Facebook, or Meta as they are now known, has come a long way from what Mark Zuckerberg first created in a Harvard dorm room. Facebook’s ability to evolve, change what they are selling and who they are selling it to, has defined its ability to grow from just another social media website to a technological juggernaut.
One of Facebook’s most significant pivots was its transition to focusing on business by serving as a key marketing tool. Facebook marketing is widely considered one of the best ways to grow a business, and according to data from HubSpot, 93% of companies are active on Facebook, while 78% of U.S consumers made purchases through discoveries on Facebook.
At the end of 2020, Facebook launched their new Facebook Pages Experience, rolling this update out primarily for business pages. Their update aims to create a better way for businesses and public figures to connect with their audience and manage their professional presence on Facebook. Several changes included redesigning the Page layout and look, providing different insights from the new Use Page, and offering a Q&A format, among other features.
Facebook so far has targeted this update towards businesses. Considering how many businesses, from realtors to e-commerce stores, rely on Facebook for audience development and customer acquisition, a massive update to how Facebook pages run is a big deal.
Thus far, the reaction has been mixed. There have been many that have complained about glitches and posts and likes being lost in the update. It is a significant structural change, and many have warned fellow users to hold off on the update for now.
There are flaws to this update that hold it back from being a must-download. But there are also benefits to the update that justify Facebook’s significant investment in creating a New Pages Experience.
Let’s explore the benefits and drawbacks of this major update:
Primary Benefits
This is an intensive redesign to both the look of a Facebook Business Page and how it functions. The new pages have a different design, which appears more modern, clean, and intuitive. While this isn’t something that will be a significant change for businesses, the pages look better.
Facebook has also changed the notification process to provide users with more relevant notifications. Running a page can be complicated with a lot of noise, so Facebook is trying to cut through that by making notifications more relevant to businesses. There is also now the Use Page, which will provide key insights to your posts and ads. This page is intended to help users analyze the performance of their Business Page and the different content posted on it.
There is also a new audience engagement tool in the form of the Q&A format, which allows businesses to receive questions from their customers and answer them in social posts. This is a great way to foster interaction from your community and showcase your connection to your clients or customers.
There are also minor updates like a New Page News Feed, which separates news feeds for business and personal accounts, making it easier to see and interact with other companies. Page moderators can also hand over some control in the form of two new permission types: full control or partial access, which limits what others can do on your Page.
Primary Drawbacks
Some businesses have had serious frustrations with the new update for several different reasons. Any time there is a significant update, there is always some resistance. When Instagram updated to add Stories, there was backlash, and now it is one of their core features. However, the response to this update appears to have more of a basis in the new pages’ performance and how they might be limiting the businesses that use them.
For many businesses that switch to the new update, switching back hasn’t been an option. Some can switch back and forth, but for some reason, according to Local Search, many businesses don’t have that ability, and there’s no way to know until it is too late. Switching back and forth is a logistical nightmare, as ads, posts, and insights from the new Page are not available upon switching back to the Classic option.
Another issue is that you may end up losing some of the likes on your Page by using this update. According to Sotrender, if someone likes your Page but doesn’t follow it, it will not translate to a like on your new Page. In fact, likes are no longer supported on this update, and Page like count is no longer accessible. Followers are the new metric that defines these pages.
The biggest problem for many individuals and businesses that use these pages is that the new update alters your ability to run certain ad campaigns. This includes lead ads, which many people rely on as a core part of their sales strategy. For agents who utilize on StreetText’s high-quality Facebook lead capture system, not being able to use lead ads limits the viability of this update. However, it is only temporary.
The running of lead ads is something that the update will accommodate, but as mentioned, there have been glitches along the way, and many businesses have chosen to press pause on this update until it is thoroughly cleaned up.
Let us know in the comments, have you started using Facebook’s “New Pages Experience”?
