Important Changes to Your Facebook Business Page - Happening Now

You may have seen emails from Facebook this month letting you know that there will be changes made to the layout of your business page going into effect 8/23/18. Many of our clients forwarded the email notifications worried about the change - but there’s nothing to fear! 

What’s going on with Facebook Business Pages?

It shouldn’t be news to you that organic reach and engagement on Facebook has dipped significantly for brands in the last 1.5-2 years. As the Facebook newsfeed continues to be more and more impacted, businesses and brands’ content is showing up less and less. Hello, back burner. 

What does this mean for our Facebook Business Pages?

With an impacted Newsfeed, businesses and brands are feeling the pain the most. In an effort to solve this issue, Facebook has been slowly changing the business page layout to make it more of a utility for consumers. 

When we say utility, we mean a site like Tripadvisor or Yelp.  But this August 2018, we'll see a few more changes.

Your Facebook business page will become a mini version of your website.  Instead of a content focused page, it’ll focus more on actions and recommendations.

Your Facebook business page will serve as a destination for people to seek information, book consultations/appointments, browse your services or menu, etc. 

What will impact my business the most?

Here are the core changes to your Facebook business, officially starting 8/23/18 (Facebook has let business pages switch over early, but the changes will auto publish on the above date).

Recommendations: Local businesses understand how important sites like Yelp are to their bottom line. Facebook is moving towards a Yelp-like feature where people can easily leave  recommendations with photos and tags. See the example directly from FB here. 

According to Facebook, “People will now be able to post a Recommendation for your business including text, photos and tags directly on your Page. And Recommendations will also help you reach people while they're searching for or talking about your business.”

On the other side of the coin, many businesses have also felt the negative side of Yelp. Where an irate individual lights a virtual fire on your business’ Yelp page.

This makes it more and more important to solidify your customer service processes and make sure that someone in your company oversees reputation management and can monitor reviews across social platforms. If you need some help with your reputation management, just contact our Dynamic Team.

Lastly, a controversial change to your Facebook Business Page is that similar businesses will be displayed - which you might recognize from Yelp.

While this is a benefit to consumers because it makes searching easier, it may pose a slight challenge for businesses. It’ll be important to really hone in on your brand to create loyalty and keep your page visitors interested in YOU. 

Actions: As stated above, Facebook will be adding more prominent call-to-action buttons on your FB business page to help consumers engage and access you easier.

According to Facebook, “People will now be able to tap on a simplified and prominently featured suite of action buttons to do things like book an appointment for a haircut, order a pizza, send a message or write a Recommendation, all on mobile. “

It will be important to include all of the action buttons that matter most to your business in order to take advantage of this.

Business Page Stories: Did you know you could post stories to your Facebook Business Page? Not many do! Instagram stories have definitely taken the lead on viewership, but Facebook showing up to the game gives brands another opportunity to gain valuable impressions.

Facebook users can now view your story by clicking on the profile photo on your business page. Give it a try and let us know what you think! 

Careers: Your Facebook business page will also be a hub to post career openings and job opportunities. This will make it easier for the public to search for active jobs and for hiring employers to screen candidates before phone or in person interviews.

Events: Facebook is trying to make it easier to sell tickets through events created within Facebook with their new ticketing integrations. There will also be a new Event Ads feature to help get more traction to your special events pages.