Why Businesses Page Owners Should Explore and Embrace Facebook’s Latest Changes

Over a week ago, Facebook made significant changes to business pages. Since then, we’ve been getting used to the changes and still making some new minor discoveries. Initially the navigation took some getting used to, but overall it is our opinion that the changes demonstrate how the growth in business use has resulted in the changing “face” of Facebook. Now my apologies for that pun—I couldn’t resist.

The most critical change is now allowing a business page “like” another business page. We wrote about it in our previous blog post and it’s mentioned in an article we shared. This holds immense potential for you to comment on other pages within your industry network and your community. Allowing you to comment as a page gives you more options to get your business name out in front of another audience and to increase your partnerships.

So here is a roll call of some other new and noteworthy features:

Category Changes

If you set up your page prior to the changes, you may have selected local business which did not have certain sub-categories. Facebook has added Companies & Organizations and new sub-categories that did not exist previously.

An example is that Insurance Company now exists under Companies.  This category/sub-category combination contains new information fields that may be important in conveying details about your business such as mission statement and awards to name a couple.

To update, look at the “Basic Information” section after selecting “Edit Page.” If you do change your category, make sure to complete all relevant fields if they don’t carry over from previously entered details.

Block Lists and Profanity Screens

If you’ve been spammed by the Acai Berry diet posts, this is for you!  You can add comma-separated keywords to prevent posts containing those phrases from appearing to the public on your Page. To add keywords to the blacklist, go to the "Manage Permissions" section after selecting "Edit Page."

Per Facebook, “When people include blacklisted keywords in a post and or a comment on your Page, the content will be automatically marked as spam. Wall posts will be moved to the Pages Spam filter, which is hidden from public view. Comments will appear in gray to admins, but will not appear to the public.”

Page Owners can set a strength level of strong, medium or none to the community-moderated words and phrases considered profane.  Note: Facebook does not provide a list of exactly what words will be filtered under each setting.

If a page owner wants to make an exception, they can click the ‘x’ next to the post or comment in their Page’s spam tab and click “Unmark as Spam” to return it to public view.

Have questions or need help? Contact us to schedule time and we can help you review these changes.

Facebook is Giving Business Pages a Makeover

Facebook launched the much anticipated business page changes for preview and upgrade late last week. The changes are much more than cosmetic and today’s blog post is devoted to reviewing some of the business page updates. This is a long post, but you'll see why.

Navigation and Visual Changes

Getting to your business page: As we posted last week, to navigate from your personal profile to your business profile the Account > Manage Pages has changed to Account > Use Facebook as Page.  

Tabs: Tabs really aren’t tabs any more. They are basically links and will move to the left column panel under your profile picture. 

Photostrip: Visitors will see a photostrip now. To hide a photo, roll over it and click X in the top right corner. Another photo will take its place.

 



Feature Changes

Facebook has done away with the rule that you have to like a page as a person: You can now like another page as a page. And this is where it becomes important to pay attention because this change results in other feature updates.

Business Page News Feed: If you like another page as a page, you will see those pages' updates in your new business page news feed. Those pages you liked with your personal profile remain on your personal news feed. 

If you want to now see other business page updates on your business page news feed, you will need to like pages as your Facebook page. Note: Liking other pages does not include their updates on your business page wall. However, some of those pages will be featured on your page as Likes.

 

Business Page Home Button: Consequently another change you will notice:  if you select the Home button while you are on your business page you no longer return to your personal profile news feed as before. Because you can now like other business pages as a page, the Home button now takes you to your business page news feed. 

Comment/Like as you or your business page: While using your business page you will notice in the upper right corner that you have a toggle select. You can use Facebook as your page or use Facebook as “you.” Please pay attention!

If you are using as your Facebook page, when you comment or like a post or picture—you will like it as your business page—not as you (your personal profile). And, yes, fans of your business page will be alerted that you made a comment or like when they visit your page. 

