Most of you have probably noticed that Facebook has yet again made numerable updates and changes to the functionality of their brand pages. It gets hard to keep up! But not to worry, we’re here to help. These are some of the latest changes, complete with an easy how-to guide that will help you make the most of these new features.
Admins can now schedule posts:
Finally! If you’ve been responsible for managing the Social Media in your company, you know how valuable this new feature is. You no longer need to go through third party tools like Hootsuite to pre-schedule posts on the weekends or during your vacation. We don’t know why it took so long for Facebook to add this option, but we’re glad it’s here! To benefit from this feature, simply click on the image of a clock at the bottom left of the entry box and select a year, month and day. Voilà!
Administrators can have different levels of access:
Facebook recently put up this chart to help people understand what the new levels of access allow people to do:
To change the access that people have to your brand page, follow these simple steps:
- Click on Edit Page. (Located at the top of the page)
- Select Admin Roles
- Click on the title beneath the person whose access you wish to change, then choose their title from the dropdown menu that appears.
- Remember to click Save Changes.
Status update statistics are now visible:
Earlier this year Facebook announced that the average status update only reaches 16% of your audience. Recently, they’ve made these statistics available in real-time, visible to admins only. You will find these statistics underneath each status update you post on your page, and you will notice that they change continuously as more people view your content.
The addition of these stats makes it much easier for page admins to evaluate what times are most efficient to post on their page and reach maximal users. Every audience is different, so general statistics on optimal time for posting, (while much appreciated), are not always relevant. We encourage you to use these statistics to figure out the particular Social Media patterns of your audience, and to utilize this knowledge to maximize your reach.
Brands can now pay to promote posts:
Now that you can see exactly how little of your audience is actually reached with each status update, Facebook gives you the option to change those numbers through paid promotion. To benefit from this option, simply click on the “promote” button that is now displayed at the bottom of every post. When you do, a dropdown menu will appear that allows you to choose the budget for your promotion, complete with an “estimated reach,” (which varies according to the number of fans you have), giving you a good idea of what your money is worth in terms of exposure.
Note: If you choose to promote a post, your fans will see it as “Sponsored” in their newsfeed.
What is interesting about this new option is that it also allows businesses to target audiences based on location or language. So if you have a promotion available only in one area, this option will help you to ensure that fans of yours who live in that area will see it.
That being said, the traditional way to gain exposure will never die. That is, post interesting and relevant content, and post often.