In-depth

How to delete a Facebook business page

Follow these steps to erase your Facebook page if it's a duplicate, out of date or inaccessible

15 Sep 2020

A Facebook business page with notifications

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There are plenty of reasons for having your business listed on Facebook. With over 2.7 billion monthly active users, the social media platform is known for its unprecedented global reach which makes for an excellent marketing channel, especially for locally-focused businesses willing to drive strong, engaged communities.

Nevertheless, for every good reason to set up a Facebook page, there exists a valid counterargument as to why it might be better to shut it down.

For one thing, maintaining a business’ social media presence is hard work which should not be taken lightly, and sometimes it simply might not deliver the results you were looking for. Perhaps you’ve just decided that Facebook isn’t the right platform to reach your audience or you have ethical qualms over its use of personal data, driven by incidents such as the Cambridge Analytica scandal. You might also want to get rid of the page if the business has been shut down.

Why you may want to delete a Facebook business page

Although Facebook does have a huge user base, digital marketing is significantly more than just the pure reach of the channel in question. Especially when considering a social media platform for your business, it’s crucial to take under account the sort of mindset in which that channel reaches its users. When it comes to Facebook, the platform is predominantly used in people’s downtime to connect with friends and family members. This is what makes it particularly well-suited to businesses in the lifestyle, leisure and travel sectors. At the same time, it is probably a less relevant channel for B2B organisations - especially at the enterprise level.

While you may be able to reach business decision-makers through Facebook, they probably won’t be using the platform in a business context - whereas with LinkedIn and Twitter, there’s a much greater likelihood that they are.

You may also have to delete a Facebook page if you’re consolidating duplicate pages into one - such as replacing pages for regional branches with a single umbrella page, for example. Equally, a merger may result in the dissolution of a brand, requiring its Facebook page to be removed.

Whatever your reasoning, deleting a Facebook business page is a quick and straightforward process, but you might want to consider merging pages - if there are multiple - before you completely delete it.

What's important to understand is that if you do decide to delete a Facebook page, you will lose all the content forever, as well as anyone's page likes, comments and interactions. Only follow these steps if you're certain you no longer want the page to exist.

How to delete a Facebook business page on iOS or Android

From the Facebook app, head to your list of pages and select the one you wish to delete. Tap edit page for options and then select settings. Scroll down to find the 'Remove page' section and tap the option to permanently delete the page. You'll see a warning, but click to continue if you're 100% sure you want to remove it and your page will be gone.

You do have 14 days to reverse the deletion, so if you change your mind, you can restore it.

How to delete a Facebook page from your browser

The process if you're using your browser to manage your Facebook page is equally as simple. Just head to the page you'd like to delete, head to the settings option under 'Edit page' and scroll to the bottom to 'Remove page'. Hit delete and hey presto! Your page will be removed. As is the case on mobile, you can restore your page within 14 days of deleting it, but after that, it will be gone forever.

How to delete a Facebook page if you're not an admin

Obviously, both of the options above assume you're an administrator on the page, but what happens if you're not and it was set up by an ex-employee?

This is a little trickier and is a more involved process than simply deleting the page as an admin. First, you will have to report the page to Facebook for a breach of your intellectual property. To do this, go to the page you want to delete, click the three dots below the page's cover photo and select Report page. You can explain why you want the page to be removed and it will be up to Facebook whether it removes the page or not.

Picture: Shutterstock