The Top 3 Reasons Why I Love the New Facebook Page Upgrades

I love using Facebook for business, and for me, a Facebook Business Page is a much more relevant use of Facebook than is my Personal Profile. I prefer my personal Facebook interactions to be about connections with people that I know personally, or with people who know people I know personally, and who I have built connections with over time. But up until now, the only real way to fully network your business on Facebook has been through building and utilising your personal network. Facebook Pages have been a frustrating and somewhat ineffective way to interact as a business identity.

Enter the new Facebook Page upgrades…a breath of fresh air for businesses on Facebook.

So why are the new Page upgrades so refreshing and how can you use them to benefit your business? On the surface, the changes seem pretty simple and straightforward. Essentially Pages now have very similar capabilities to Profiles (except that Pages cannot become “friends”). But dig a little deeper and understand what far-reaching consequences these simple changes can mean for your brand exposure.

These are the top three reasons why I love the new Pages and how they can benefit your business.

1. Being able to post, comment, “like” and interact as your Page all over Facebook

This is by far the number one reason why I love the new Facebook Page upgrades. Page admins can now switch between their Personal Profile and their Page and decide who they are representing as they interact around Facebook. For example, you may want to be yourself when you’re posting your favourite video to your Wall, but you may prefer to be representing your Business Page when you’re commenting on a post made by someone in your industry. Rather than being limited to the confines of your Page, your business can now interact and engage with people and other businesses all over Facebook, providing huge potential for networking simply by making comments as your business rather than as yourself. And of course every time you make comments or “likes” around Facebook you are leaving links back to your Business Page. You can also now “like” other Pages as your business rather than as yourself, again allowing greater visibility of your Page around Facebook. Viral exposure previously relied on other people liking your Page, but now you are much more in control of getting your Page out there. Facebook are also rumoured to be rolling out a new commenting system very soon which could see you able to comment as your Business Page all over the Internet – stay tuned for more on that one as it comes to hand.

2. Receiving notifications about fan activity

Previously, it was pretty difficult to see when someone had made a comment or “liked” one of your posts without scrolling through your Page looking for updates. But now, in just the same way as a Profile, you can receive notifications of comments, likes and new Page fans either through the little red alerts on the top left of your Page or, if you prefer, by email. This new feature has significant implications for improved customer service by keeping you up-to-the-minute with interactions occurring on your Page and allowing a rapid response. This feature also has positive repercussions when your business “likes” another Page, as that Page has now been ‘introduced’ to your Page, hopefully resulting in a reciprocal “like”.

3. The photostream has moved to the top of your page

This is a great leap forward for many businesses as it provides exceptional visibility of your products, services or events. Since the new Facebook Profile design came in, designers have been trying to find innovative ways to display photos – here’s a few creative ideas and here’s how to do it yourself if you want to create something similar. So particularly if you have a product or service with high visual impact, this is a great way to display your images. If you don’t feel confident enough to be quite that creative, you can simply upload images of your products and services; images and links from recent blog posts or whatever your imagination can conceive. Have a bit of a play and have some fun!

So get excited and get creative! We’d love to hear your thoughts on the new Facebook Page upgrades and any inspired new ways you’ve come up with to design and use your Facebook Page.

Love it!