Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions
Last fall, Facebook launched a major site redesign that primarily impacted the profile page, home page, and application developers. With the redesign, the Facebook profile page changed from a “box-oriented” design to a “Wall and tabs” design to make sharing more prominent and viral. Now, Facebook is preparing advertisers and brand managers for a similar redesign to its Pages product for businesses that could launch as soon as sometime in the next few weeks.
With the Pages redesign, business Pages will now look much more like Facebook profile pages. According to information provided to advertisers, Facebook is moving Pages to a “Wall and tabs” design:
- The Wall tab, containing all the latest updates and Wall posts, will become front and center.
- Most static information will live on an “Info” tab, and most Photos will now live on a “Photos” tab.
- Most custom content and application boxes will be moved to a “Boxes” tab, though some narrow boxes can remain on the “Wall” tab.
- Page admins can add more application tabs to their Page if they so choose.
In addition, Page admins can now share Status Updates on their page like regular Facebook users can on their own profile.
Full screenshots and details on all the changes, including the steps that Page managers need to take to migrate and optimize their Pages to the new design, are below.
Above: New design of Facebook Pages (from Facebook newsletter)
The New Wall Tab – Making Pages More Dynamic and Viral
Like the redesigned Facebook profile pages, Facebook Pages for business will now be focused on the “Wall.” This means that Notes, Photos, and other information shared by businesses, celebrities, and musicians – along with content shared by Fans as well if the Page admin desires – will appear front and center. This design will make Pages feel much more dynamic and active.
In addition, content posted on the new Wall will show up in Fans’ News Feeds more often. Just like information shared by your Facebook friends shows up in your News Feed, information shared by Pages you’re a fan of will now show up more. This means posting updates to your Facebook Page is now a lot more viral, as more News Feed distribution could drive significant traffic to your Page.
Finally, Page admins will be able to choose default settings for a) who can post to the Page’s wall, and b) what the default view of Wall posts is. Admins can either allow only other admins to post content to the wall, OR allow Fans to post to the Wall too. However, even if Fans are allowed to post, Page admins can still set the default view of the Wall to “Posts by Admin.”
Status Updates – Now for Pages, Too
In addition to being able to share photos, videos, and notes on Pages, Page admins will now have a powerful tool previously only on Facebook profile pages – Status Updates. With Status Updates, Page admins can now post short blurbs that Fans might find really interesting and engaging. Status Updates have the potential to become a very powerful tool for brand managers.
Application Boxes – Changing Places
With the Pages redesign, application boxes, which appeared on the old Page anywhere below the core info modules, can show up in one of two places: 1) narrow boxes can show up in the left column of the Wall tab, much like they can on Facebook profile pages, or 2) on the new “Boxes” tab. This means that there are now more constraints on where custom content and application boxes can appear on Pages.
For those Page owners who have added custom content or application boxes to your Pages, your boxes may not appear in the same arrangement on the Boxes tab as they did before. You’ll need to check your Page’s admin settings when the redesign launches to make sure your boxes are in the desired location.
Tab Management – Choosing a Landing Page
Now that Facebook Pages have multiple tabs, Page admins can choose which tab to show non-Fans when they land on the Page.
Which tab should Page owners choose for non-Fans to land on? For most, the Wall or Info tabs will likely be the best choice. However, Page admins who have developed custom content might also want to choose the Boxes tab or a custom application tab (application tabs can now be added to Pages, just like they can on Facebook profile pages). The Boxes tab should look a lot like the old Facebook Pages for those who added custom modules.
No matter which tab admins choose, both Fans and non-Fans can be driven to any specific tab through ads. And Fans who arrive at the Page organically will always be taken to the Wall tab.
Choosing a Profile Picture
Finally, Page admins should make sure that a profile picture is selected for the Page. Previously, Pages could have FBML, Flash, or iFrame boxes set as their profile picture, but with the Pages redesign, all Pages will need a standard image.
Conclusion
In summary, updates to the design of Pages should make Pages more dynamic and viral, and a more powerful overall product for brand managers, artists, celebrities, and small business owners. Increased distribution in the News Feed should provide great incentive to Page owners to update their Pages regularly and drive more traffic to their Pages through ads.
While no specific timetable for these changes have been confirmed, Page admins should be aware of the upcoming changes and be prepared to both 1) get the most out of the updated Pages product, and 2) ensure that they do everything they need to do to migrate and optimize their current Pages. Key steps that current Page owners should take when the new Pages launch are:
- Ensuring that a profile picture for the Page is set.
- Configuring tab settings – both choosing the “landing tab” for non-Fans and choosing who can write on the Wall.
- Rearranging boxes on the Boxes tab, if necessary.
