\"\"

The SITS Girls

The Secret to Success is Support

Facebook Fan Page Update: A Quick Guide

·

This post may contain affiliate links which may give us a commission at no additional cost to you. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Everyone involved with social media has a favorite application or plug-in.  For some, it is Tumblr.  Others can’t live without Twitter.  For me, I’m a Facebook girl all the way.

Facebook is my go-to place on the web.  I can quietly stalk people or become a commenting mad woman, leaving my profile picture everywhere I go.  I also don’t feel as overwhelmed by the updates as I sometimes do on a site like Twitter.

As you may have seen, Facebook recently changed its layout for fan pages.  This is a big deal primarily because the new format impacts the way you as a brand can interact with users.  Below is a quick overview of the changes that you can currently preview on fan pages and will ultimately go into effect for everyone on March 10:

  • Added a photo strip above the Wall, similar to personal profile pages.  (These images are coming from the most recent photos you posted or tagged.)
  • Tabs will no longer appear at the top of the page.  Instead, they have moved over to the left panel, in the form of a list.  (Maximum of six tabs above the fold.)
  • Profile picture was reduced from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540 pixels.
  • Blurb box that was below the profile picture has moved to the Info tab.
  • Pages can Like other Pages, not just favorite them.
  • You have the ability to interact on Facebook as your Page.  In other words, as an admin on SITS, I can now visit your personal page and comment as SITS Girls.
  • Page admins receive a news feed of updates from Liked Pages.
  • Page admins can opt to receive email notifications when users post or comment on their fan page.

The photo strip above the wall is proving to be somewhat problematic for us on SITS.  At first, I was very excited, thinking that we could create something fabulous similar to these examples Kat found on Refaceme.com.

Facebook fan page update

Facebook fan page update

The problem with this plan is that it doesn’t appear possible to keep the photos in the order that you want.  In other words, rather than posting a fun visual for the word, “H-E-L-L-O”, we could very easily end up with “O-H-E-L-L”, which isn’t really the brand message we’re going for.

So we thought and we thought.  Ultimately, we realized that SITS is so much more than simply Kat, Angie, Tiffany and me.  It’s a community fueled by the women who come by this site, leave comments, participate in the forum, chat with us on Twitter, and Like our posts on Facebook.

The face of SITS is really each and every one of you.

That’s why when we update the SITS Facebook page over the weekend, we want our photostream to include your picture.  If interested, head over to our fan page and upload a picture that represents you.  It could be a personal profile shot, a picture of your kids, your favorite place, your blog button, whatever you want.  What we plan to do is compile all these images into an album and display them in our photostream.  Going forward, we’ll rotate through all the pictures we receive, making sure we show off everyone in our community.

So go…and make us look good on Facebook.

Want to Learn More About How to Master Facebook?

Then you definitely do not want to miss these posts…

About Francesca

Francesca has an extensive background in content marketing, public relations, and social outreach. She oversees all Operations at Sway Group, including our robust metrics capabilities. Prior to joining the online world, Francesca oversaw viticulture and oenology at various wineries in both California and Italy, and managed regulatory affairs and facility approvals at the biotech company, Genentech. Francesca has been featured on CBS Sacramento and Food Blogger Pro’s podcast. She has also hosted an AMA webinar and spoken at Social Media World.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Sandee says

    I am having trouble with that darn new FB layout. I was just getting the hang of using the old fan page layout. I haven’t been able to make good use of the photo strip across the top. Every time I upload a new profile image it shows up there (it is unneccessary for my fans to see me change a simple color in my profile pic, for example). I just end up deleting whatever shows up in the strip. Oh well…I’ll get used to it eventually.

  3. Mama Mary says

    Love this post! I have not had time to really read up on the difference with the new FB pages. Will post a pic soon. Love you gals!

  4. Gina says

    Sweet! Added my pic yesterday. Thanks in advance to anyone who would like to check out my blog. I started it just this week. Comments are appreciated. Thanks again for the love! ♥

  5. Brandi C says

    I have three FB pages…yes, three. One personal, one for a weight loss support group I manage, and one for my blog. I am NOT a fan of the changes, but admit that I haven’t spent a lot of time learning to navigate them either. Since becoming truly involved in the blogosphere and learning to use other social networking tools to promote my blog, I’ve had moments of burn out with regards to FB (especially FB).

    I do wish it were possible to created pages such as the one you snapshot above, becaue that would just be awesomesauce! However, your decision seems to be the best possible solution for promoting the SITStahood & your message overall.

    Now…off to find a great pic of me to share with all of you lovelies. Ugh. LOL!

  6. Trianna says

    I just started my Fan page last month. (Maybe?) I have no idea what to do with it. Then they go and change it! Just when I was starting to get it together!!! LOL

  7. Jennifer says

    I just startd my facebook fan page a day or two ago. I feel like there are so many ways to reach readers and followers, it’s hard to keep up with everything.

