I recently heard of a case where a new owner tried to change the name of a purchased business’s Facebook Business Page.
The purchased business had a Facebook Page with the highest activity for their location and business niche.
Don’t Be Radical
Tom Stier
The name change was a radical one, with nothing similar to the previous name.
The owner made the change in the purchased business’s Facebook page ‘About’ section, and months later the change is still showing as under review, neither rejected, nor approved. Anybody have Mark Zuckerberg’s phone number?
Feedback was sent to Facebook, but no replies. The new owner setup a new Business Page.
One idea was to merge the two business pages. But merging the new Facebook business page they set up with the name-change-limbo page might have resulted in deletion of the pages.
Facebook displays some scary messages during the merge process.
sunriseinteriorsinc.com by Tom Stier
If I Did It
I would have recommended an interim step in the name change.
For instance, say the name change task was to re-name “Joe’s Main Street” to “Mary’s.” I would first try a change to “Mary’s Main Street” hoping that Facebook’s algorithm would be satisfied with ‘Main Street’ as a connection to the old name.
In the changes I have done, as long as there were points of similarity in the two names, I could expect the change to be approved or denied within days.
Then at a later time, a change from “Mary’s Main Street” to “Mary’s” would also likely succeed.
Provided they were the only Mary on Facebook
What’s the solution?
It’s possible that Facebook will approve the name change. If they do, I promise to update this post.
For now, the new business has control of both the old and new Facebook pages, and that ain’t bad. (I have stories about businesses who let the disgruntled ex-mail room clerk own their Facebook Page :O
My recommendation for any prolonged time in Facebook limbo is to use what you got to get what you want.
The business should continue to use both pages, keeping them both updated with same contact information and postings.
The graphic styling, as much as it can be on Facebook’s ‘One Design Fits All’ world, should be the same for both pages, and make sure the new business logo appears in posts.
Both pages should have the same Profile image of the new business’s logo. Both pages should have the same Cover Photo, with the exception that the previous business Facebook Page Cover Photo have a text overlay stating ‘Joe’s Main Street Is Now Mary’s!’
It’s also possible that once the business begins using Facebook business service the issue can be expedited to a human who realizes the two pages should be merged.
Wishing you success with your Facebook adventures!