Facebook recently revamped it business pages and while it provides new opportunities for brands, there are also new challenges.
The primary change is that a majority of the page is now taken up with the "wall", which consists of status updates and comments by fans. This is obviously a direct response to Twitter and the success it has given brands in engaging their followers in direct communication.
The biggest drawback is that pages now have the exact same layout as user profiles. Previously, many brands were able to highly customize the content and look of their pages using the large area available for images and multiple large application boxes. Now, there is only a small image on the upper left corner and a few small application boxes down the left column. As on a profile, the rest of the applications have been relegated to a boxes tab that many fans probably won't take the time to explore. While it is possible to change settings to have new users start on this tab, once someone becomes a fan of a page, they will always start on the main wall.
The consequences are clear. Brands will not be able to rely on rich graphics or flashy widgets to create engagement and reinforce identity; the focus in now on the conversation. Brands that update their status will have it appear just like friends' updates on their fans home pages where they will be able to "like" and comment on it. With the imminent redesign of the home page, this conversation will only gain prominence and become the primary way for brands to engage fans and grow virally through the social graph.
The challenge will be for brands to use these new touch points for communication effectively. People will not accept passively receiving broadcast information like an RSS feed of blog posts; they require real engagement and two-way conversation. Brands will need to find real people to convey their voices and identity. There have already been successful examples of this on Twitter such as Zappos and Comcast.
It will only become more complex maintaining and managing a brand's conversation as it moves away from a brand's own site to the distributed web. As more sites and services open APIs, new tools and meta-services will be created to facilitate this for brands as FriendFeed and TweetDeck have only begun to demonstrate for consumers.
View Comments so far ↓
1 Kyle Austin // Mar 12, 2009 at 7:15 pm
I’m often baffled by how the recent Twitter frenzy has overlooked the brand opportunity for marketers on Facebook, along with the lack of scale for Twitter. Yes, Twitter now has 6 million users, but Facebook has 175 million! More importantly, according to Nielsen’s recent report on social networks (which we covered this week), Facebook users spend an average of 3 hours and 10 minutes on the site per-month; the highest average time per-person amongst the 75 most popular brands online.
2 website design service // Apr 7, 2009 at 8:59 am
It will only become more complex maintaining and managing a brand's conversation as it moves away from a brand's own site to the distributed web.
3 South Carolina DUI Lawyer // Apr 13, 2009 at 9:59 am
they require real engagement and two-way conversation. Brands will need to find real people to convey their voices and identity.
4 Arctic Cruise Aboard a Ship // Apr 16, 2009 at 6:41 am
The biggest drawback is that pages now have the exact same layout as user profiles.
5 johnjonatan // Apr 30, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Hi…Your post really got me thinking man….. an intelligent piece ,I must say.
search engine ranking
6 smithfreddick // May 16, 2009 at 12:24 pm
http://johncenawallpapersandpics.blogspot.com
7 consumer product research // May 17, 2009 at 7:18 am
Pretty promising. The interaction it provides between business personnel will bring forth the positive changes in reaching their mutual goals. I just hope that Facebook will keep pushing through in order to make this application flawless.
8 Isis // May 24, 2009 at 6:33 am
Facebook business pages rock, I strongly believe that it does have a great thing for a business!
Rina
9 sdijfsls // Aug 25, 2010 at 2:20 am
sdijfsls…
sdijfsls…
Leave a Comment