Last post, we talked about what a Facebook Place is and how it can help you spread the word about your business…
We also talked about how to create a Facebook Place if you don’t already have one.
As you have already seen, it’s pretty easy to do… and you can even use it as a Fan Page, which is the way we recommend you use Facebook to promote your business.
However, if you already have a Facebook Fan Page… complete with an established fan base and following, you are not going to want 2 different Pages (which will just confuse your customers) NEITHER are you going to want to ditch the established Page to rebuild a following on the new one.
What to do, what to do?…
The best thing to do in this situation is to merge the 2 Pages!
There are three scenarios that will come up when you want to merge your Facebook Place with your Page…
- You’ve found out that one of your customers has already added your business as a Place and you need to claim it.
- You’ve already claimed your Place, but haven’t merged it.
- You need to create a Place for your business from scratch.
When you already have a Facebook Place but it’s not claimed yet, you need to navigate to the Place and claim your business…
- Click the link that says “Is this your business?”
- Then follow the instructions to do so.
When we did this for The Abundant Life Health Food Store, they called the store’s phone number and gave a 4-digit pin number that we entered in the next step.
That’s it! That’s how you claim your Facebook Place. Now for the merging…
When you just set your Place up, you can just click the link that says, “Merge.”
If you already have your Place claimed and didn’t merge it right away, just navigate to your Place and click “Merge with existing Page”…
Just follow the instructions and you’ll be good to go!
“Derek, Why did I just do this… how will it help my business?” you may ask…
Ah, that’s a subject for my next post… Click here to read it
About Derek Alvarez
I just claimed my place page and Facebook got back to me, but the merge page link isn’t there… have you heard if they removed the link recently?
Hi Alycia,
Facebook always seems to move things around… You should be able to find the merge link on the left side towards the bottom, or at the bottom in the middle of the page.
If not, make sure you actually claimed your page… You might have to go back and enter the pin # they gave you.
They just sent me an email to let me know that I’m not insane. They are having issues right now with the link. Thanks for responding :)
You’re welcome :) Hopefully, they get their act together soon!
I think I’m having a similar problem. I claimed our places page today, but when I was given the option to merge our places page to our business page, I was confused and opted not to do so. I realized my mistake after the fact, but I can’t seem to merge them now. The “merge with existing page” link isn’t on my places page. Do you have any suggestions for me?
Thank you!
Sorry Kimberly,
The only suggestion I have is to check your Places Page frequently to see if the link appears. Sometimes Facebook takes a while to update.
Same problem here. Have not been able to find the merge button anywhere on my old Place page or my Business page. When someone sees it appear again, please speak up. Thanks everyone
Thanks for the replies; I’ll keep you posted if I come across a solution.
Hi all
I’ve been unable to merge my page and emailed FB support about it. Here is their response:
“Hi Luke,
Unfortunately, the Place/Page merge functionality is currently unavailable. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we do not have a specific date for when this issue will be resolved but hope to fix it as soon as possible. We appreciate your patience.
Thanks for contacting Facebook,
User Operations
Facebook”
Thanks, Luke!
This will save a lot of people time and heartache trying to search for the dang merge link!
Does anyone know if the ‘merge with existing page’ is up and running again? It’s not appearing on my places page that I recently claimed. The place page has a slightly different name than our business page so I’m concerned this may cause an issue. I contacted facebook but I’ve heard nothing!
It sounds like the Place/Page merge functionality is currently unavailable, Alice.
Why? I wish I knew!
Same here, no Merge-Link on one of my Pages. Hopefully, they´re fixin it soon.
Here’s an update on what’s going on with merging Facebook Places…
http://ontopinternetmarketing.com/facebook-place-update/
I am the admin of the place and the page called the Old Operating Theatre Museum and am trying to merge them – no merge button appears on either page.
What is happening?
I started with a PLACES page for my small business. But just today as I tried to enter my FB URL (https://www.facebook.com/missclinepress) into the Small Business Saturday list of local small businesses they didn’t let me informing me “Sorry, must be valid Facebook business page to be added.” SO, that’s how I found out how my FB page wasn’t a PAGE, but a PLACES.
