Facebook created place pages for many businesses when they added this new feature. If you already have a page and want to merge a claimed place page with your existing page, here is how you do it.

Important: The merging or combining of pages only moves the ‘Check ins’ and ‘Likes’ (fans) from one page to another. It does NOT move the photos or the previous posts, all of these are lost. If you want to keep the photos, you have to download them and re-upload them to the saved page.

Merging Instructions:

1. Ensure that both pages have the exact same name and address. Go to the page to be merged and edit the name and address to match the page to be kept. Note: It helps to have a different profile picture so that you can tell the pages apart. Often the page to be deleted has the default place profile. If the profile picture is the same as the page to be kept, I recommend changing the picture so you know which page is which.
   • press Edit Page
   • go to the Basic Information tab (from the links on the left column)
   • change the ‘Name:’ ,’Address:’, ‘City/Town:’ and ‘Postal Code:’
   • press Save Changes
2. Go to the page you want to keep and merge the previous page (which will be removed)
   • press Edit Page
   • go to the Resources tab (from the links on the left column)
   • click the Merge duplicate pages link
3. A dialogue will show pages that you admin and that qualify to be merged. Select the page(s) you wish to merge to the page you’re on. You should recognize it by the profile picture in step 1.

If you are the legitimate owner of a Facebook Place page, you can claim it. The procedure is slightly different for the case where there is a phone number for the place and when there is not. The procedure for claiming a place are as follows:

1. Sign in to facebook with your user account you want to manage the page with (note: you should have your restaurant email address added to this user account for verification in step 5 Email Procedure)
2. Go to the place page on Facebook
3. Click on the ‘Is this your business?’ link below the ‘like this’ and ‘were here’ display on the left side of the page
4. Certify you are a rep for place and press the ‘Proceed with Verification’
5. Depending whether there is a valid phone number, there are three procedures for claiming the page. It will automatically take you to one of the procedures (you can’t pick)
   • Phone Procedure
     • You can now have the auto dialer call the number and give you a PIN.
     • Make sure someone is ready to answer the phone and write down the PIN
     • Enter the PIN to claim the account
   • Email Procedure
     • Fill in the form listing the business name and address
     • When it asks for ‘Third Party Listing’, the Facebook page you are trying to claim will often have a small ‘yelp’ link that you can copy and paste.
     • press continue
     • use a place based email address to confirm that you are the owner (note: make sure that the email address is attached to the facebook user in step 1)
   • Business Bills Procedure
     • Same as the email procedure above, but if you don’t have a business e-mail you have to send in a business bill such as a phone bill with the business name and address. It says to scan in the receipt, but I find that simple using a smart phone and photographing the receipt is the easiest.
6. That should do it! Note that the email/bill procedures takes longer to validate whereas the phone procedure is immediate.