a “safe” age restriction. This means, if a user is not logged into their Facebook account, then Facebook does not know how old the user is and therefore cannot show your facebook page as you may have inappropriate content.

How do I make my Facebook business page visible to the public?

There is one simple fix to allow all users to view your Facebook pages when they are not authenticated. In principle, you need to set your facebook page permissions to have no age restrictions. I have split this into 3 steps for your simplicity. To complete these steps  you will need to be the Admin of the Facebook page (Business page or personal page).

Step 1) Access your Facebook page and click “Edit Page”

You have to be editing the relevant Facebook page’s settings and permissions as there is no point setting your own user settings!

Step 1 of 3 to making your business page public - Click edit page

Step 2) Set the age restriction to anyone (13+)

This means anyone can access your page, so, when a non logged in user accesses your page, then there is now no longer a need to hide your page or validate/authenticate the user.

Step 2 of 3 to making your facebook page public to non logged in users - set the age restrictions

Step 3) Save your settings to make your Facebook page publicly accessible!

You need to click “Save Settings” to apply your new fix.

Step 3 of 3 to make your facebook account public - Save Settings

All done! You can now log out of your facebook account completely and then try and access your Facebook page using your page’s URL. Voila, you will now see your page as opposed to the Facebook homepage!

Thanks, but why would Facebook restrict my page in the First place?

There are probably many reasons, however the ones that make sense to us are as follows:

  1. It encourages non-facebook users to sign-up so the user can see your content – thus expanding Facebook’s network
  2. Protection to minors – Unauthenticated users maybe of any age, therefore if you have something that is not suitable for certain ages groups on your page it could cause dispute. Therefore Facebook encourages the user to login/sign-up so that Facebook can display the content if they are old enough.
  3. Some developer made the default setting not thinking about its repercussions!

After all, we all want to use Facebook to advertise our businesses and websites; bringing Facebook users to us. However Facebook wants the opposite – links on your websites pointing to Facebook forcing users to register to see your content.

That’s it!

If you need any more help, or have any other thoughts, please do comment and we will endeavour to answer your queries.

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7 comments

  • Darren Legg · February 21, 2012 at 3:22 pm

    I just tried the steps above, but had to set Facebook to omit visitors from a country (I chose Chad, dont know why) but it seems then by default to permit all others.

    Reply

  • Steven Paul · February 8, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    Also make sure your country settings are not restricted….

    Reply

  • Kristina · November 17, 2011 at 3:35 am

    Make sure you delete the county that is listed! it works once you do that

    Reply

  • Jon · November 17, 2011 at 1:48 am

    Ya Im still have the same login issue.

    http://www.facebook.com/flashtocricket

    It maybe a stupid questions for some but I know nothing about facebook and think they have the worst functionality.

    I created the business page with a profile, is this the problem? I have a personal one but I can’t find anyway to attach it to it and if I create another i’m in violation. Don’t really want to bug friends & family either with business stuff either.

    A solution would be awesome THX!!!

    Reply

  • Admin comment by admin · October 21, 2011 at 12:39 pm

    Just make sure that the privacy settings look like this image: http://www.opal-creations.co.uk/demos/blog/facebook-privacy-settings.jpg . If you have and it still doesnt work post your facebook page’s URL and we will have a look to see if we can see anything.

    Reply

  • Ernesto · October 21, 2011 at 11:11 am

    I tried your trick however i still get the facebook login page instead of my page. any other ideas why?

    Reply

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