How Does the New Facebook Page Work?

Facebook Biz Pages were finally given the facelift we have all been waiting to see.

But how does it all work?  And, what do you need to know?

There are a lot of new features and I am still exploring them.  Here are some quick things to be aware of:

Switching between Pages & Profiles:

This is a biggie, and long overdue, you now get to switch between being your personal profile and your company biz page admin.

This sounds great and mostly is great, but there are several limitations.  For instance, when I become the Admin for UniqueThink, I can't go back to my very own personal profile page and see my own content.  Instead I get the message you see below:

This may not be a make or break thing, but I had gone over there for a reason and couldn't accomplish what I wanted until I switched back to the personal profile, grabbed a screen shot (below under Photos) and then switched back to being the Admin for the Biz page.

Likes, Comments and NewsFeeds:

You can now LIKE and even comment on other businesses from your Facebook Page, and follow them on a NewsFeed.

What you can't do with Likes & Comments: You still can't Post to, Like, or add comments to someone's personal profile page, even if they are already fans (followers) of your biz page!

Here are two examples of how I was hoping to use it, but can't:

1. Birthday Coupons: I was hoping if a fan (follower) had a b-day that biz page admins could go to the fan's personal profile page and offer them a Happy Birthday coupon.
2. Contests and Giveaways:  I was looking forward to (but disappointed to find out I can't) email the winner  of a contest.  Instead I have to switch back to being my own personal profile page than go over to the winner's personal profile and let them know they won, as me, not as the company offering the promotion.

Maybe I am missing something, maybe someone else has a better solution, so please share, if you do!

[UPDATE: I found out part of the reason why they don't allow you to do what I had hoped, it's against Facebook's Promotional Guidelines (RULES).  Did you know, you can't email someone who won a contest from your Facebook page, because you aren't allowed to run a promotion on your wall?  There are a lot of rules that we all need to be aware of, but they are confusing!  I'll be writing more about it, as I find out more.  But for now, begin to educate yourself, by reading the Facebook Promotional Guidelines!]

Photos:

You now have the ability to have 5 photos at the top of your page, like profiles have had since Dec.  This is a great way to highlight your current work or a line of products. This was one thing I was really looking forward to having on the biz pages.

What you need to know about images:

1. Size and Cropping: It looks like it still does the same sizing and cropping that the profile page does.  So, if you are trying to get something ideally sized and centered, in those five image boxes, then make each of the 5 individual images 97 x 68 (I wish I could remember where I read this sizing first, because I'd love to give the person who shared that sizing with me the thank you they deserve.  I'll try to come back later and add it!)
2. Rotating Images: Unlike the profile images, which stay fixed in place, these pictures seem to rotate between the 5 images.  This means you can't control the order in which these images appear.  You can control which 5 images appear, by clicking the X when a new one is added, though.

Here is an example of what I had hoped to be able to do, something like I did on my personal profile page:

Unfortunately, if I tried this type of thing on my biz page, the letters would get jumbled each time someone clicked.  From what I can tell so far, the H would not stay in the left most position.  The fact that these images are randomly selected makes it hard to be as creative as I'd hope.  But I am still excited about the possibilities of using these image spaces.

Wall View:

You can now view the wall two ways:

1. Admin Postings: You only view what the biz page admin wrote
2. Everyone: This view shows other peoples' comments, as well

NOTE: The posts with the most comments will show higher up on the page (instead of appearing in chronological order).

Email Notifications And Posting As Admin:

Admins for the page can now get notified when someone posts a comment!  Hurray!  And, it looks like you don't have to do anything, it is defaulted to send them to the admin email.

Plus, there is another setting (also set as the default) that allows you to post as your Biz Name, even if you enter the page as an individual (profile mode).

Friends Who Like You:

If someone comes to your Biz Page, they will see which of their own friends already like your biz page.  This will encourage them (hopefully) to also LIKE your page.  This will appear on the right sidebar of Facebook, under the Admins List.

Navigation:

Similar to the Profile page, Facebook has moved where the tabs are to underneath the Page Profile Image.  Not sure how I feel about this move, as before it was easy for people to see there were additional tabs, but now they have to seek them out.

Business Page Profile Image Size:

They had to go and change it again!  This time it has gone from 200×600 to 180×540 – so you may have to adjust your image to fit appropriately.  Maybe they made it shorter, so you could see the nav items better?

Anyway, I am sure I will have more to say about the new Facebook Business Pages, so follow me on mine at https://www.facebook.com/UniqueThink.  And, I am sure you guys will have things to add about the new changes to these Facebook Pages, so please share what you find out!  Comment below so we can all learn, thanks!