Two big changes have just been announced for Facebook Pages and Profiles that will help increase user experience, as well as create more valuable interactions between users and brands.
The first very exciting update gives administrators of Pages the option to customize their status updates to Fans in the News Feed. These custom updates include the feature to target by geography and language. This is HUGE news for national or international brands who are trying to figure out how to manage their Facebook presence in the world of social media marketing.
How this option could help you:
– Ability to target promotions/contests to a specific country or state.
– Ability to target job listing to a specific country or state.
– Ability to target a specific language or run multi-lingual campaigns.
– Ability to gain valuable market research through comparing comments and results when asking the same question (or different question) targeted to specific regions.
– Ability to gain a better understanding of local or regional consumer opinions and values.
The next big change in the works for December 2009/January 2010 is the modification of Facebook Pages and Profiles. In order to help brands emphasize their identity and customized content, the following changes will be made:
– Tab width changing from 760 to 520 pixels.
– Boxes tab will be removed as the focus has switched to custom tabs.
– Application tabs will be the exclusive integration point for applications on Facebook Pages and Profiles.
I never was a believer in the Boxes Tab so this is a very exciting change to me. The more Facebook can help support brands create custom tabs within their Facebook Page, the greater the interaction these brands will have with their Fans. There’s already brands doing a great job of this like Liberty Medical and Harley-Davidson, but it can only get better from here!
