Facebook marketing certainly keeps our social media team on their toes with its constantly evolving nature. There have been many fantastic functionality changes for Facebook Business Pages over the last couple of years and this summer 2016 many more new updates are emerging as well.
New Facebook Business Page Layout on Desktop
There have been plenty of layout changes for mobile view recently but now desktop is getting another turn with an updated layout for business pages. If you run a business page on Facebook or follow many you will have probably already noticed the change.
This is the way Facebook Business pages used to look:
…….and this is how they appear now, with the main tabs seated on the left, a larger call to action button and about info and map moved to the right column:
You will notice the profile image has also been moved and no longer sits on top of the main cover image. The new layout is certainly cleaner and more spacious with promote buttons far more obvious. Some have speculated the new layout, with its increased spacious feel, is to offer more places for advertisements to encourage business pages to utilise Facebook’s paid marketing opportunities.
The new easier to use Facebook Pixel
A Facebook Pixel is how you track conversions on your website prompted by Facebook advertising.
In the past it has been frequently suggested that the pixel system was not very user friendly and a little messy.
You have two types of pixel to use:
The Conversion Tracking Pixel – Tracking conversions is an ideal way to monitor a campaign’s success, whether you are seeking leads or purchases.
The Website Custom Audience Pixel – This is Facebook’s version of remarketing. You can create lists of audiences from people who have previously visited your site then target Facebook campaigns towards them. You can create lots of different audiences, for example, people who have visited a certain page, by setting different rules for your audiences.
So what has changed with Facebook Advertising and Pixels?
Previously you would create lots of pixels for various pages/actions on your site and this could get rather messy to keep track of them all. Now it has all been condensed into one fabulous pixel; The Facebook Pixel.
The Facebook Pixel let’s you create custom audiences, custom conversions and monitor many goals with ONE piece of code.
Facebook Messenger updates for businesses
Not using the Facebook Messenger app yet? You should seriously think about utilising it if you take your Facebook marketing seriously. 900 million people use Facebook messenger every month.
Now if a potential customer messages your business on Facebook you can send a personalised and customised auto greeting. Letting them know you will be in contact soon and even promote other new products or services in your message.
You can also include your phone number and website url. This is in addition to auto reply. Auto reply waits until a specific message has been received but with this new feature the minute someone opens messenger to your company you can send a greeting.
Now there are also messenger codes and messenger links. Messenger codes can produce a code similar to a QR code that mobile users can scan on your site which then directs them to a messenger conversation with you. Or if you like things simple share your messenger link. A simple link that redirects straight to messenger.
Facebook Local Insights
As search and interaction gets more locally focused Facebook is quick to catch on. In your insights section you will now find local insights. Look at data about local competition, a location radius around your business location to analyse data better, gain insights about when you should be running your ads for a local audience and much more! Head to your insights now to check out the new section and tweak your campaigns accordingly.
Facebook advertising can now target people not using Facebook at all!
Perhaps the biggest and most interesting update for Facebook is their ability to target advertising outside of the platform itself. This is a real game changer for the social media channel as it can now truly consider itself a realistic rival to Google in the world of PPC.
If you have run Pay Per Click advertising before you will have probably used Google AdWords. You may even be familiar with the GDN – Google Display Network. When using display advertising you can have visual, text, video and dynamic ads on other websites, therefore gaining an audience beyond Google This means even if you don’t have a Facebook profile, Facebook can advertise to you, based on your interests across the web Search results.
Now Facebook has its very own version – FAN – Facebook Advertising Network. This network is constantly growing..