Shake up! Facebook’s Business Pages Go Timeline

It’s been just over a week since the Facebook mandated changes to business/brand pages took effect and, unsurprisingly, there are the lovers and the haters. The lovers claim that the new layout is driving engagement.

Coca-Cola’s Facebook Timeline

But while a (very) small study indicated that brand pages were getting more engagement, it’s hard to know if that engagement was due to significant press mentions or the new layout.

The haters are comprised of those that don’t like change, those that don’t like Facebook in general, and perhaps those that have read a new study by EdgeRank Checker that looked at engagement with brands that had converted their pages to the new layout vs those that hadn’t. The study found that
engagement is actually down across the board, regardless of layout.

In fact, at the time of the study, pages with the old layout had a decrease in engagement/fan of 11.57% whereas those with the new layout had a decrease of 10.12%.

What does this mean for your business?

Personally, I wouldn’t get hung up these types of studies. Everyone is using Timeline for Business now (out of necessity), but the bottom line is that the majority of engagement takes place within a user’s NewsFeed and NOT on your business page. Businesses need to continue to create engaging content that is optimized for the NewsFeed if they want to reach their audience.

Remember, fewer than 2% of fans will return to your business page, and you can only expect your posts to be seen by 17% of your fan base. Creating engaging content that is sharable, liked, or draws comments is STILL the best way to get in front of your fans.

How has the new layout affected your business? Let us know in the comments section what you’re noticing!