Facebook Adds Important New Features to Business Pages

Chris Naff - June 23, 2014

Though the announcement was made back in March of this year, Facebook is rolling out a new design for business pages. The world’s largest social network has added some new features to these pages, but the changes are mainly organizational. The update will change the experience for both the audience and brand managers of business pages.

So what has changed? Let’s take a look.

Changes for the Audience

Cover Photo

The company name, category, and engagement buttons will now appear on top of the cover photo. These new features are called out in the red box below.

Custom Tabs

Tabs with small images under the cover photo are being replaced with text links, as shown in the red box on the screen shot below. If your page previously had custom app images in these tabs, they have not totally disappeared, however they are now located under Page Information.

The most notable change is the layout of posts within the page. Previously, posts were divided into two columns on the right and left side of the page. After the update, the posts are displayed in sequential order on the right-hand side of the screen. Perhaps more importantly, theses posts will appear larger than before, mimicking how they will appear in the News Feed on both desktop and mobile devices.

Changes for Marketers

The new admin panel gives page managers an upfront view of the relevant details regarding your brand’s Facebook presence. Though these features are only displayed to users who manage the page, they provide easier access to core administrative tools such as Insights and Settings. With a quick glance, you can see new likes the page has received within the last week, the total reach the page has garnered, and any unread messages or notifications.

A completely new feature for businesses pages is the Pages to Watch section under Insights. It allows for admins to identify competitors and similar pages within the social network and compare them to the performance of your brand. You have the ability to search for specific pages yourself, and in addition Facebook offers lists of suggested pages as seen below.

This new page layout was available as of June 13th but it will be rolled out to audience members incrementally. Unlike the recent Twitter update, Facebook’s update for business pages will not require a new size for the cover or profile photos. However, there are a few areas of the page we recommend addressing. These include:

• Decide which tabs are most important and select those that should be displayed in the two spots available after the “About” tab (which cannot be moved).
• Check to see that your cover photo appears the way that you intend it to. Again, the size of the photo hasn’t changed, but the text and boxes on the bottom of the photo may be covering key portions of the image.
• The cover photo will now appear at the top of the screen for each section of the page: Timeline, About, and the tabs. Ensure that the image looks fresh and engaging.
• Identify which pages are key for your brand to follow. This is a great way to keep your thumb on the pulse of what your industry is doing on Facebook.
• Although most of these updates are cosmetic, they create an enhanced user experience for your audience. The new features also provide better information regarding performance of your business page which hopefully leads to better decision making.