  9. Shelley says

    I like many of the new FaceBook changes, like the photos & the more interactive fan pages. Thank for letting us share in your page 🙂

  10. SouthShoreChick says

    Loved your article on Facebook Fan pages! I really enjoy the new features Facebook offers for Fan Pages. It’s so much more user friendly now! Having a FanPage allows me to reach my Facebook followers who do not use Twitter. I even have Chef Mike Basile of FarQueue Products, LLC: http://www.ChefAngryMike.com (Mikey Teutul’s partner in crime) as a fan of my page!
    My Fan Page: http://on.fb.me/ebAKAR

    Also, if you are on Twitter you can set up your FaceBook Fan Page to post your status updates onto Twitter for you, killing two-birds with one stone!! 🙂

  11. Colleeng says

    I have to get off my butt and make a Fan Page. So far I only have a personal page so I hardly ever talk about my blog because I don’t think my family and friends want to hear that I posted another movie or book review. I’m hoping to finally get this done this weekend. Being able to send it to the SITS page should be a good inspiration to get it going!

  19. Elena says

    I love this idea! Sadly, I’ll have to wait until I get off to add my pic. Facebook is blocked at the day job 🙁

  22. Lindsay says

    I really like these most recent changes to Facebook Pages. I’ve been wanting the ability to interact AS my page for quite some time, so to see it come around is awesome! Thanks for this breakdown!

  23. Marissology says

    FACEBOOK girl here, too. I’ve tried to give Twitter a big ol’ hug, but it’s difficult. I am totally embracing all the changes on Facebook for ‘like’ pages. It’s awesome.

  25. Simoney says

    I love Facebook too!
    I will be interested to see how the new updated pages work… especially pleased they have included email updates.
    Will make sure to come by and upload a photo on the SITS page!
    Great idea girls… so very US!!

  29. Denise @ Creative Kitchen says

    Yes…I saw this yesterday!! Was SO excited about being able to interact AT pages as MY page!!! So many times I would wonder if other bloggers would know it is me since I am known as Creative Kitchen. Soo cool!!

  30. fojoy says

    Is it be better to have a fan page for my blog rather than just interact with my personal page? Maybe I should look into it

  31. kludgymom says

    I’m going to link up to this post in a weekly blog news roundup I do for Business 2 Blogger. and great idea with the photos.

  32. Living the Balanced Life says

    O-H-E-L-L, as soon as I get something figured out, FB has to go and change things! 🙂
    Just so you know, I am sitting in a quiet little coffee shop and busted out laughing when I read that sentence!
    Bernice

  33. LaDonna Rae says

    Hey not sure if the Fan Page works exactly like your profile page, but I found a way to make them stick…in the same order. In the upper or lower right corner you will find an X by scrolling your mouse over it. Clicking the X deletes the pic from the strip but not your profile…I manipulated this for about an hour until I got them in the order I wanted…I’ve checked every day since Sun…they are still in the order I put them…this is on my profile page though and not my Fan Page. Still working to get Fan Page “up”, but is should work simuliarly.

  34. Mommy D says

    Great post. It might be a good idea to mention though that if you LIKE a page with your page FB doesn’t count that in the numbers. Example, SITS LIKED my FB page, my LIKES would NOT increase. FB only counts likes that come from profiles, not pages. I am getting a lot of new pages posting on my FB page, but my numbers aren’t moving. It’s quite frustrating LOL. So just an FYI 🙂

    Another thing is that FB has changed the default of everyones feed so that you only see posts of people you have recently interacted with. This means that a LOT of people aren’t seeing your posts either. To change it click on “Recent” at the top of your news feed page. Choose edit options and then choose “See Updates from ALL pages and friends”

    • Yuliya says

      Oh no! I had removed my personal page “likes” of other pages and “liked” the as my page instead…why on earth would they make it not count in the numbers? We should start a petition!

      • Mommy D says

        I know right! So not fair. You should also know that there is a limit on the LIKES you can have with your Page. You can only have 500 Likes with your page.

        Some of these knew things are crazyness LOL

        • Sonia Barton says

          I still can’t get that function to work – i’ll switch over to my fan page profile and then when I click on Like on another page it gives me a warning telling me I need to switch to my personal profile.

          But I’m still new to all the Fan page stuff.

  38. Jade @ No Longer 25 says

    I hadno idea these changes were coming thanks for keeping us updated! It’s going to be interesting, some of these seem like great ideas and others are a bit more concerning, still we’ll all be used to the new look soon!

    Off to add my button to you page then.
    Jade

  39. Heather Johnson says

    I have quite a few Facebook followers, but have yet to really figure out how to use it the best of my abilities for my blog. Still working on that.

  40. Devonay says

    I have a personal facebook page, but I really need to have a page for my blog. I’d love some feedback from other bloggers on how it has helped your blogs.

  42. Adult Awkwardness says

    Facebook is still so new to me. The only thing that I’ve done to my fan page is hook up the RSS feed from my blog to it. I really gotta think of some other creative things to do with it.