At the start of February, Facebook released design and feature changes to Facebook ‘Pages’. In effect these changes will mean that pages will behave more like individual profiles, both in layout and functionality. If you run a Facebook page for a brand or business these changes will, mostly, be a welcome change however long overdue.
One of the most significant changes is the Page Administrators can now be logged in as the ‘Page’ itself. This means they can comment on behalf of the Page / Brand across other Pages, as well as public user profiles. Previously ‘comments’ and ‘likes’ could only be done from personal Facebook accounts; now any page will be able to ‘like’ and post comments on other pages. It also means you are no longer confined to the community on your own page, but can reach out to other groups and engage with users away from your own business page. This gives Pages far more reach than it previously had, which in turn means far more exposure and interaction than they previously had. An important thing to remember here is that every time you engage somewhere it will leave a link back to your own page, so very much like commenting. It is a good strategy for growing blog traffic the same now applies to Facebook.
Administrators can also now switch back and forth between their personal profile and their Pages’ profile, allowing easy movement between each of the pages you administer and your own profile.
This increased interaction will be hugely valuable for Pages, allowing brands to communicate with their audience and customers directly. Another element that this brings into the spotlight is Facebook networking. Previously there was no way of identifying who was behind a page other than through sharing contact information in the info tab. Facebook has now changed this with the option to set up featured page owners that appear as profiles on the right hand side of the page. This might be a useful feature for smaller businesses that are happy to share their personal profiles.
One of the best page changes for brands is that you now get email notifications when someone comments on your post or posts on your Page. This will allow businesses to monitor user interaction and their response times, allowing businesses to provide better customer services through Facebook. On top of this Facebook have also introduced a ‘moderation blacklist’ which gives page owners the option to select words, if used in a post or comment, that will automatically be viewed as spam, and therefore not published on the Page’s wall. There has been debate about how businesses will use this tool, whether it will be regulated to moderate only swearwords or inappropriate language, rather than blacklisting competitor brands. However, at the moment, there are no rules laid out by Facebook on this.
These updates will allow ‘Pages’ to interact like people, humanising brands. If used correctly this will allow businesses to develop greater brand awareness and stronger customer relationships through their Facebook ‘Pages’. However, community engagement on any level needs to have a planned strategy behind it, clear goals need to be set so that success can be measured, and the campaign managed effectively. These Facebook upgrades open avenues for businesses but like all possibilities it depends how you use them!
The upgrade will go into effect for all pages on 10 March, but users have the option of taking the plunge right away. For a more in depth look at what functions Pages can offer and the changes that are taking place, see the ‘Pages on Facebook’ page or this profile…. http://www.facebook.com/FacebookPages#!/notes/facebook-pages/an-upgrade-for-pages/1015009072906482