Beginning this week, businesses and brands will start to notice significant changes and enhancements when using Facebook Pages. Among other things, you'll be able to assign up to five different degrees of access for Page administrators and gain access to real-time analytics surrounding popular activity metrics. You'll also see an entirely new user interface -- complete with an optional messaging platform for fans to correspond with your business and brand.
These changes, along with others, are certain to get people talking about just how far Facebook is pushing the business and brand Page envelope -- and to what extent the social-networking giant is helping or hurting.
Starting with the user interface, businesses will find themselves in the same situation as individual users did last month: Presented with Facebook's new Timeline feature that was optional at first, and then as mandatory as breathing. Come the end of March, Timeline will become a fact of life for all Pages. It's an offer that you actually can't refuse.
Related: A User's Guide to Facebook's New Timeline Feature
Now, if you're among the considerable number of Facebook users who absolutely "unlike" Timeline, consider this: Some of the features you hate on individual user profiles might prove to be valuable assets to your company or brand. Or maybe not. Here are the pros and cons of Facebook's Business Pages facelift:
Messaging
Pro: For instance, an optional Message button at the top of the page -- once activated through the Manage Permissions tab in your administrative settings -- can be used by your Page's fans to communicate with your business or brand in a one-on-one environment. That could go a long way in keeping complaints and angry rants about your policies, practices and performance from appearing on your Page.
Con: The messaging function could generate dozens if not hundreds of messages per day -- especially for larger businesses and popular brands. Few companies are set up to manage such a level of messaging from an external platform such as Facebook. But consumer demand may force your hand in how you field customer communications.
My recommendation: Test the Message option by enabling it for a week or two. Devote internal resources and mindshare to monitoring and responding and see what work is really required. At the end of the day, you might find that traditional communication channels such as phone, email and chat may slowly get replaced by Facebook messages.
Pinning Updates
Pro: Another significant change ushered in alongside Timeline enables you to make certain Status Updates "sticky" -- allowing an important update to appear at the top of Timeline for a full week -- by "pinning" it. To pin an update, post it to Timeline, then select the pencil icon in the upper-right corner of your post, followed by "Pin to top" in the dropdown menu.
This feature is especially useful for businesses or brands that want to keep one particular call-to-action front and center each time a user visits their page. For example, if your office is going to be closed due to a holiday or you're in the last few days of a user survey, upfront placement makes sense.
Con: Keep in mind that your users aren't going to make a habit of revisiting a Page that maintains the same content each time they view your Timeline. Though, users do tend to receive news and information about your business or brand in their News Feed, not from your Page, so the pros and cons here appear to be a wash.
The Cover Photo
Pro: Timeline's cover photo provides an opportunity to put your business or brand's personality on display. (See photo below of my cat, Star.)
Con: Slapping a gorgeous photograph on the top of your page draws a visitor's attention, but is it useful and will it really benefit your brand? Due to its dimensions (851 by 315 pixels), the cover photo actually forces the most important elements of your Page -- your updates and interactions with fans -- down the Page and "below the fold" where a user must scroll in order to view them.
Also, if you're considering using a cover photo that contains more than just images, consider this a warning: You'll be in violation of Facebook's policy. Facebook says Page cover photos must not contain anything that might incent a user like a sales pitch or discount offer. Nor should it contain contact information -- web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page's About section. Further, skip any references to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features and calls to action including "Get it now" or "Tell your friends."
In the weeks to come, I'll follow up with a more detailed analysis of the changes you'll need to know about most -- for instance, switching administrative settings for individual Page Admins, how to best leverage real-time insights and advertising options. In the meantime, take some time over the next 30 days to fill in the details along your business or brand's Timeline. Despite the extra work, you may learn a little something about your own operation while you're at it.
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Comments:
Pretty cool cover! nice idea!
