On Monday I blogged about how I think small businesses benefit from the changes for the new Facebook pages. I especially like how the Admin can now interact on Facebook as the Brand. For a very good overview of the new changes check out Oxford Communications Facebook Upgrades slide show “Like Change?” Here are a few of the things I like and how I think it will benefit small businesses.
iFrames
Tabs will now support only iFrames and no longer support Static FBML-based Tabs. This is good. FBML was just quirky enough to drive anyone used to working in HTML crazy. Now you can get all the functionality of a full functioning web page on your Facebook tab through iFrames. This means that you will need to setup the referenced page up on the internet and you are still restricted to a width of 520 pixels, but you will have a lot more flexibility. The old FBML pages will be grandfathered for a while so there is no need to change things immediately but new tabs will need to be iFrames.
Photostrip
As on personal pages the most recent photos are displayed along the top. As a small business or a brand you now have an opportunity to feature new products, sales or announcements in the photo section. Make sure it is up to date!
Profile Image Dimensions
The profile dimensions have been reduced from 200 x 600 pixels to 185 x 540 pixels. This is still a lot of space and if you haven’t been taking advantage of this territory you are missing an opportunity.
Targeted Posts
You can now send out posts using “geo-targeting.” This means you can target fans that live in certain geographical locations! You can also target fans using certain languages. So now you can send messages only to those speakers of Pirate English living in Florida.
E-mail Notifications
Get updated every time a fan posts to your page. If you have a lot of fans and don’t want to be bothered you can turn this feature off.
Profanity Block
If this has been a problem you now have some control by setting the filter to None, Medium or Strong.
Liking Other Pages
I went into more detail on this in Monday’s post but this is a replacement of the “Favorite Pages.”
Administrator Settings
When you choose the setting identified as “Use Facebook as Page” your Page interacts with other pages and not your personal profile. So now your Page can post to other pages and be identified as the Page or Brand and NOT as an individual. You can also set it up so the Administrator is identified on the Page. This is great for a small business where customers often know or identify with the business owner. For larger organizations or for page administrators not directly related to the brand this feature can be turned off.
There are many more changes and advantages for small businesses using the new Facebook pages. I urge you to go in and try them out. If you have questions about how your business can more effectively use Facebook and other online marketing strategies please do not hesitate to contact us.
Photo Credit: Mensaic: MorgueFile
