Facebook’s New Page Feature: What You Need to Know and Why Your Brand Will Benefit

The Scoop

Once again, Facebook has added a feature to make our digital world even more interconnected.

Facebook Product Manager, Andrew Song, announced on February 24^th through Facebook’s Newsroom that Facebook has taken their newly introduced “Trending” feature to an even more collaborative level.

A Facebook Fan Page will now have the chance to show up on a non-following users’ News Feed if tagged by a Fan Page that they do follow. Facebook users will now see a connection between their liked Pages, just as they would a post by a non-friend’s Profile Page in which one of the user’s friends has been tagged. This new feature marks another move in blurring the lines between a Facebook Fan Page and a Facebook Profile Page, making it even more beneficial for a brand to have an active, interesting Facebook Page.

What Does This Mean for Facebook Brand Marketing?

Increased Exposure and Consumer Engagement

This new feature could change the way brands advertise through Facebook. Instead of blatant, and sometimes invasive, Facebook ads, as well as the obviously promoted “Pages You May Like” suggestions, this connected page News Feed feature allows for a friendlier, more interesting way to expose your brand through your Facebook Page. The feature creates the opportunity to make your brand’s Page more exposed and accessible to consumers by connecting with them through their similar interests. Your brand becomes less of a selling-driven cooperation, and more of an individual with intriguing Facebook connections and posts, which makes your brand a more desirable Page to follow.

Endless Possibilities for Collaborations

In the realm of niche marketing, this added feature is a dream come true. Collaborating with similar, related brands becomes a win-win for all parties involved. For example, a newly built community center with a need for a substantial amount of Facebook fans can attract a targeted following by reaching out to local health food stores, community children clubs, etc., who already have a considerable amount of followers. They can collaborate with these related, but not competitive, organizations by asking to be included in an X amount of posts on their page, for a certain trade commodity, such as, in our community center example, offering their products and services at their facility. The posts themselves would have to be subtle enough not be forced, but direct enough so that the connected exposed followers would have a significant reason to become engaged and perhaps start following the new Facebook page.

Final Thoughts

Some possible backlash for this new feature could be that it will be just another portal for spam, but in our highly digital world, what innovations don’t have that possibility? Overall, the new feature allows Facebook Pages to become interconnected, leading to a increased exposure, and promotes collaborations between corresponding brands.

Rebecca Courtney is a soon-to-be graduate of Purdue University, where she studies Public Relations and English. She specializes in authoring and advising on the art of social media.

Facebook Users Time on the Site and Activities

Posted by Cheryl Smithem

Majority spend time interacting with friend’s posts

On an average day in 2011 according to Pew Internet and the American Life Project, the typical Facebook user spent time on the site primarily “Liking” other users’ content and commenting on others’ photos. This continues to be true today with Facebook users allocating their time on the site as follows:

15% of Facebook users update their own status.
22% comment on another’s post or status.
20% comment on another user’s photos.
26% “Like” another user’s content.
10% send another user a private message

Research shows Facebook users taking breaks

Facebook use may be on the decline, if you read recent data from Pew Research as I do. Sixty-one percent of Facebook users report “taking a break” from this popular social media site.

It’s no wonder that so many are decreasing their use of the site. Since the 2012 presidential election and Newtown tragedy, the invective and political ranting seems to be at a fever pitch. People are getting worn out. Though they may report that they are too busy, tired or don’t care, I think they have realized that increasingly, Facebook can be a time suck. And people using Facebook seem to have lost much of the fine art of civility. It seems lately I read more people venting and insulting others’ parentage, heritage, beliefs and lives.

Although sixty-seven percent of Americans use Facebook on a regular basis, more and more I read posts from people who whose lives have become saturated with Facebook and they choose to disconnect as culinarian and author John Martin Taylor did in his handwritten photo post reproduced above.

Vacations from Facebook

Reasons for taking a break vary, but most report that they are just too busy to “get on Facebook.” While people report they don’t have enough time to bother with Facebook I believe that people have become worn out with the self-involved, naval gazing that many do via the site. Pew reports the following data:

If your business wants to reach these increasingly disaffected users, you must design posts that reach people’s newsfeed, because not many people make it to your brand’s Facebook Page. Facebook has facilitated fewer direct business Page visits through new “like” opportunities. Facebook now suggests you “Like” a page from your friend’s post or after “Liking” a Page, at which time Facebook offers other Pages for you to “Like.” There is even a direct menu item to allow you to view Pages Facebook recommends to you as you can see in the screen grab below.

