New Facebook Page Design

On June 20^th, Facebook redesigned the layout for Pages as they did a year ago with personal Facebook Timelines. Like before, Facebook Pages now resemble the most recent arrangement of Facebook profiles with one column for posts and another column for a mix of content (photos, apps, etc).

Although there are few new features, the new design has many major changes.

The admin layout is new too, reorganizing much of the information and statistics on the Facebook Page. With the many changes that the social media giant has made over the past few months for pages, we’re thankful that the layout change won’t alter too much about your page (despite appearances). Here’s a breakdown of what you can expect with the new layout, along with a visual breakdown.

Tour of New Elements

• Top Navigation Bar (red) – This is now a navigation bar with tabs on top of a Facebook Page visible to admins instead of a dashboard. Besides the Page tab, there is one for Activity (messages & notifications), Insights (statistics & analytics) and Settings (preferences for the page). This is much less crowded for Admins and easy to use.
• Page Title (yellow) – The Page title has now moved on top of the cover photo. Page managers should now make sure that the cover photo does not obstruct the visibility of the Page title. As you can see, the descriptors appear right under the title.
• Weekly Insights Box (green) – In the right column, there is a box that tracks the pages weekly performance for Page admins (new Page likes & total reach). It also informs the admin of new notifications or messgaes. By hovering over the different components, you receive more in depth information.
• Tabs Visible to Users (dark blue) – Below the Page name is the new tabs bar. It replaces icons with text linking to content. The order and appearance of these tabs is partially customizable by Page admins. Do this by going to the down arrow and click manage tabs and chose you preferred order.
• Left Side Section Column (purple) – Much of the content of the Page is available to be viewed on the side, often in preview form. The People section always appears first. Then a restaurant should have the About section with a map and other basic information. After that comes Apps, Photos, Videos etc. The order is somewhat arrangeable. You can do this by hovering over a section’s top bar and looking for the Edit icon. Click it and go to Manage Sections. Then change the order to your liking.
• Main Column of Post (light blue) – Facebook has returned to a single column for posts. That changes what highlighting a post does and highlighting may just now change how likely it is to appear in the news feed. Highlighting does not take up the length of the page anymore. But the one column posting setup keeps everything sequential. You can still pin a post to the top and much of the same features remain.

General Layout

In an attempt to stay current with the trends in web design, Facebook has streamlined the pages. No longer are posts staggered as new content is added, but rather your posts are now organized chronologically and in one column on the right side of the page rather than two columns. Just from looking at the design, it looks cleaner and simplified so that all the important information you need is easy to find.

Tabs & Sections

One of the first changes Facebook made was to the description bar that was the prominent source of business information prior to the switch. In the old version, you had the ability to pick and choose which apps you would like featured when customers first arrive on your Facebook page. Now you have some control as you can choose the last two tabs.

The old description bar has now been broken down into tabs and sections (left column). The sections has previews and critical information and is condensed into one column on the left side of your page.  This column in started off with the “People” section, which highlights your page, likes, rating and visits, making them more prominent for customers to see. Below the About (which we will cover in a second), you have previews of Apps, Photos & Videos. The order of these can be adjusted as described in the Tour.

Restaurant Information: About Section

Important contact information is no longer at the top of your page where customers see it immediately when they search for your business, Facebook decided to move the restaurant “About” section beneath your page likes and rating. While the location of the contact information is no longer as prominent as it used to be, the information overall is much clearer and easier to see.

The “About” section now not only includes your business’ address, but also a Bing map so that customers can see exactly where you are. Your phone number, price range, menu (if you’ve added it), and web page are now clearly visible to customers trying to reach you.

Weekly Insights

The most important change to the Facebook layout was including weekly insights. These can be found at the top right section of your page. It includes the number of page likes, currently weekly post reach, notifications and messages. This provides a great snapshot for business owners to see how their page is doing during the week and a great chance to make changes to future posts to boost their stats.

Compared to the previous design, the new Facebook Pages layout is simplified and more organized which is the direction Facebook has been taking on both its personal and business accounts. By cutting the mini insights section above the banner, Facebook has made the Business Pages more concise and easy to update.