Facebook brand page changes require greater PR involvement

But this change is a milestone for brand pages on the social network and the new format requires a completely new approach.

In a nutshell, Facebook is doing away with custom landing tabs on its brand pages, among other things, that 'force you to like a page' and encourages brands to populate it with its history, heritage, milestones and, critically, good content.

Require a change of responsibilities

These changes make Facebook relevant to all brands now and, in so doing, require a change of responsibilities in how Facebook fits into the greater marketing communication plan.

In effecting these changes, Facebook has provided an easy way for a brand or company to have a presence on the web that goes beyond self-serving posts about itself, encouraging people to rather learn more about the brand and provide better-integrated customer relationship management (CRM) features.

To you, that might not sound like a dramatic change, but it means brands need to focus more on their Facebook presence and the provision of relevant content that conveys brand messaging.

Subtly moving away from 'likes'

It's a little harder to pull off the lame "Hello [Brand X] fans, what are you listening to on the radio today?" posts. Brand pages are subtly moving away from 'likes' as a metric of a Facebook page's success.

The changes mean that the look and feel of a brand page is similar to that of your personal timeline profile nowadays, with a large cover photo at the top - except that it's open and will be viewable to all. Down the right-hand side, there is a timeline that will take you to specific years in the company's history.

Gone are the ladders of tabs down the left-hand side and, while that content hasn't completely disappeared, only four tabs are included 'above the fold'. What tabs are included there now have to be carefully considered because, as Malcolm Gladwell taught us in his book Blink, the first impression counts. These are the first things to be seen by a visitor to the page.

A good first impression

Making a good first impression is now more important than ever.

Previously, some pages had custom tabs, or apps as they are known in the inner circle, developed that 'prompted you to like' a page before it redirected you to the other content on the page. Thankfully, that is gone. These apps were a cunning way that pages increased page 'likes,' which a lot, not all, companies used as the ultimate metric of Facebook success.

Facebook brand pages are also able to feature content for seven days (or until something more important is shared) and pin it to the top of the brand page - a bit like a 'sticky' in a blog post. It's a further feature that is going to require some proper strategic input and can become powerful if you, as a brand, want to highlight moments in time on specific days, alert visitors to an important company announcement or highlight an app that prompts user involvement. It's to Facebook what a PostIt note on your keyboard is.

Most significantly

Finally, and most significantly, brands can now send and receive direct messages to page visitors. The dirty laundry is packed away from all to see and it allows, rather, for deeper customer interaction.

What it also means is that brand pages require a policy, since there are still a number of pages that don't have one, on who will monitor and respond and set responsibilities for those people.

Furthermore, communications professionals have gained a more important role in what has traditionally been left to digital and web design departments and agencies. Companies with a presence on Facebook are going to have to commit to their maintaining presence - dipping in an out of Facebook as some brands have done - BMW South Africa, for instance, which hasn't updated or responded to anything on its wall since November 2011 - is going to reveal a lot about that brand for all to see in its timeline.

Happy user, clean timeline

The new direct message system means that inquiries can be better serviced in a more one-on-one manner. Brands can reach out to the consumer with a private message and resolve the question. It's a good opportunity that results in both a happy user and a clean timeline.

In summary, it is an opportunity that has made public relations a more critical aspect of Facebook pages since, in many cases, the PR department or agency has better institutional knowledge, crisis response plans and messaging, and brand-relevant content ideas that can assist the Facebook brand page administrators.

For community managers, it is probably a good time to brush up on PR skills. Previously, applications and funky features were the heroes of a page; now it's content and quick relevant content and responses that will win a brand page 'likes'.