I went ahead and created a PAGE for it then. There’s is a option (under EDIT PROFILE) to merge duplicate pages. It says that any “content from duplicate pages such as wall posts and photos will be lost and permanently deleted.” The option to merge shows now in both PLACE and PAGE sides.
So, I’m wondering if I chose to merge from the PLACES side, would all my photos and wall posts stay? Or will it all disappear in any way I chose to do the merge?
If I lose everything that would suck! The photos I could re-upload, but there are events, and all sorts of good posts that I’d like to keep.
What to do??
They should be showing up now, Kevin. I’ve found that Facebook is actually helping business owners with this type of thing if you contact them.
It appears that the page you merge will lose the data, so I would probably merge the Page with the Place…
hey guys, you can merge your business page and place by going to “edit my page” then click on “resource” on the left panel. Click on the link that says “merge duplicate pages”. Hope this helps!
Thanks Jay, Facebook has recently added this feature after taking it away for a while. Glad to see it’s back :)
Hello,
Quick question:
If I merge my newly created PLACE (for example: “Restaurant”) with my old existing PAGE (also named “Restaurant”), would that automatically delete the place?
And whenever someone searches for “Restaurant” will they only see the PAGE and be able to check-in through it (the PAGE)?
I could really need some help with that! Thanks!
Hi Karim,
I beleive it will delete the PLACE. People will be able to check in through the PAGE from then on.
Iv been trying to CLAIM my page for weeks not but after i fill out the verification info and hit submit the loading bars just keep going and going and going…. UGH frustrating!
What username will the merged page get?
I consider merging a place (with higher like-count) with a page (lower like-count). Bot of them have usernames (as in “facebook.com/username”). Will the new merged page/place get the former pages or the former places username?
Thanks in advance!
HI i have went to the resource page but there is no merge page,
this is my options
Develop your page,
Best practices guides to make your Page engaging
Connect with people
Advertise on Facebook
Select a username
Use social plugins
Link your Page to Twitter
Additional resources
Pages Help Centre
Developer help
Best practice guide for marketing on Facebook
Brand permissions
I FOUND A SOLUTION!! Worked for me anyway!! For a few weeks I had been checking repeatedly to see if the merge link would appear. Everything matched and I couldn’t figure out why the merge link was not there to merge my place and page. Today I stumbled upon it and realized why it was not there before. Be sure that you are using facebook as YOURSELF not one of your pages. Then visit the page you want to keep. Edit page. Resources. Merge duplicate should be there! If you are using facebook as the page it will not be there. Hope this helps someone.
Melanie (5/22/2012), thank you so much for this tip. I have been trying to solve this for months, have search facebook help and various blogs and forums, it has been driving me crazy! So simple, I now have one fan page with check in facility. Thank you so much.
Is there a way to associate multiple places with the same page?
My business has 4 offices across the country and I want to be able to check in at any of those and have them associated with our facebook page.
Thanks in advance.
As far as I know, you can’t.
hi someone else has claimed my place so I have a page but the place is more important it already has 64 likes – how can I claim the place?! Its mine! thanks C
How do I claim a place if someone else appears to have already done so?! grrr thnx
You should contact Facebook and they will make you prove the business is yours.
Hi
i Request to claim my page for Facebook for several time , but each time they send me this answer (this email alias is no longer active due to extended inactivity)
what do they mean ?
please help me
thank you
Sorry, I’m not sure about that one! Maybe one of our readers can help you out… or maybe you should try getting a new email address.
Hi
i try a new email address,but steel they send me that answer .
i think they didn’t accept my document , can you give me any document until i can understand what they want from me ?
thank you
Try looking here and you will see what kind of documents they need…
https://www.facebook.com/help/343548832389235/
I know Facebook changes often so that may be why I do not have the options listed available to me. But there is a places page already in use but there is no way to claim it. How do I claim it with the new Facebook so I can merge it with the business’s page? I tried looking under the drop down menu and there is no “Is this my business?” option. Thank you!