Published: October 18, 2012
Facebook has come a long way since its launch in 2004 — from a dorm room pastime to a publicly traded company, from 450 to 1 billion users, and from Harvard students to a global community.
As of yesterday, the $3.71 billion company can boast another positive change with the launch of global pages, a new structure that allows international brands the ability to maintain one fan page while offering a localized experience for visitors around the world.
Fans of brands using global pages are automatically directed to the appropriate single or multi-country language specific page, which offers up localized content including cover photos, profile pictures, page apps, milestones, “About” information, and news feed stories. This means access to relevant local content and a positive shift in terms of fan experience. Although users are automatically directed to a page based on their location, they can still access any regional or global page through a drop down menu.
Though it sounds complicated, on the admin side of it all it is easy to manage. All fans see the same page name (translated), the same fan and “people talking about this” count, and the same URL.
“This structure works for brands that historically have managed one single Page with geo-targeted page posts, as well as for brands that have managed multiple, country-specific Pages,” said Kelly Winters, Facebook Marketing Manager. “For example, the Dove team from Unilever transitioned from operating one single Page using the geo-targeting feature to creating new, localized Pages that maximize their global scale while still providing local relevance.”
The advent of global pages addresses a number of issues international brands traditionally encountered on Facebook.
- Brands do not have to set up different country specific pages, which eliminates both time and effort as well as advertising spend.
- Posts reach a higher number of targeted people.
- Region specific content served to the right audience significantly impacts engagement.
- With global pages, brands have access to global insights all within one admin dashboard.
So, what’s next for Facebook global pages? Better analytics and benchmarking- in the coming months- will help measure audiences by country and track performance based on market, while allowing brands to take note of how they stand up to competitors on a global level.
On Envano’s wish list is further segmentation to include localized pages and content on a regional or state level, possibly even segmenting audiences down to a city level. Global pages, which were in testing since May, are now available to companies “working” with the social media giant. Brands can contact Facebook for access to or help migrating regional pages to the global page structure. Or call Envano and we’ll make it all happen for or with you!
By Stevie Sleeter, Content & Social Media Manager
