Facebook reveals shakeup of brand pages
Facebook has revealed a major design overhaul of brand pages.
Among the changes -which have implications for any brand which runs Facebook Pages – are users seeing what their friends have been saying about the brand elsewhere along with official posts. Users will also now be able to privately message a brand rather than conversations only taking place in public on the brand page.
Brands pages will use a similar Timeline feature to that recently rolled out to individual users, with an emphasis on rich media content.
Brands will no longer be able to direct first time visitors to a bespoke landing page, but will be able to “pin” important announcements and posts to the top of a page, or to highlight them by increasing the size of the post. Photos will take priority, and pages can now contain up to 12 different tabs or apps.
There are also tougher restrictions around what text or images ad units may contain; ads with a call to action, contact information or price or purchase information are no longer permitted. There are new ad unit placements being offered including on the log out page and the mobile version of the news feed.
Mike Hoefflinger, Facebook’s director of global business marketing, summarised the changes: “Ads are good. But stories are better.”
Do you know when the changes will take effect?
User ID not verified.
Wow, look out tactical offers!
User ID not verified.
Hi Crienna,
Some brands have moved across already.
Cheers,
Tim – Mumbrella
how “pinteresting”
User ID not verified.
March 31st will be the final day for mandatory switch over.
User ID not verified.
Crienna,
To give you an idea in regards to timing, this is what popped up on our company page this morning:
“Coming Soon: New Facebook Pages
On 30 March 2012, all Facebook Pages will get a new design. Preview your page now to see what it looks like and try out the new features.”
User ID not verified.
The New York Times is a great early example of how well timeline for brands can be utilised – https://www.facebook.com/nytimes
User ID not verified.
Our team is in the process of transitioning clients. While we love the “Wall” we are also looking forward to some of the features in the “Timeline”. Watch this space to see the hands-on, highs & lows of the new world order.
User ID not verified.
A good example of a charity doing it well early on is Livestrong – http://www.facebook.com/livestrong
It should be live for all account, I have rolled out 3 of these over the last 24 hours for varied clients.
User ID not verified.
I think the Livestrong example is great- but many of them seem to miss the mark – especially the NYtimes – of all the images that the NY times can evoke it chose that one? I think Timeline is a great opportunity to tell a great story – its a cover photo so it should be epic in scope and story.
User ID not verified.
Certainly going to be a massive game-changer. *Very* short turnaround though – we’re going to be pushing our clients to get on board ASAP so that they don’t get automatically transitioned in April and look too ‘old-school’!
User ID not verified.