The word like If, subject to, as auditors use to hide few notes, "If the central bank brings forward its future seigniorage revenue by creating a lot of money now, it seems clear that it could cause inflation to rise in the short term while still remaining well bank money creation. " simply do not tell me anything except there are few nuts and bolts lose in the system and that we have no idea where. We cover this up by these phrase."Want to borrow the jack" In short here is the story. A man gets stuck in the desert with a flat tire. He says to himself, " Yes I had noticed a house a mile further down, let me go and ask for the jack. He goes, thinking... what if the house owner is not in, what if there is no one, what if the wife refuses the husband to lend the jack to a stranger, what if they do not have the jack, and he caries on building hid version. He reaches the house , rings the bell. By this time he has made up his mind. As soon as the door opens, he says, " Look I know you have a jack, now you can keep this damn thing, I just do not want it"If things do not work out tell yourself, " That was my fault. I ought be careful next time, but to shove down the blame on others is a vehement. to all. I thank and no offence. please.I thank you. If you read the complete controversies above we are basing these on what if, CRM has failed, we must sell, sell, no matter if we lose? I thank you Firozali A.Mulla .
Got to say I dislike the chance and have stopped using my business page as a result - concentrating more on social buttons on my website and interacting more with friends and hoping that will promote my business as well as other advertising and SEO.
Margieh, you can add "milestones" to your timeline, which will be displayed much bigger than ordinary stories. Try adding when you opened, a date you moved locations, a date you were first featured in the local paper, a date your business was first featured in a national publication, etc. Just click on "Timeline" where you normally update a status. You can add a photo too! Hope this helped!
Great post, Mikal. I manage several pages and i'm trying to play around them using the new design without publishing it. I don't see the messaging feature as relevant as the landing pages. Too bad for those who spent so much money with their landing pages...
I wish to first say I enjoyed your column and loved learning about the pin feature. I feel odd reading all the negative comments because I have been excited with the FB changes. We have a NING network with over 1000 followers and I'd like to see our FB fan page exceed that number with it's wide open ability to reach potential customers. Finally the Fan pages can have more of a commercial website feel even when staying inside the FB guidelines. Right up there is the ability to instantly track how many people are talking about us and how many we're reaching through the vast ways a FB post can spread across the network. Again, good job on the article.
Kerry, If you use the highlight option the post will span both columns.
I am using Google, better for business, organization! FBook is good for communicating with freinds, family, networking, with college colleagues! I prefer to keep, business appointments, messages and notes, on Google, no more, no less.
You won't be able to do that because it would go against Facebook policy!
This is just a terrible upgrade for businesses. A lousy user interface that makes it hard to know what to focus on. Someone at Facebook should be fired for this. Really. I work with several businesses that hate it.
Since changing to Timeline on my personal page, I have been more "out of touch" with friends than ever before. I'm concerned that this will be the same once the business page changes over. People had a hard enough time adjusting to the personal page changes to Timeline, this could create even more distress causing people to leave FB and go to Google+ or other social media networks. I know I've begun to move to Google+ already.
Sedat, Be careful though because I wrote in the article, if you're considering using a cover photo that contains more than just images, you'll be in violation of Facebook's policy. Facebook says Page cover photos cannot contain anything that might incentivize a user like a sales pitch or discount offer. Nor can it contain contact information -- web address, email, mailing address or other information. You also have to avoid any references to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features and calls to action including "Get it now" or "Tell your friends." MIkal
This facelift was not even necessay, but it seems like it is good for business.
One "con" I noticed in switching over my brand's FB page, is that it now goes directly to the timeline instead of the "welcome" tab I created. Which is a bummer.
I agree with your comments to Ms Sander. Many of my clients, if not most, are small businesses that have been using their Facebook page as they would a website - if they could afford a website. Now they are losing their landing page, sometimes a microsite, and a fair amount of real estate to an element that must not "incent" the visitor. In deference to Ms Sander, I do agree that "Connecting with our customers is not about the bells and whistles. It's not about "pretty". It's about caring about their needs and interests. It's about easy access, one-on-one communication." We had that pre-Timeline, but now it’s about what Facebook has decided that we need – or want and there is little or limited choice in the matter.
