I got another request for a post from an awesome blogger. Katie over at Kroger Krazy wants to change her Facebook page name. She went through a site name change and re-brand a while back and her Facebook page name still says her old website’s name. This is an issue with anyone who rebrands, changes businesses or wants to change their page name for another reason.
Please note that this is currently only an option for Facebook Pages where the owner is based in the United States.
So let’s solve this problem!
I will preface this post by saying that you should be 100% confident that your page is following all of Facebook’s page rules before you request that someone from the Facebook team look at your page. If you’re running giveaways, make sure you follow the rules with FB. If you bought fans, don’t even try to change your name. Pretty much, you know if you are breaking the rules and if you are, (first of all, you should stop) you should not draw attention to your page.
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For those with under 200 fans:
Ok, so if you’ve got under 200 fans, changing your Facebook page name is quite easy.
Head to your page info screen.
Click on “Name”, which will be the first option. You’ll see a box where you can change your name. If you have under 200 fans, you’ll see this screen:
Simply enter the new name and click “save changes” and you’re done! The name of the page will be immediately changed to the new name.
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For those with over 200 fans:
If you have over 200 fans, the process becomes more complicated.
Note: you can only change you page name ONE TIME. Ever. So make it count.
Head to your page info screen:
Click on “name” and you’ll see this:
Notice there is no box to change your name. That lovely option has been replaces with some text that says “request name change” that you’ll have to click. When you click it, you’ll be brought to this page:
Read the rules and click the box to open up some more options:
Here, you’ll want to choose what your page represents. Most likely if you’re reading this, you will be choosing the “website or blog” option. Choosing that option will bring up some more rules:
When you click the box here, some more options will drop down including a box with your current page name and a box to enter your new (requested) page name. You will also be give a few reasons to choose from as to why you are submitting this request to change your name. Rebranding is one of the choices.
Now here’s the tricky part. Facebook wants you to upload some sort of documentation that shows your REQUESTED business name. This has to be something like a bill, your business licence or tax info. If during your rebrand, you changed your business name with your local organization or you file taxes under the new name, that would be the easiest way to do this. Upload any tax form (with social security/income blurred) with your new name on it.
Another way to obtain documentation that Facebook may deem acceptable is to change your name in one of your affiliate accounts to your business name and your name. (Update: this has been confirmed to work by a personal friend of mine who submitted an image of a paycheck from an affiliate sent to her with both her business name and personal name on it.) Then change your payment preference to check by mail. I would imagine a check with your address, business name and your own name would be enough. Although who knows with those crazy people over at Facebook.
One thing that you could add to try and improve your chances is to let them know that you are considering (or you are) advertising with Facebook but you don’t know if you can spend any money promoting a page that does not reflect the actual name of your business. You might not want to pull this one out right away, but if you are getting the runaround, it might help you out.
So there you have it!
Good luck!
I will update this page with the documentation that worked or didn’t work from others. Please share int he comments below what kind of documentation you uploaded and whether it worked or not.
Kim says
Great guide and thank you, sadly this option seems to only be available for US facebook users, since here in europe it’s missing. Would it be possible to access the “request name change” if one was to use a proxy?
Thank you
Kim
Zack Reyes says
Hi, unfortunately this is only an option for pages who have the administrator based in the US. I’m sorry but I do not know of any other way to get this done.
mike says
half true Zack. apparently i am seeing the Request Change link outside of US and i am not administrator based in the US either. with one BIG EXCEPTION: it leads to a broken link. doh! tried it for a month now and still broken link. LOL. i laughed at myself and amazed by the system at the same time. if anyone have any big ideas, please share and don’t let anyone profit from this small little thing too. i saw one too many “20$” to help to change and they coincidentally (or not), appears to be from the same country or least the same region. i can live with the name, but of course, i would be awesome if FB could change it. anyway, as to the “you cannot change your permalink/page URL” is it really true? cos’ i managed to change mine about three months ago.
Zack Reyes says
Mike, that is strange that you are seeing the link but it’s not working. Not sure why the line about not being able to change the URL was still in there. You can change page URLs, but only once.
mike says
yea Zack. totally weird.
posted a theory on that odd ball situation. the thing is, FB has never really been stable and i don’t blame them. the implementation of even the slightest change would be a mammoth task for FB, let alone implementing over something that wasn’t stable to begin with. again, that’s just my nonsensical rants. do pardon me.
mike says
funny thing is i tried the proxy route. ok. to be fair. i am already seeing the Request Change link when i hit the update info tab and hit on the name’s edit link. BUT all i get when i follow the Request Change link is a broken link. the point is, i am outside of US and not an administrator based in US either but i am still able to see the link. this points towards a probable implementation bug or something. anyway, i tried proxy – a few, just to be sure – and walah! the Request Change link disappears. so what actually is going on with FB is anybody’s guess. just my two cents.
PS: read about success stories outside of US (though not sure if they were admin based in US or not) which lead me to believe it could an implementation bug OR probably linked to when you registered your FB account in general, not just the page. as in, for example, when a platform started (eg Yahoo!) everybody signed up as just .com, there is no .sg, .cn or whatsoever yet (and don’t really care at that point) and those accounts probably will be recognized as “US accounts” and thus enabling some o/s of US to get the change, while some were left in the limbo and being lead to a broken link because FB recognize it as o/s of US but yet, it somehow think you are inside the US. hence the broken link. well. again. that’s just my two cents (probably a quarter now, cos i talked too much).
Zack Reyes says
Unfortunately with Facebook, we are all at their mercy. Just like they only show your page’s status updates to 10-20% of fans unless you pay them. This is why I like to try and diversify everything so I am not relying on one clueless company like FB.
Ishita Chopra says
Thanks For This Post really nice work.
Katie says
Thanks again Zack! I finally submitted a commission check that had my name and new blog name as documentation, so hopefully that is good enough! I’ll let you know if it happens for me! 🙂
Zack Reyes says
Oh yay! I hope it works!
Cindy says
Hello! I changed my company name but I need some assesment because im based in guatemala, do you provide name change services if i name you as an administrator? Can this be done if the page is in spanish even if the administrator is from the US? Thanx!
Zack Reyes says
Hello, while I have heard of that working, I do not provide that service. I simply don’t want to get myself in trouble with Facebook. The page being in Spanish probably wouldn’t be an issue, as Spanish is spoken all over the US, so it is realistic to think a page in Spanish would be US based.
Krishna says
Cindy? Did you find a way to change your name. I´m in Guatemala too and have te same problem
eben davis says
hi, is this thread just about changing the name and not the vanity URL or changing the name and the vanity URL and keeping the fans.
we want to keep the page and change the name and vanity URL while keeping fans. i dont think this is possible because FB does not re-direct.
just changing the name at least and keeping the same URL would be better than nothing…is that what this thread is about?
thanks in advance, eben
Zack Reyes says
It’s about changing the page name, not the URL.
Beckie says
I am trying to do exactly what is stated above, but i keep getting an error message: Error Processing Request. Please try again later.
Have tried for past three days…
any suggestions?
Thank you,
pramod kumar says
hi, i m from India. bu i gave a valid address of usa on my page. but the request button is not shoeing. pls help me & tell wt to do now…
Zack Reyes says
I’m not sure… my only thought is that you are not based in the US?
Zack Reyes says
If you gave a US address but still tried to click in India, it would recognize the IP address and would not let you.