Ultimately, Facebook’s goal in making business Pages more powerful is to increase the ROI businesses get when promoting Pages through Facebook Ads. From what we can tell, these changes should do just that.
While “business pages” in other social networks often have a very spammy feel, the updated Pages design still preserves the authenticity of Fan endorsement. The new Facebook Pages have the potential to become much more lively and engaging touch points for reaching your customers in a very authentic, powerful, and extremely targeted way.
Facebook declined to comment further at this time.
February 16th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Will this affect application pages?
February 16th, 2009 at 10:01 am
This is one major update. Nice to see brands are being treated more like regular users, with all advantages of sharing stuff.
Nice way to go FB!
February 16th, 2009 at 10:02 am
Justin – Thanks for the review. I’ve been anxious to hear the details about the changes coming to Pages. I have Page that is currently set up as a product and hope they will allow me to change that and make instructions in the setup process more clear.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:43 am
… i don’t know if this update was a great idea … because, if “classic” profil got the same skin than “become a fan” page … it will make more “fake” artist page … i want see that..
February 16th, 2009 at 11:47 am
[...] Pages can be a very powerful tool for businesses, especially when utilized the correct way. InsideFacebook.com has reported some updates that will be taking place on Facebook Pages the next few weeks. A couple [...]
February 16th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Looking forward to seeing the actual changes. Thanks for the review!
Adeah
February 16th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
good review
February 16th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
I’ve seen several blog posts about this coming redesign, but most of them leave out something significant: Music players on musician/band/artist Pages. Those are some of the most common Pages, and unlike other kinds of “boxes” that business might have, a music player is probably *the* central feature of any musician’s Page. Yet, it doesn’t seem like part of a Wall. Does anyone know whether musician/band Pages will be able to retain their music players front and center? Where will they be?
February 16th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
finally
February 16th, 2009 at 6:46 pm
Glad now that I waited a while before deciding whether to go for a Group or a Page to promote the next stage of my solo trans-Pacific row.
Had a problem with the concept of asking people to be my “Fan” but with these new changes the benefits seem to outweigh my reservations!
February 16th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I think this comes at a good time with the massive explosion of Facebook. Anyone heard anything about being able to create one event that is shared between several pages? For example if a venue is having 2 bands play, and the venue and both bands have Facebook Pages it would be nice if all three could utilize the same event listing. Getting three event invites for the same event, redundant much? Facebook already has features built into the event system that prevents multiple invites going to the same person, allowing multiple parties to utilize their networks eliminating a lot of spam.
Cheers @TommyGuns
February 16th, 2009 at 7:29 pm
Mike, Cos: Good questions. I’ll let you know when I find out more.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 6:41 am
What’s interesting with these changes is the potential for Fans to feel more like ‘brand participants’ rather than just brand Fans.
I wish, however, that FB would give page owners a heads up a couple of months before changes are made, rather than a couple of weeks. Many companies have invested in tricking out the current pages as much as possible with custom apps, which now will get the dreaded ‘boxes’ treatment.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:07 am
Thanks for the review, I’ve been wondering when Pages would get an overhaul. I’m looking forward to playing around with the new design for the alumni association Page I administer.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
[...] Facebook working on new Pages for advertisers — The redesigned feature will mimic the user profile redesign implemented last year. They’ll include a tabbed interface for wall posts, a photos tab, an info tab for static information and boxes tab for third-party applications. InsideFacebook has an early look, here. [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions (tags: facebook branding) [...]
February 17th, 2009 at 8:55 pm
Thanks for the heads up about this one… I won’t spend any more time on my Facebook page until the changes are in place.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:19 pm
What I would love to see is the API changed so that it would be easier to pull information from a Page to an external site, and vise versa.
I have been able to do it from my profile onto my web-site for photos and such, but can’t do it from pages or groups to external web-sites.
February 18th, 2009 at 3:12 am
looks good
February 18th, 2009 at 7:52 am
[...] You can read more here. [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Does anyone know what the implications of this redesign will be for pages with custom features such as the Dell Social Media for Small Business page? http://www.facebook.com/dellsocialmedia
February 18th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
[...] Read about it here. [...]
February 18th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions Check out the upcoming look for Facebook Pages… including status updates and a tabbed interface. (tags: facebook business marketing branding interface pages) [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 7:14 am
[...] Inside Facebook has the details about an upcoming update to Facebook’s Pages feature. This is greate news for businesses, as the changes will put Pages on par with the recent user Profile changes. Most notably: [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 7:19 am
[...] excited to see what brands will do once the new Facebook page redesign takes place, allowing fan pages the same tabbed functionality of individual profiles. What other [...]
February 19th, 2009 at 7:35 am
These are my wish list of changes come true. Thanks Facebook for reading my notes once again.