Wow! I stepped into a mine field! Do you work for Facebook? :) I am clearly not as well versed in the history of FB as you seem to be. I apologize for not indicating more clearly that my comments were based on my own perceptions from my personal experience with FB. That being said I have a few things to add. Point by point:Mine: "Facebook is losing touch with what drew people to them in the first place."Yours: "Facebook has long drawn both people and brands, not just people."Brands are people. People are brands. A brand without something behind it that appeals to a person has no value to the company who created it. Keeping the platform functioning in a way that creates as smooth a relationship/interaction/connection between the individual and the business the better. Mine: "FACE book was a virtual way to be face to face with people."Yours: "It still works, it never stopped working, and people by the millions continue to make it work in exactly the way you outline above."It may be "working" at this precise moment in time, it may have worked historically, there's no guarantee in the fast changing technical world that it will continue to work or work as well.Mine: "Connecting with our customers is not about the bells and whistles. It's not about "pretty". It's about caring about their needs and interests. It's about easy access, one-on-one communication."Yours: I disagree with the gross generalization that connecting with customers has to always mean "one-to-one" communication.I'm not sure why you're offended by the idea of personal interaction with customers. I in no way meant to imply that this was the only way of communicating with them. We were talking about FB, a platform that I still contend was designed for personal interaction. After all, isn't that why businesses get involved in "social" media in the first place? To get a feel for what people are thinking and feeling and as a means of connecting to their customer base?Yours: I have to wonder why you feel Facebook making business and brand pages prettier (your word, not mine) is such a bad thing?I didn't say it was a bad thing. I believe users, both personal and professional, want an appealing, easy to use, smooth interfacing platform. I am sure it is difficult to find something that works for the individual, the small business owner and the corporate giant equally well. Mine: "The 20 & 30 somethings have drifted away already and they are the future consumers. The boomer crowd, a huge market, is drifting away."Yours: "Studies show otherwise, so I'm not sure where you're data is coming from. The boomer demo continues tone the fastest growing segment on Facebook, and the 20 and 30 segment hasn't "drifted away" as you state, either."Again, past studies are irrelevant when we're talking about a situation that is going on currently. My statement was based on my experience. I sense a real shift in patience level and level of commitment to FB. Other social media options are still arising and evolving, providing alternatives. We all have to pick and choose where we will place our marketing efforts and where we will spend our time when it comes to social media. This last round of FB changes has created a bump in the road and time will tell how smooth the landing.
Tabs are a problem, but I think the way it capitalizes on content shared and liked is great.
Dorothy, You present an interesting perspective that's predicated by what may be some erroneous assumptions (note I said "may" not "is). Point by point: At the outset you say: "Facebook is losing touch with what drew people to them in the first place." Facebook is a double-sided network, conceived and meant for people AND businesses, brands, organizations, groups, civic entities, etc. As a result, it generates interest and revenue from both side of the network… the individual consumers users and the businesses and brands, and host of others who choose to take advantage of the revenue-related opportunities in advertising, credits, games, commerce, and more. My point: Facebook has long drawn both people and brands, not just people. Next up, you wrote: "FACE book was a virtual way to be face to face with people. It worked. It provided a platform for people to make contact with people wherever and whenever and however they wanted, meet up with old friends, make new friends, and yes, network for business purposes." My reaction to this: It still works, it never stopped working, and people by the millions continue to make it work in exactly the way you outline above. Why point this out? Because you say "FACE book was…" as if to suggest it no longer is, which I believe is not the case. Next up, you wrote: "But must we drive everything into the ground with "branding"?" I have to assume you feel Facebook is becoming "over branded" with business- and brand-related messages, but is that (if it's true, which I don't think it is) really Facebook's fault, or is it the fault of businesses and brands that don't understand what you wrote a little further down, namely… "Connecting with our customers is not about the bells and whistles. It's not about "pretty". It's about caring about their needs and interests. It's about easy access, one-on-one communication." See, I disagree with the gross generalization that connecting with customers has to always mean "one-to-one" communication (there are millions of successful examples quantitatively proving otherwise), and I have to wonder why you feel Facebook making business and brand pages prettier (your word, not mine) is such a bad thing? The commercialism has been a part of Facebook as far back as 2007, and Facebook has grown to attract 500 million new users since that time, so it would seem consumer users don't necessarily agree with you. Moreover, evolving the site's usability to include the ability to leverage self-placed historical data seems like a smart move, to