Need help creating a Facebook fan page for my web startup

Question

I would like to create a Facebook fan page for my web startup and need some directions as I have some questioning.

When I go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php I need to choose one of the following options:

1. Local Business or Place
2. Company, Organization or Institution
3. Brand or Product
4. Artist, Band or Public Figure
5. Entertainment
6. Cause or Community

My website will be selling sustainable products, and I hope to turn the website into a "green" brand ultimately.

Q1: Should I choose option [2] or [3]?

A long time ago, when I thought about a brand name for my website, I registered the vanity URL for that brand under my personal account because I didn't know how else to do it and wanted to reserve the name ASAP before someone else. I now have http://facebook.com/mybrand pointing to my personal account.

Q2: How can I do to transfer the Vanity URL from my profile page to my company fan page?

Q3: Finally, I would like to know if a minimum of 25 fans is still required to setup a vanity URL for your fan page as I keep seeing contradictory information on the internet: http://allfacebook.com/you-no-longer-need-25-fans-to-get-a-custom-page-url_b58421

Answer 1

Regarding your second question.

Facebook help states:

When you convert your personal account to a Facebook Page, we'll transfer your current profile picture and add all your friends and subscribers as people who like your Page. We'll also make your account's username the username for your Page.

The last sentence in this paragraph clearly states that that Facebook will make your username—vanity URL—the username for the converted page. However, this actually does not work, and Facebook support does not respond to the issue.

Answer 2

The different page categories have different optional fields that you can fill in. There are many categories under each of the 6 top-level groups and the fields are different for different categories even within the same group. Generally, the categories in the first two groups are for pages representing something with a physical location, and they have optional fields for things like address, city, phone number, email address, business hours, mission, etc.

You can change the category after creating the page, so you can just create it with any category that sounds close. Once the page is created, go to Manage » Edit Page » Basic Information where you can change the category and see the different fields for that category.

When people Like your page, your page will show up in their list of Likes on their profile/timeline. Although most page categories show up under Other, a few categories (e.g. Books) have a special section in people's Likes, so the category you choose may also affect this.

If you change your personal vanity URL, there is no guarantee that Facebook will allow the old URL to ever be reused. In fact, they state that when a page or account is removed the URL is not available for reuse. However, if you have registered the name as a trademark you can try using this form.