As a manager for multiple Pages (artist, company, nonprofit, solo professional) I really need the feature set on Pages to take things up a notch or my clients won’t get invested in using their Page.
Now to wait impatiently for them to be done.
February 19th, 2009 at 8:34 am
When I first decided to use Facebook for my business, I created a profile, and from there, a page.
The page didn’t seem to allow for much interaction and there were a lot of things I didn’t like, so I didn’t focus on it as much as the profile. So now I have both “friends” and “fans,” and many people are either one or the other but not both. The whole idea of profiles vs. pages has been confusing, at least to me.
I like the idea of this redesign of pages to be more like profiles, but I’m not sure what this will mean for me- I feel like I need to converge the existing profile and page somehow. I fear I’ve created a mess… any suggestions from the experts out there? Surely I’m not the only one out there in this predicament?
February 19th, 2009 at 11:58 am
This is greatness!! Looking forward to the improvements! :)
February 21st, 2009 at 3:52 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions [...]
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:05 am
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions (insidefacebook.com) [...]
February 23rd, 2009 at 9:25 am
When exactly will these changes take place? It’s certainly a relief that pages will act more like profiles, will this mean that updates will be received in fans’ inboxes or will they remain unnoticed and ignored in the ‘requests’ box? I opted to use a page for the charity I work for, instead of creating a group – which I find limits the level of pro-active responses when I send a message to the members. Please get rid of groups and amalagamate all of the functionality into this new fangled page redesign! Thanks!
February 23rd, 2009 at 8:32 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions – [...]
February 27th, 2009 at 4:16 am
This is great news for businesses. As an app development and branding company, the new interface gives us lots of room for expansion. I can see more effective branding for companies and businesses. Look forward to it.
February 27th, 2009 at 11:14 am
[...] and others are reporting that Facebook is in the process of revamping their Fan Pages. According to Techcrunch [...]
February 27th, 2009 at 5:28 pm
[...] Smith at Inside Facebook cites the following changes: – The Wall tab, containing all the latest updates and Wall posts, will [...]
February 28th, 2009 at 7:18 am
[...] Perhaps in order to soothe the savage beast that was last week’s brouhaha over Facebook’s TOC announcement, news has come out that Facebook will be doing a major overhaul of their pages, specifically business/group pages. [...]
March 1st, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Thanks God! What a pain in the ass that the pages do not currently have API access.
March 2nd, 2009 at 10:54 am
The wall is the least useful feature of Pages for many businesses and non-profits, this new arrangement is going to makes pages very very clumbsy and much less cross-platform interactive. The Tab setup in FB is terrible. I’m not sure why they’re feeling the need to force Page owners into this arrangement but it could be a disaster for brands that rely on boxes and applications to give FB value, as now they’ll be hidden away in a tab instead of showcased up front, or relegated to the tiny side boxes. Hopefully FB comes to it’s senses before this is forced on everyone.
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:04 am
[...] Facebook prepares to relaunch its Pages product possibly as soon as this week (full details & tour of the redesigned …, we thought we’d take a look at which Pages have achieved the most popularity amongst [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
[...] 3.5 million people become Fans of Facebook pages each day. As Inside Facebook recently detailed, Pages are slated to undergo a major redesign perhaps as soon as this week – for all the details on [...]
March 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Very interesting development for all of us that do business in the Facebook ecosystem. For the app development side of our business, I’m concerned that apps have again been relegated to tabs and narrow margins. On the Page creation and activation side, the new status, wall and newsfeed functionality should really spark engagement and fan growth. Devil is always in the details so we’ll see…
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:02 pm
[...] those that haven’t seen the details on all the likely* changes (*based on materials Facebook has been circulating with advertisers) and things Page owners need to [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
[...] more details on all the specific changes for Page owners, see Inside Facebook’s previous coverage. [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 2:40 pm
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions [...]
March 4th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
Why I am unable to show the Video section in left panel?
I used to upload notes and pics used to appear with them but now it s just the text?
I am not liking these 2 things.
I miss the old look.
March 4th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
[...] For further details on the exact changes to Pages and what they mean for marketers, see Inside Facebook’s previous coverage. [...]
March 5th, 2009 at 6:10 am
[...] Liukkonen // Facebook ilmoitti pari viikkoa sitten uusivansa täysin sivut (Pages). Uudistus muuttaa sivut vastaaviksi kuin [...]
March 5th, 2009 at 7:05 am
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions [...]