me at least. Just because Facebook is prettying things up and offering more ad programs, doesn't mean businesses and brands don't value participation as a part of the marketing mix. In other words, I fail to see the connection you're making between the new UI and the appropriate way to market within the given environment. I'd be interested in hearing your response to this. As for the following: "The 20 & 30 somethings have drifted away already and they are the future consumers. The boomer crowd, a huge market, is drifting away." Studies show otherwise, so I'm not sure where you're data is coming from. The boomer demo continues tone the fastest growing segment on Facebook, and the 20 and 30 segment hasn't "drifted away" as you state, either. In my view, Facebook is very smart about commercialization. Display ads are not intrusive… they appear on the side of the page, so you know where they are and if you don't like them you've likely already trained your eye to tune them out. In addition, what other platform gives you, the user, the opportunity to dismiss an ad and explain why you chose to do so? Facebook has for years, giving the viewer of the ad a tremendous amount of control. Newer ad offerings for businesses, brands, organizations, civic groups, and the like -- which will be the next significant wave we'll see -- will all be generated off of what people have already expressed an interest in liking (which includes things and people). To suggest that the News Feed will become cluttered with ads (that's my interpretation of the gist of your comment) is overreaching in my view. Many businesses, both small and large, have for years found Facebook-related marketing, advertising and engagement to be quite the opposite to what you forecast ("…it's going to be just more of our marketing budget tossed down the drain."). Rather than blast the platform, I suggest looking at the strategy and tactics used by those who fail and focus on correction there instead. Respectfully, Mikal
I think you all are missing the point. Facebook is losing touch with what drew people to them in the first place. FACE book was a virtual way to be face to face with people. It worked. It provided a platform for people to make contact with people wherever and whenever and however they wanted, meet up with old friends, make new friends, and yes, network for business purposes. But must we drive everything into the ground with "branding"? I've been in marketing for many years and no one knows better than I do the importance of establishing a good reputation, and even a recognizable brand. The internet, however, seems to have led to an overemphasis on superficial branding lacking in depth or a connection to what really matters. Connecting with our customers is not about the bells and whistles. It's not about "pretty". It's about caring about their needs and interests. It's about easy access, one-on-one communication. Over-branding is as harmful as under-branding, in my humble opinion. The new Facebook change is just one step further into the over commercialization of FB and I think it's going to drive people away. The 20 & 30 somethings have drifted away already and they are the future consumers. The boomer crowd, a huge market, is drifting away. They have always hated over commercialization. I appreciate the desire to "go with" the changes and try to make them work but I rather think it's going to be just more of our marketing budget tossed down the drain. Personally, I think it's time to just get down to business and quit fooling around with trying to cram a square peg into a round hole. Get to know your customers. Give them what they need and want and you will succeed in your business.
What do you mean by "fill in the details of the timeline" ... is there a section where you add info or just edit the postings that are showing. Would LOVE to know more about what you are referring to??? Thanks!
It was not that great for Business Pages..I feel we may loose the essentials..I just hate the LIKEs system. I pushed the new timeline feature to test how it will go as i do have other pages. I just want FB to check few things around like LIKES, Default Page etc Check http://www.facebook.com/voyagefanclub I dont understand WHY FB IS MAKING IT MANDATORY.
And from a historical perspective, it allows businesses, brands, organizations and others who use Pages to build a complete profile over time by filling in the blanks on the Timeline itself. Giving consumers and partners and other the opportunity to take that little stroll down memory lane is part of what people want. They want a behind-the-scenes look at how your business got to where you are today, along with insight into what's coming next.
I think it's a good change and we should remember most interaction is done from people's feeds, not on the page themselves. This just makes it a little "prettier" by having a Cover Image.
This Pros & Cons comparison cleared a lot which made easy to understand about the Facebook Fan Page. @mariego:disqus that's what makes Entrepreneur articles different & unique from the other websites. The commentators here share very valuable knowledge relevant to the topic.
New cover photo is a perfect opportunity for the companies who are in daily deal business. It is quite possible to use that space for the advertisement.
You have the option of simply not using the cover photo.
I like how you wrote a balanced article about this timely issue. Personally, I don't like Facebook's face lift. The cons you mentioned made my aversion grow stronger because they're so true.
timeline sux being split into 2 colums and harder to rread. very frustrating for sellers and buyers. very slow also
Oh and BTW, regarding the timeline image, I was thinking that I was losing some serious real estate - so I totally agree with your point of pushing info below the fold.
Mikal, great cat!