You can toggle back to using Facebook as “you” and this means comments or likes are tagged as “you" not your Facebook business page.

If you want to revert back to you to alleviate any confusion, you can select Account > Switch back to “you.”

Dizzy yet? Keep reading.

Finding Suggest to Friends: When you use Account > Use Facebook as Page to navigate to your business page, you may want to suggest to friends. While on your page, you will have to use the toggle option to use as “you” (personal profile) to suggest to Friends. 

Changes to the Edit Page Section

Edit Page has moved first of all: Administrators will find the Edit Page button has moved to the upper right page corner.

Your Settings: You can select how to comment and post on your business page. The default is “your page name.” 

Basic Information > Categories : Facebook now allows you to change the category of your business if you wish.

Basic Information > Username: If you have 25 business page fans, Facebook has added its vanity URL feature to this section allowing you to choose a page name. A vanity URL makes it easier to search for your business and to add to your business cards and other publication materials. 

Featured > Likes: If you like other pages via your business page, these will show on your business page but only a few will be featured.  You can specify which of your liked pages always rotate there by selecting them as featured.

Featured > Page Owners: You can feature “Page Owners” and link to their personal profiles from your Page. To turn this feature on, click “Edit Page” and navigate to Featured option. Select the administrator(s) to feature. You can undo this at anytime. For those who wish to keep their personal and business profiles separate—don’t turn on this feature. 

From what we've read, you cannot opt out of these changes so please take time to familiarize yourself with these updates. Change can be a challenge, but we still believe Facebook is a useful business social media tool.

You’ve started a blog, now what do you write about?

Blogging is a great way to distribute information to customers as well as everyone on the web. You can also leverage the blogging platform as a newsletter and a form of open ended communication with your customers. Blogging is another way you can establish an identity for your business or brand by developing a personal connection with your audience.

One of the most common problems for new bloggers are developing ideas and creating topics to write about. Many of today’s top bloggers find ideas in Social Media such as Twitter, Facebook posts, and even YouTube videos. Looking to the news media is also a great way to get ideas. Addressing local issues and hot topics, then tying them into your business or creating a personal connection are great blog strategies.

Blog posts are another way to address Frequently Asked Questions. Not only will you be able to provide answers to questions for your customers, you will also have the ability to showcase your insurance expertise.

As you write your blog, remember that all posts do not necessarily have to be business oriented. It is perfectly acceptable to make posts about topics impacting you personally, and about your family. Many times blogs are a great way to “put a face to a name” and make your agency more relatable to your customers.

Remember when you begin blogging, developing a post will take some time, but as you get more familiar, posts will come more naturally.

Social Media Technology Spotlight: TweetDeck

Are you participating in several social media channels? Facebook allows you to integrate with Twitter. You can add your Twitter account to LinkedIn. What if you have accounts in all three or more social media tools? There are applications to help you organize your social media and today we are putting the spotlight on TweetDeck.

TweetDeck describes itself as a “personal real-time browser.” I think of it as a dashboard. 

TweetDeck Example

As the name implies, the foundation of TweetDeck was originally the Twitter world. Some users may judge the value add of this application based on your level of Twitter activity. My personal opinion is that even if you only use Twitter to follow users but you’re active in other social media such as Facebook, I think this tool could be of interest.

TweetDeck enables to you add your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn plus other select social media accounts. If you have a post that you want to push out to multiple channels, you can type your message and select the accounts for publishing. If you want to publish a post to Twitter, TweetDeck also has an automatic 140 character countdown.

The application allows you to personalize your dashboard choosing the columns to display. This dashboard makes "watching" the broadcasts on your channels handy. If you follow users on Twitter (and, yes, several industry organizations use Twitter), you can devote a column to the tweets of the users you follow. You can also devote a column to a Facebook feed.

Use your smart phone? TweetDeck supports mobile devices.

If you want to learn more, visit http://www.tweetdeck.com.