I’ve been getting this question a bit more often lately, so I figured it might be easiest just to share it here.

First, being able to switch how you use Facebook is a handy feature that has been available to Page admins for several months now. Previously, anytime an admin of a page left a status update or a comment on the page, the comment would look like it came from the brand, not from the person. (For example, if left a comment on the 30 Lines page, it would always appear to come from 30 Lines, not from my personal profile. I’d often sign posts with my initials to let people know it was really me.)

Well, this is fine, but I had a number of clients who wanted more personal interaction with their audience. In some cases, a couple staff members would purposely be left off as admins to be able to comment on the page as themselves. In other cases, some people would remove themselves as an admin of the page, make the comment as themselves, then get added back as an admin — repeating this anytime they wanted to comment from their personal profile. An annoying, tedious process … but really the only option available if you wanted to add that personal touch.

Well, Facebook fixed this. You have to update your settings to be able to do it, but it’s actually pretty easy to do. Here’s how:

Update your settings

Head over to your page settings (Click on “Edit Page” in the top right corner), then select the very first option in the left menu, called “Your Settings.” It should look like this:

Uncheck the top checkbox. It will say something like “Always comment and post on your page as My Awesome Page even when using Facebook as {your name here}.” Make sure to save your changes.

BAM.

That’s it. You’re done.

Well … sort of.

Switching Between Personal Profile and Page

Once you’ve changed this setting, you’ll *always* comment on the page from your personal profile, unless you make the switch to use Facebook as your page. Now when you visit your page, you’ll see an admin panel in the top right that looks like this:

If you want a status update or comment on the page (or other pages on Facebook — see Admins Can “Use Facebook as Page”) to come from the brand, you need to click the link to “Use Facebook as My Awesome Page.” If you don’t make this switch first, any comments on the page will come from your personal profile, and they likely won’t end up in the newsfeed of many of your subscribers. Make the switch, then share your update or comment. (I’d recommend a big Post-It plastered to your screen reminding you to switch until it becomes habit.)

NOTE: This change doesn’t affect how you use third-party tools like Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or Postling. If you have authorized these tools to post to your page, the updates you share will come from the brand without the need to switch how you’re using Facebook.

OK, now you’re done. You’ll be able to share updates with all of your subscribers by posting as the page, and you’ll be able to get into more personal conversations by posting and commenting as yourself. The end result will look something like this (post from the page, comment left by me):

So now that you can do this, does it change the way you use your brand’s page? Have you seen any good examples of companies that have been able to “get more personal” with their audience?