Facebook Pages Makeover: What You Need to Know

For those of you that manage a Facebook page for an organization or company, you might have been thrilled with the news released by Facebook Thursday. The company distributed an e-mail notifying page admins that changes are on the horizon, including a new layout and several features aimed at improving communication.

While Facebook provides a step-by-step tour before users transfer to the new layout, some of the more noteworthy changes include:

• Liking/posting comments as your page: All I have to say is…finally! If you manage a page, this might be the most exciting news you’ve heard in a while (aside from the Green Bay Packers winning the Super Bowl). 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. Thank you, Facebook!
• Notifications: Admins will have the ability to receive notifications when others post or comment on the page.
• Photos: The five most recent photos posted to the wall by the admin will appear at the top of the page as well as photos for which the page is tagged. This does not include photos posted by others. Does a photo appear that you don’t want featured? No problem. Simply move the cursor over the photo and click the “X” to hide it.
• Navigation tabs: Hands down, this will be the most noticeable format change. Instead of having the wall, info, and other tabs across the top, these features will appear in the left column under the profile picture.
• News feed: Same as the news feed on personal accounts, there will be one for the pages liked as well.

Plenty of other changes will be taking place, but these five are the most significant. In addition, you might wonder what happened to the small content box that was under the profile picture; it will be moved to the “info” section.

“While there are some new opportunities like the ability to comment on other fan pages, other changes, like the movement of tabs to the side of the wall instead of straight across, place even more emphasis on the wall, and could minimize attention/participation to things like contests, sweepstakes, or other branded content that is typically placed on tabs with the intent to drive engagement or traffic back to a website,” said Crosby Noricks, senior social media manager at Red Door Interactive and founder of PR Couture.

Businesses are now better positioned to interact with others and should use these new features to their full advantage. The new layout will go into effect March 10, but page owners have the option to preview the page and upgrade earlier if they prefer. Keep in mind that once you migrate over, you can’t go back.

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