facebook changes overview

Facebook Platform Changes Overview

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Critical Updates in Brief

Executive Summary

acebook recently announced wide-‐ranging changes to the way brands and marketers use the platform to reach, connect and engage with fans. The changes have important implications for your existing Facebook presence and planned initiatives. This document reviews the

changes and what they mean for you. Our Take Three critical changes–timeline, custom tabs, and premium ads–fundamentally change the way we think when it comes to marketing on Facebook. With these changes Facebook has placed a premium on creating content that engages and connects with users. Video and imagery dominate the new timeline layout, and brands that can create a powerful experience through this content will see the biggest gains from these changes. Brands that cannot, or choose not to, create compelling content will be unable to use the marketing tactics that worked in the past to drive fan growth – specifically “welcome pages” with Like blocks that require fans to like a page before accessing it. These new features are available now and all pages will be migrated to timeline automatically by March 31st. If you have any questions about the changes or how you can best leverage them, please don’t hesitate to contact Morgan at [email protected] Timeline – The standard Facebook page design is being deprecated and replaced with timeline, a new format for brand pages. Timeline, currently visible on user profiles and select brand pages, is available now and will be implemented on all pages by March 31st. This new format creates new content and creative needs, and provides new tools for messaging and marketing. Custom Applications – Custom applications, a staple of Facebook marketing, can no longer be selected as the primary landing page for new fans. This means “Welcome” tabs that ask users to “Like” a page for access will become obsolete. This will change the strategy of fan acquisition completely. In addition, custom tabs are increasing in width, to 810 pixels, providing greater real estate for developing custom applications. Premium Ads – New Facebook ads use content posted to your wall as the basis for ad units. This means that content you create to communicate with your fans can be amplified to increase visibility and reach via ad spend. Advertisers will be able to pay to ensure particular posts appear in all fans’ News feeds; a welcome new way to propagate messages and ensure visibility of updates. The rest of this document expands on these changes and includes points to consider when evaluating their impact on your program.

F



Introducing Timeline

Facebook’s timeline layout has been available for user profiles since last year and is now available for pages. All pages will be transitioned to the new design by March 31st. The timeline view is significantly different from the current page design. It’s not hard to notice the radical difference when compared to the current page layout. Current Page



Timeline Page

Here’s a quick tour of important new timeline page elements: Cover photo The cover photo is a visually stunning element of the timeline layout. Use it to showcase your company, product or brand. The cover photo should be updated regularly to maintain a fresh, visual appeal for visitors to the page.

RedBull’s cover art



Facebook prohibits the use of marketing messages in the cover photo. Text that says things such as “Like this page now!” or “Save 40% at our bi-‐annual sale.” are against Facebook Terms of Use. Here are a few examples of pages using timeline for ideas on the types of images that work best for the cover photo. https://www.facebook.com/cocacola https://www.facebook.com/nike https://www.facebook.com/walmart https://www.facebook.com/McGuireRealEstate Profile image The profile image has changed as well. Previously, the profile image size was malleable and could be used to promote marketing initiatives. Now the profile image is a fixed size. Facebook recommends that the profile image be your logo, and that the image remain the same so that people can identify updates from your brand easily in the Facebook News Feed.

Tab bar With the new page layout tabs have been moved to below the cover photo in the upper right-‐hand corner of the timeline. Only four applications can be featured at any one time. The first is always Photos. The other applications can be displayed in the order specified by the page administrator. Application icons are also new and can be set for each tab. If your page has more than three custom applications they will appear under an additional drop down to the right of the featured applications.

Tiffany’s Profile Image



Timeline The timeline itself is how content is displayed on your page. The timeline shows content in reverse chronological order, with most recent activity immediately below the page header/composer area. Previous posts made to Facebook will automatically be added to the timeline. Posts appear on the left and the right-‐hand side of timeline, as decided by Facebook. Items pre-‐dating your first activity on Facebook can be added to your timeline to provide a richer experience and understanding about your company for visitors. Coca-‐Cola and Barack Obama’s page both make clever use of this new capability.

The Application Bar



Composer The Composer is where you post content to your timeline. It retains the standard posting options, and adds one new option: Milestone. Milestones are important events in your company history; such as the day the company was founded, dates key products were introduced or dates of key decisions that materially impacted the company. Starred posts While most posts appear on one side of the timeline, page administrators can star a post to give it greater visual prominence. A starred post expands across the entire width of the timeline, creating a powerful call out among the regular status updates. Posts can be starred and un-‐starred at any time. Here is an example of a starred post:

To star a post, simply click the pen icon next to the original post to access the drop down menu of post options. Select “Star Post” and the post will automatically be resized across the page.



Pinned posts Page administrators can now pin posts. Pinned posts appear at the top of the timeline for seven days. Only one post can be pinned at a time. This post will remain at the top of the page even while newer content is being added to the page. After seven days the post will appear on the timeline in chronological order based on the date it was originally published. Here is an example of a pinned post. They can be identified by the orange banner on the post.

To pin a post, simply click on the pen icon next to the original post. From the drop down menu choose “Pin post.”



