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FACEBOOK MARCH 2011 UNDERSTANDING THE CHANGES

In February 2011 Facebook announced the site is launching a major change to design and functionality for its over 2 million ‘Facebook Pages’ on March 10th 2011, the change will be mandatory for all pages.

This will impact over 5.4 billion fans of multiple pages.

The new look for business pages is currently available for voluntary upgrade. However, it will be rolled out to all business pages on March 10.

In summary the revamp brings Fan Pages functionality and design much closer to normal (non business) Facebook user profiles:

With the March 10 changes Facebook is giving Pages much of the same functionality available to normal users — you can browse Facebook as if you were the Page.

Pages can also ‘Like’ other pages.

The algorithm used for News Feed management has changed. From March 10, if you are friends with someone leaving a comment on a page, that comment will now show on your NewsFeed higher than more generic posts. Previously, they’d just be shown in reverse chronological order.

o The main implication of this for businesses is that healthy relationships between you, your fans, and their friends will be the best way to ensure broad dissemination if relevant posts.

Status updates from pages appears in the page News Feed (Pages now have a News Feed as well)

Addition of multiple images at the top of the page.

The application tabs have been moved from the top of the profile down to a sidebar just beneath the profile image.

A widget that shows what ‘Likes’ you have in common with the Page.

The bad news is there are no longer the facilities of FBML and every tab is potentially an application.

The good news is that greatly increases the ability to build better applications using iFrames (more flexible and better performance).

BELOW IS A MAP OF THE NEW FEATURES CREATED BY INVOLVER (A FACEBOOK APP MAKER)

1-Photo strip above the Wall (with most recent photos you posted or tagged) 2-Tabs move to the left panel, in the form of a list (maximum of 6 above the fold). Instead of the horizontal tabs on the top of the page that used to accommodate the “Wall” and “Info” tabs and all outside applications, users will now navigate between views using a vertical panel of links to the left of the wall. 3-Profile picture reduced from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540 4-Blurb box that was below the Page picture moved to info tab 5-Pages can Like other Pages 6-Featured Pages and Admins (Admin block is visible to admins only) 7-Page category 8-Choice for Wall posts between “Everyone” and Page posts only 9-Mutual Friends and Interests section

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Note, very important: You can preview the new layout but once you upgrade, there is no way to revert back to the old design.

Pages can also display Featured Page Owners on the left hand column, just below the Liked Pages

THE MOST IMPORTANT CHANGE THAT FACEBOOK MADE TO PAGES WAS TO GIVE THEM SIMILAR POSTING PRIVILEGES AS PROFILES. THIS IS A GAME CHANGER.

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Every Facebook marketing strategy in existence SHOULD be re-written to include this major change.

Why? Because the walls that were holding you back have now been torn down. You can be your page.

To understand where we are, we have to understand where we were.

Your brand message was restricted to the follies of the Facebook algorithm before. Your message appeared on News Feeds of those who liked you, their friends if they were engaging with you, and your own wall itself. That’s it.

Now, you can spread the wings of your brand just about anywhere you want. While you still can’t post to profile walls, you can post as your page to any walls of pages that you like (as long as they don’t block you). We’ve tried this week for a promotion for one of The Online Circle’s client and worked well, if you want to know more call Lucio +61 3 9813 2141.

Properly used, the applications and implications are tremendous.

But with great power comes great responsibility. There is a drawback. Spam. You know it will

happen. With pages given this new power, you will need to constantly monitor your own walls to make sure that spam isn’t proliferated across them.

Facebook will (if they haven’t already) put in countermeasures to this and start banning pages that are reported or blocked often, just as they do with profiles.

However, the ease of creating pages will open doors to spammers like never before on Facebook.

THIS IS ENOUGH IF YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT OVERALL CHANGES, BUT FOR THOSE WILLING TO GET MORE DETAILS, THERE YOU GO:

Photo Strip Instead of Tabs Above the Wall The replacement of tabs with the photo strip at the top adds a dynamic, colourful element that will significantly improve the look of the average Facebook Page. The photos are drawn from the most recent ones you posted to your Wall and those you tagged, but does not include photos posted by fans. Users can hide undesirable photos. The new left nav placement of tabs also allows for longer tab names.

Expanded Functionality For Fan Page Admins Interact as a Page: A completely new feature, Facebook has added the ability to interact with items around the social network as the brand page. In this way, you can “Like” other brand pages, interact on their Walls, and have those interactions be from your brand page, instead of your personal profile. We think this will be a great way to increase your brand awareness, by tactfully interacting with other pages and people who are influencers.

Enhanced 2-way communications: To enhance responsiveness or just to keep admins more in the loop, you will be able to set up notifications of page activity that go to your email, such as any new Wall posts made by fans. There are also enhanced moderation/spam settings so that you can specify lists of words or terms you want blocked from showing up from your Facebook Page wall if written in a comment by a misbehaved fan. In addition, the admin’s News Feed will contain streaming content of activity going on from the brand page.

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The Online Circle Clients Overall, the changes announced represent a huge advance in the ability for brands to create rich, individualized experiences for their audiences.

We are reviewing the NEW POLICIES. While many applications like Flash will now function better on your Page, Facebook’s restrictions require you to limit their functionality until a user interacts with it. As always, should you have any concerns about these changes, please do not hesitate to contact your Account Manager at The Online Circle.

More details and information available here and here

FACEBOOK ADS

Inspired by http://www.smartcompany.com.au/brand-new-day/facebook-ads-have-more-options-a-how-do-i-use-them.html

1) SPONSORED STORIES

You can target two groups of people by using this feature:

Friends of those who are connected to your page by clicking the Like story box. This means your potential reach is far smaller but it also means it will be more powerful. When people see their friend already Likes the page they are more likely to.

People who are connected to the page through clicking the page post story box. This can be used to promote the posts you put on the page wall to people who like your page but may not have seen the posts. This could be good because a recent article said that only 5% of page posts appear in likers newsfeeds – scary! Particularly relevant if you are posting a hot topic you want people to see.

2) DESTINATION TAB

If you are advertising your Facebook page through the ads you can now specify where you want people to land on the page when they click on the ad. This is great if you have a special offer or want to create a landing tab that is a sales page. This means your ad can be very specific and the landing position can match that.

3) AD LAYOUT

If you have switched your page over to the new look, ads will be appearing horizontally rather than vertically as previously.

It is now more important than ever that your image fills up the space on the left. You need to use the space to make your ad really eye-catching in order to grab your readers’ attention.

Facebook ads are also now seen in more places apart from the right hand side of the page.

If your page photo’s tab has been upgraded to the new light box version (if you click on a photo in an album you can tell if the photo pops up on a black background) there is now an ad that appears at bottom right.