How can I get my personal profile to "like" something on a Facebook for which I'm the admin?

February 7, 2011 4:03 PM

When I "like" something on my a Facebook page where I'm the admin, it shows the page itself as the "liker." How can I get my personal profile to "like" something on my own page?

I created a Facebook page for a show I'm in. It's listed as a "public figure," not an event. I'm the only admin for the page.

The page only has about a dozen friends, which isn't great for promoting the show each time a performance rolls around. However, my personal profile has a lot of friends, so I figure that anytime I post a status update or a photo on the show page, I should "like" it, because that way 150 people will see it, instead of just a dozen.

But whenever I "like" or comment on something on the show page, Facebook knows that I'm the admin, so it says "[Show Page] likes this" instead of "Flying Saucer likes this."

Is it possible to somehow turn off my admin status when I'm "liking" or commenting on things? It seems like such a waste to post updates for just the dozen people who officially "like" the page.

I know the ultimate answer is to get my 150 friends to "like" the page, but that seems to be a slow process.

Any other help you can offer on how to promote the page (for free) would be appreciated. I want people to come see my show!

posted by Flying Saucer to computers & internet (20 answers total)

Click "share"-- it's all the way down on the bottom left corner.
posted by jschu at 4:20 PM on February 7, 2011

That's a start, but that just shares the page itself. I'm trying to comment on and/or like the individual status updates, links, and photos that I've posted as the admin (or that other people in my show have posted as fans).
posted by Flying Saucer at 4:25 PM on February 7, 2011

As far as I know, the only way to do this is to exploit a bug and "like" the post from Facebook for iPhone - the full site and even Mobile Web make the "like" show up as from the Page.

Regardless, I don't think your assumption that "liking" a post on the Page will promote it to all of your friends is correct. I've never seen posts show up in the news feed from a Page that I don't already "like". If you do want to promote it to your friends, either send them an invitation to "like" the page itself, or just post a status update to let them know you're in the show, with a link to the Page.

[To clarify, you will see posts in your news feed that "Person X likes Page Y", but I don't think you'll see "Person X posted on the wall of Page Y" or "Person X likes/commented on Page Y's post" unless you already "like" Page Y.]
posted by mxc at 4:40 PM on February 7, 2011

You should be able to share individual posts as well. I am the admin of a page and it looks something like this, below the post:

"188 Impressions · 0.53% Feedback
Friday at 2:48pm · Like · · Share · Promote"
posted by jschu at 5:39 PM on February 7, 2011

Yes, but I when I click on "Like," it shows that [Show Page] likes the post, not Flying Saucer.
posted by Flying Saucer at 5:46 PM on February 7, 2011

I really think jschu has it. I admin a page, and when I use the "Share" link under an individual post, it shares it as me, not as the page. Try "share", not "like" - it essentially posts the page content to your own facebook wall.
posted by donnagirl at 6:14 PM on February 7, 2011

You can't. It sucks.
posted by radioamy at 6:17 PM on February 7, 2011

I admin a page, and when I use the "Share" link under an individual post, it shares it as me, not as the page. Try "share", not "like" - it essentially posts the page content to your own facebook wall

Yes, do this. I just did it myself for my business page.
posted by tamitang at 6:35 PM on February 7, 2011

The only way is to create a dummy admin account that you use for admin'ing, and the rest of the time use your regular account for good 'ol facebooking.
posted by Hazy Star at 7:07 PM on February 7, 2011

Well, I guess sharing is the best I'm going to get.

To be clear, I don't just want to share the page. That's something you do once, as in "Check out this cool page!" I want to share individual status updates, links, and photos, multiple times a week, for the entire run of the show. That way, when I "like," say, a new photo of us onstage or a review of the show, it's a reminder to my friends to come see us. Sharing the page over and over again does not accomplish that goal, and would seem pretty annoying.

But Facebook isn't perfect, so I'll take what I can get. Thanks for your help.
posted by Flying Saucer at 7:54 PM on February 7, 2011

Flying Saucer, you can definitely share individual updates from pages on facebook. Not 'the pages', but also individual links posted by a page to its wall. Check this out: The New Yorker on Facebook. You can share albums, wall posts, etc. The trick seems to be to post it to the page's wall as a link, not a status update.
posted by the mad poster! at 8:20 PM on February 7, 2011

You're right that it isn't possible to like the page as yourself--just as it isn't possible to function outside of your page as the page, only as yourself.

I think the best thing to do is to post a couple of links to the page. Be careful though: if your fans are also your friends, they might get really irritated if you keep posting the same thing in both places.

Another way to approach this would be to create it as an event (perhaps a recurring or long-time event). Then you can 'invite' all of your friends and indeed the entire world.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:33 PM on February 7, 2011

I, for one, understand your pain. Sharing is not the same as liking. I am an admin (one of many admins) on a page and what I want to do is *comment* on posts that other people have made, but I want to comment as *myself*, not as the page. I'm stuck with always having to type "This is Jen" at the end of each comment so it doesn't look like the page is commenting on the page's own post. (Which makes sense in some cases, but not in others, like if I have a question about what another admin has posted.)

Anyway, you can't. You have to "like" and comment as the page name. One of FB's many annoyances.
posted by iguanapolitico at 7:58 AM on February 8, 2011

Okay, it looks like sharing does post individual [Show Page] items onto my profile, which is about 80% of what I wanted, so I'm happy.

By the way, bluedaisy, I looked into making an Event, but my show is once a week for several weeks, and Facebook doesn't currently support recurring events.

Thanks for everyone's help. If any Mefites are in Los Angeles and want to attend, please MeMail me.
posted by Flying Saucer at 9:18 AM on February 8, 2011

Flying Saucer, right, I get that, but you could make an event for opening night, or make a fake-ish event that's really just the entire time the show will be open (ie an event that lasts three weeks).
posted by bluedaisy at 11:08 AM on February 8, 2011

Oops, posted too soon. I meant to say that if you post this an event, even if the time span isn't exactly right, you can invite all your friends and FB will keep reminding them about it until they respond. So you don't have to bug them. FB will do it for you!
posted by bluedaisy at 11:09 AM on February 8, 2011

Maybe an Event is the way to go, because I just realized that all the posts that I personally make on the page as the admin, I can't "share." The only options under those posts are "Like - Comment - Promote," the last of which means buying an ad. And "like" and "comment," as we know, just mean the page admin is liking or comment on it.

So I can only share stuff that other people have posted on the show page! Ah, Facebook.
posted by Flying Saucer at 12:19 PM on February 9, 2011

I do think an event is the way to go, but the way you share this stuff is when you see it on your news feed. For example: you post something to your Facebook page (a page you already following and 'like'). Then, you go to home on Facebook, which is your news feed. Then you click 'share' next to the item on your feed.

The thing to remember is that when you are on the Facebook page, you can only function as the page. And everywhere else, you can only function as you.

Hope this makes sense.
posted by bluedaisy at 9:47 PM on February 9, 2011

Well, well, well. Look what Facebook says about it's new Page upgrade:

"You can set defaults for your email notifications and how you post to your page - as yourself or your page. You can also select which featured pages appear in the left column.

To manage your settings for email and posting preferences, go to Edit Page and Your Settings. To select which pages appear in Favorite Pages, go to Edit Page and Featured."

Can't wait to try that out. Do you think Mark Zuckerberg was reading this thread? :-)
posted by Flying Saucer at 1:54 PM on February 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Flying Saucer, I just came to this thread to say just this!
posted by bluedaisy at 4:03 PM on February 10, 2011