Friend activity Your connections to the page through your friends will be more prominent with the new timeline view of friend’s activity. If you have a friend who likes that page and has made a comment on the page, that activity will appear at the top right of the page.

That is timeline. It’s a radical departure from the previous page design.

Things to Think About:

• What artwork will you use for your cover art? • What company facts and milestones will you populate your timeline with? • What types of content will you star or pin? • What additional custom application pages are needed to fill in gaps caused by

timeline?



Custom Applications

Custom applications are undergoing significant changes as well. The two major changes are the size of the tabs and their visibility. These two changes will impact existing tabs and popular fan acquisition strategy. Existing Applications New application pages have increased in size to 810 pixels. This is nearly 40% wider than existing page designs. This increased real estate will allow your applications to use a larger space to engage with your fans. Existing applications will be centered in this new layout, which may present a sub-‐optimal user experience.

Things to Think About

• Do you have existing applications that need to be rewritten or resized to fit the new page size?

Tiffany’s old Welcome page is broken and narrow on the new page layout.



Welcome Tabs & Like Blocks

Page administrators will no longer be able to specify the default landing page that non-‐fans first view when arriving at a page. This is a significant change that effectively eliminates the very popular “Welcome page / like block” strategy as a way to gain fans. For those not familiar with this strategy, it worked like this: non-‐fans were directed to a branded landing tab on the brand’s Facebook page. The welcome page tantalized users with content, specials or other incentives. In exchange for accessing the incentives users had to ‘like’ the page. These pages drove fan growth number by funneling new people through the ‘Like’ process prior to accessing the brand’s wall and content updates. This strategy was nearly universal among brands and is now obsolete. Typical Welcome/Like block page:



This is a significant change that eliminates the ’Like block’ strategy for gaining fans through a gated welcome page. Welcome pages will lose relevance, as all users will automatically land on the timeline view. Things to think about:

• Do you have existing welcome tabs that may be impacted by this change? • Can they be updated to be more informational and featured in the new timeline layout? • Should they be sunsetted? • Do you have custom application pages to tell the most important parts of your business

story? Ahead of Facebook’s IPO the company has focused on maximizing revenue through advertising. One out of every four ad impressions served on the Web is served on Facebook1; but Facebook ad performance has been typically poor. In response, Facebook is launching a series of new ad units that are designed to be more social, more engaging and appear in more places – like your news feed and Facebook mobile. How the Ads Work Facebook Premium ads take existing posted content and turn them into an ad unit that reaches more fans and a larger audience on the site. The new ad units let brands take content created for their page and amplify it through ad units that push that status update or content to a broader audience. To create a new ad, brands simply create a page post and then turn it into an ad via the Facebook ad manager. Supported content types include:

• Photo posts • Video • Question/Polls • Status updates • Event invitations • Links

1 http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2012/2012_US_Digital_Future_in_Focus

Premium Ads



New Sponsored Ad Units

These ads differ from existing ad units by:

• Larger visual foot print • More social for friends of fans • More engagement points per ad – users can like and comment directly from ad unit.

Why This Matters This is big news for brands that are looking to reach more of their target audience, and their fans on Facebook. Right now, only 16% of fans see a typical daily status update. By turning posted content into an ad, brands can reach 3 – 5 times as many fans2. The new ads are reported by Facebook to deliver:

• 40% increase in engagement rate • 80% more likely to be remembered • 16% increase in fan rate

At Oak Creek Trail, we’ve been experimenting with social content ad units and have seen increase in click through rate (CTR) on the order of 40 – 100%. We believe, that this new, larger ad unit will drive significant increases in performance of Facebook advertising campaigns.

2 Facebook Premium Ad Overview presentation

New Premium Ad Units



Things to Think About

• Could larger, more social ad units make Facebook ads relevant for your business? • Is your target audience on Facebook? Could you reach a niche audience on Facebook? • Are you creating content that could be made into ads to reach a broader audience?

The recent changes to the Facebook platform have a wide-‐ranging and material impact on how brands connect and engage with users on the social network. With the new timeline design and social ad units, Facebook has made content the clear priority. High quality video, imagery and text content will create a powerful brand representation on Facebook. Brands without these assets will have a timeline that fails to create significant fan engagement or interest. The new application pages and bar will provide greater visibility to existing applications and allow brands to create calls to action for users to explore the applications. However, popular like-‐building tactics such as gated Welcome pages have been relegated to obsolescence. Brands will need to create application pages that provide valuable content and experiences, rather than simply building landing pages that drive likes. These changes usher in a new era of paid awareness on Facebook. Brands can now buy access to a wider range of audience members, and amplify the visibility of their status updates with new social ad units. Combined with advanced targeting, these social ad units will make Facebook ads more effective and more relevant to a wider range of advertisers. The one thing that remains constant with Facebook is that they will continue to change and innovate. It is incumbent upon brands to recognize this reality and be prepared to adjust strategy and execution as necessary to find continued success on the platform. If you would like more information about any of these changes, or want to explore how to leverage them to your advantage, please contact Morgan at [email protected].

Conclusion

facebook changes overview

Technology

changes facebook

new timeline layout

new content

new page layout tabs

new fans

standard facebook page

new design

new format