March 6th, 2009 at 1:52 am
Facebook arfe nothing more than bare faced liars its all about adding other peoples paid advertising to your business pages. Its all in the graphics above in this article they are all cropped so you cant see the advertising that you dont want on the righthand side. Now our business pages look just like social network pages no difference no distinction. All our hardwork all our designs ripped up without consultation by a money grabbing yank…how very typical.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Facebook made some changes recently. Facebook Pages for business and the home page layout have both undergone major overhauls, but there are also a lot of other [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 am
[...] Info tabs) and reposition any of your tabs! Additionally the new Facebook page redesign supports more tabs than [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 10:42 am
[...] active on Facebook each month, an active community of sports application developers, and recently redesigned Facebook public profiles, one might guess that top US athletes would be making better use of Facebook to build their brand [...]
April 12th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
[...] our Facebook Fan Page isn’t exactly new, about three days after we created it Facebook totally redid the way they did Facebook pages. As a result our page got all stuffed up and we kind of forgot about [...]
April 22nd, 2009 at 7:26 am
[...] Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses – Tour & First Impressions [...]
April 23rd, 2009 at 3:21 pm
[...] all know that the professional world is changing. Brands are on Facebook, executives are blogging, and young professionals like myself can find jobs using Twitter. [...]
May 5th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
[...] since the Facebook Page redesign (see tour of new features) several weeks ago, brands, celebrities, and small businesses have been showing increased interest [...]
May 14th, 2009 at 10:21 am
[...] the launch of redesigned Facebook Pages earlier this year, Facebook invited Stanford to test out enhanced Pages as an alpha partner. During [...]
May 22nd, 2009 at 11:10 am
[...] Facebook updated their Organization Pages to be much more fully featured. These new pages now combine the viral nature of the Personal Profile [...]
June 7th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
[...] | posted on: April 23, 2009 | in: Work We all know that the professional world is changing. Brands are on Facebook, executives are blogging, and young professionals like myself can find jobs using Twitter. [...]
June 11th, 2009 at 10:35 am
[...] Facebook launched the new version of Facebook Pages a couple of months ago, interest in Pages as a way to engage Facebook users with branded or [...]
June 15th, 2009 at 8:08 am
[...] it was unclear what the best practice was for companies and organizations. Facebook launched new page functionality in February of 2009, and only at that point did it become clear that pages were the way to go. The key advantage [...]
June 24th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I want to start a facebook page for my tutoring business, but I’m concerned about anyone being able to write on the wall and post things. Any ideas?
July 21st, 2009 at 5:24 pm
[...] Inside Facebook – Facebook to Launch Redesigned Pages for Businesses [...]
July 26th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
The new changes are making a difference. I’ve noticed a slight increase in traffic to my website – possibly due to layout differences?
October 22nd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I think that was floating in and out of my reading as well. ,
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:03 pm
ARCHITECTURE which, although not expressly informing ideas of inhabitation, results in an effect of our inhabitation of space. ,
December 8th, 2009 at 2:27 am
[...] ovat uudempi juttu, julkaistu nykymuodossaan vasta vuoden 2009 alkupuolella. Uudistuksen myötä yritykset, yhteisöt, järjestöt, bändit, [...]
January 4th, 2010 at 12:51 am
I personally don’t think having to click to see any replies is simpler. Could we have a show all option please? Not default, just a profile setting.
And things need sped up, but that kinda goes without saying.
January 31st, 2010 at 11:43 pm
[...] our Facebook Fan Page isn’t exactly new, about three days after we created it Facebook totally redid the way they did Facebook pages. As a result our page got all stuffed up and we kind of forgot about [...]
February 5th, 2010 at 5:38 am
[...] to the presence of recommendation engines on eCommerce sites, and the increasing presence of brands on social networks like Facebook. Whereas few people admit to trusting advertising messages, most of us (70%) will admit we use [...]
February 7th, 2010 at 5:33 am
I hate the new page … change mine back!!!!
February 17th, 2010 at 6:02 am
I’m using my fan page much more but still have one issue I can’t seem to find a solution to.
How can I be automatically notified when someone comments or posts on my page? If they post a comment or respond to a comment on my profile, FB lets me know.
Is there a way to activate this in fan pages?
February 17th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
My clients Fan Page buttons are gone. Is there a setting for this? Is there a reason why this disappeared? My page has the Fan Page still.
thank you so much for this article.
February 18th, 2010 at 4:24 pm
The fan page i admin wont let me add the music tab at the top, how do i fix this and add the tab?
June 11th, 2010 at 3:47 am
[...] to the presence of recommendation engines on eCommerce sites, and the increasing number of brands on social networks like Facebook. Whereas few people admit to trusting advertising messages, most of us (70%) will admit we use [...]
July 9th, 2010 at 2:52 am
I read your post. Its interesting and very nice to read. thanks.
May 14th, 2012 at 3:41 pm
[...] Now fast forward to the beginning of 2009 and Facebook is set to launch a new system called Fan Pages. [...]