Recently, the internet started buzzing with talk about Facebook's changes to Business Pages.
The changes are pretty exciting. In a nutshell, Business Pages will now look and function a lot more like personal profiles. Uh oh, that's just what we needed, more confusion about the difference between Profiles and Pages!
But, I'm excited about the changes. And here's why: there are a lot more opportunitiesnow available to businesses. So here are my Top New Facebook Features Businesses Will Love:
1. Enhanced wall takes center stage.
Facebook Pages used to look like ... basically, an old version of a Facebook Profile, which was flat (everything on one page). With the new tab layout, the Wall is the first thing a Fan sees when they visit your Page, and they can then navigate to tabs with your other content (photos, discussions, etc. - customizable by Page admins).
What does this mean for businesses?
Businesses that create content on a regular basis will really benefit here. The Wall is a place that aggregates posts by the Page or about the Page. This includes any content shared by you (links, photos, videos, AND short text-only messages) and posts by your Fans, left for you. With this change, the Wall updates that you post will publish to your Fans' news feeds, and posts by your Fans will go to their friends' news feeds. The more content you create and the more you engage with your Fans, the more people you will be able to reach on a more regular basis.
2. Move to tabbed layout.
By moving from a single page layout to a tabbed layout, you might expect to get less visibility for each section of your Page (photos, discussions, etc.) but, just as with personal Profiles, you can add tabs for different applications (like discussions).
What does this mean for businesses?
Tabs will actually help users engage more with a Page. Instead of hoping users scroll down your ever-growing Page of applications, and choose to engage with you somehow, you make it easy for users to navigate to the sections of your Page that your Fans are most interested in, or that you want to highlight in the Page navigation.
3. Landing pages, landing pages and more landing pages!
With the move to tabbed layout, each tab has a unique URL to which you can send people. Also, while the Wall is the default landing page for Fans (so that they see the most recently added content), you can set the default landing page for non-Fans who visit your Page.
What does this mean for businesses?
Businesses will now be able to better promote different portions of their Page by driving ad traffic or potential new Fans to specific Page sections. Using landing pages (in the traditional sense and in this Facebook case) can improve conversion rates (to Fans, leads, etc.) dramatically for a business.
4. More graphs and numbers for the data-addicted marketer.
If you know us, you wouldn't be surprised by the geeky emails my coworkers and I send around to each other. "Facebook now allows you to track video views over time! And export the data!" "Awesome!!" As part of the changes to Pages, Facebook will also provide lots more juicy data (via Facebook Insights). This includes a particularly juicy metric: the number of Facebook users who start and stop viewing your news feed posts.
What does this mean for businesses?
Any good marketer knows how important it is to measure your marketing efforts. Now Facebook makes this easier, letting you track video views, comments posted, news feed posts viewed, all in addition to the standard metrics of page views and unique visitors.
Want more?
Want to read more about Facebook Pages and the changes coming? Facebook put out a document about the change which is great if you're new to Facebook Pages, or a veteran.
In addition to the changes to Facebook Pages, the user homepage is also getting a new design that resembles a much more Twitter-like layout, further showing Facebook's move towards even more of an emphasis on publishing content and conversations.
There's no question that Facebook has tremendous potential has a business marketing tool. With over 790 million users worldwide, the many benefits of Facebook for businesses are obvious—increased marketing exposure, greater sales opportunities, enhanced consumer communications and the strong ROI of social media in general are just a few.
Unfortunately, many businesses enter the world of Facebook without giving much thought to how use social media to grow a business. The page goes up, a few fans "like" the site, but it never seems to amount to much—and no one seems to have the time to maintain it properly.
Sound familiar? If so, you're not alone. But that doesn't mean you should let your company's Facebook page languish forever. There are simple social media marketing tactics that you can use to gain exposure and increase awareness for your Facebook page. It's time to tap into the power of Facebook—and it's easier than you think.
Focus on Content
The most important thing you can do to attract and retain your Facebook audience is to give them a good reason to visit your page. That means taking the time to post interesting, relevant content on a regular basis. Useful consumer tips, links to industry developments and even humorous pictures or stories from the office can keep people coming back.
Get Creative
Once you're in the habit of routinely posting fresh content, it's time to get creative. Offer a coupon to anyone who "likes" your Facebook page. Give away free services to the next 500 people to follow your page. Ask customers to post their own pictures or videos describing why they patronize your business. Have a contest in the office to see who can come up with the best promotional video—and post the finalists online. You'll get more likes on Facebook and have fun at the same time.
Make Connections
Social media is all about connections. Enhance your relationship with your Facebook audience by encouraging them to share their thoughts and opinions when visiting the page. Polls or requests for feedback are a simple way to get the conversation started. If a customer leaves a comment or complaint, address the issue quickly and professionally. Make sure any questions are answered in a timely fashion, too. Maintaining an ongoing dialogue with your audience with ensure that they feel a part of your business. Remember to respond!
Stay Disciplined
Gaining exposure and increasing your Facebook audience doesn't happen overnight. You'll have to both create a marketing plan and stick to it. Don't miss opportunities because due to lack of effort—be disciplined enough to do what it takes to succeed. Make social media marketing a specific task for you or your team to complete on a daily basis.
If you'd like help planning your social media editorial calendar, or to find out more about lead generation from internet marketing, contact Caryn@GladstoneMarketing.com today! 
Learning how to make a Facebook fan page for a business is a simple and straightforward project that takes little to no time to complete. But with the brand-new Facebook timeline marketing page design, you should be aware of the new best practices that are necessary in order to see benefits of Facebook for your NJ business. Using these best practices will help you catch more eyeballs, which will translate to getting more likes on your Facebook page, and thereby attract more business.
- Design With Visual Content in Mind. The new timeline page prioritizes images, videos and other visual content, and this content will appear more prominently on your Facebook marketing page. Use photos, infographics and other visual content to design your facebook pages and generate more interest.
- Direct Viewers to Your Custom Apps and Tabs. The new timeline design directs new page visitors to your timeline, instead of the default landing tabs you’ve previously set. Fortunately, you can direct users to your views and apps by adding new tabs to your Views & Apps toolbar located at the top of the page below the cover photo. Don’t forget to rearrange the icons to show your most important tabs first.
- Use the Best Images for Your Views and Apps Bar. It’s best to properly edit images used in the Views and Apps toolbar to create compelling calls-to-action for your premium content. These images should be 111 x 74 pixels overall for the best visual effect. These images can be changed in the “Apps” section of the Admin Panel.
- Always Feature Your Most Important Content on the Timeline. Since the new timeline is the first place people will land on when they first visit your Facebook marketing page, it’s important to expose them to the compelling content of your best and most important posts. You can highlight select posts on your timeline from your Activity Log once you’ve checked “Everyone can post to (your) timeline” in the “Manage Permissions” section of the page settings.
- Highlight New Marketing Offers on a Regular Basis. The new Facebook marketing page redesign now allows you to anchor events, promotions and other important content to the top of your business’ page for maximum visibility. This content will remain pinned to the top for up to 7 days. Simply move your cursor over the desired content, select the pencil icon and select “Pin to Top” to pin the content to the top of the page.