Facebook users report plans for less time on Facebook

When asked if they plan to spend more or less time on Facebook in the coming year, increasing numbers of younger users report wanting to spend less time on the site. Your marketing will be impacted by this trend to a greater or lesser degree based on your customer demographic. The wise entrepreneur or marketing manager will increase or diversify their social media content distribution to other social channels as appropriate for your brand.

Is Facebook valuable to users?

According to Pew,

“42% of Facebook users ages 18-29 and 34% of those ages 30-49 say that the time they spend on Facebook on a typical day has decreased over the last year — these are both significantly higher than the 23% of users ages 50 and older who report decreased Facebook usage over the same time period.”

Women still report finding that Facebook is “more important” and will spend more time on the site.

Be strategic and use Facebook tools

Design your social media content to be appealing to your customers. Make sure it offers a way for them to engage with you by creating content that is helpful, informative, and fits with users’ needs. Analyze your brand’s interactions with Facebook users and if you find that you don’t have the engagement needed to be present in Facebook users’ newsfeeds, modify your content.

Use Facebook Insights to help you analyze and take advantage of what works best for your brand. Pay close attention to the time of day posted, content type receiving the highest interactions and the numbers of shared to direct your future posts. You can also pay attention to current news, and Internet memes to help you create content that is “of the moment.” The Harlem Shake meme has been adopted by everyone from animal shelters to senior citizens centers, feeding on the popularity of the topic. This video from a senior center has received thousands of views and shares as a result of being au current.

If you need assistance formulating, implementing or managing your Facebook marketing, or social media campaigns, call us. We’re here to help you increase engagement among Facebook users, plan and implement campaigns that fit your business.

Changing, Adding or Modifying Facebook Page Admins

Posted by Cheryl Smithem

Can I add or delete Facebook Page Admins?

Today a friend called me and was wondering how to add a new Facebook Page Admin to help manage her business’s Page because she could not figure out how to do this.

She had read the steps in Facebook’s help section but could not locate the Edit Page button. What was stopping her was the fact that she was trying to manage Page Admins from a Timeline. (Read about the difference between Timelines and Pages.) The first thing to know about managing Facebook Page Admins is that only Facebook Pages have Admins. Therefore controls for adding Admins are on the specific Page and not the Timeline associated with the Page.

Your Timeline is managed only by you. Conversely, Facebook Pages can have multiple admins and they can have very a specific role that limits their permissions to interact with the Page’s likers, manage advertising or manage the Page.

Settings for Facebook Page Admins can only be set when you are logged in to Facebook and have navigated to the Page for which you are an Admin.

I’ve created a series of images illustrating how to add or change Facebook Page Admins. There are just five simple steps to adding, managing or changing Facebook Page Admins. Click to view these images in a slideshow at a higher resolution.

1. Locate the Edit Page button

2. Click to expand the Edit Page Button and choose Admin Roles

3. Enter the Facebook Timeline name associated with the person you wish to add as an Admin

4. Select the role you wish to assign to the person

5. Click “Save” to add the new Facebook Page Admin

Be sure the person you wish to add to your Page as an Admin has a Timeline on Facebook. People not “on Facebook” cannot be designated as Page Admins.

Should you wish to modify a current Admin’s role, simply click on the drop-down menu displaying the roles and modify the role by selecting a new role and saving that change.

If you wish to delete an Admin, simply click the X to the right of the field area displaying their name.

Facebook Page Admins roles and permissions

Facebook has created a very handy graph illustrating the roles available to Facebook Page Admins and what permissions are allowed to each role. As you can see from reviewing the graphic, the defined roles are

Manager—Greatest number of permissions and can add other admins, edit the page, create posts and respond to comments, as well as create ads and monitor insights.
Content Creator—Fewer permissions but can do many essential functions such as create posts, respond to comments, send messages and view insights.
Moderator—Moderators are those who are able to respond to and interact with a Pages likers and also can create ads and review insights.
Advertiser—Advertisers can create ads and view insights. If you are working with an ad agency to manage your ad campaigns, this would be the role you might assign to a person there.
Insights Analyst—They can only view insights and nothing more.

Now that you know these simple steps, create a team to manage your Facebook Page and distribute the responsibilities and lighten your administrative load.