Facebook's red-headed cover model has become an iconic image this week amongst marketers abuzz about the latest changes.
On the heels of improvements to the Facebook news feed, Facebook announced on Monday that it will be moving forward with a redesign to Facebook Pages - a move that it hinted at last year. The redesigned pages feature a simplified look, moving from the staggered two-column layout brands have been accustomed to, to a layout that is much more similar to personal profiles with all content in the right-hand column and business details, photos and "About" information in the left column.
Marketers will appreciate the new metrics section on the right-hand side of Facebook pages which will highlight weekly ad performance, page likes and post reach, in addition to a count of notifications and messages. Another feature worth digging into is the "Pages to Watch" section which will allow you to watch the metrics and performance of competitor pages. This features has been rolled out slowly over the past months and will become more widely accessible with new timeline updates.
The tabs that many marketers presently utilize to drive traffic to custom applications and email subscription tools, which previously lived below the timeline photo are now buried beneath a "More" dropdown below the timeline cover photo. This presents unique challenges for businesses who have been utilizing that real estate to drive subscriptions, however, tabs have historically never been a great source of traffic for the bulk of businesses. As before, if marketers wish to drive traffic to the pages or tools that live in this section, some purposeful promotion through organic posts or paid Facebook advertisements will be required.
Blogger Jon Loomer speculates, "The loss of tabs may actually increase engagement since your content will now be immediately below your cover photo." Time will tell, as with all Facebook changes, and we're interested to hear how this impacts your brand. Please comment below and let us know what you see and how it affects your strategy.