What You Need to Know about Facebook's New Page Experience

Facebook’s NPE is Drastically Different from “Classic” Pages

The Facebook New Page Experience (NPE) is a way for public figures, businesses, and others who want to build and connect with an audience and manage their professional presence on Facebook. Once you convert over to the NPE, Facebook claims it will be possible to go back to the “classic” page and features. All page content — including posts, videos, photos, and stories will automatically move to your new page. All of your page likes and followers will also be transitioned to your new page. But, page likes alone will not be supported on your new page.

If your page has a blue verification check, it will transfer to your new Page.

Managing Your Personal Profile While Using the NPE

Some Facebook users are unaware of the differences between a Facebook personal PROFILE and a Facebook PAGE. The personal Profile is what individuals use to connect with friends/family for their personal needs. A Facebook Page is what is created when a business, brand, public figure, or other organization has a presence on Facebook. (This article refers to a Facebook Page.)

The biggest challenge clients have experienced after switching to Facebook’s NPE is the fact that they need to switch back-and-forth between your personal profile to the professional page. You’ll notice when you’re logged into Facebook, at the top right of your feed there is an icon of either your personal profile’s photo or the page’s main profile image (could be your logo, photo, or whatever you use for that particular page).

After you switch to your PAGE to post content, engage with followers, create ads, or view reports, be sure to swap back to your personal profile — or every post you like, share, or comment on will appear as coming from your page. This could be a Public Relations problem if you (as page admin) or others who manage your page accidentally engage with others via your company.

In essence, your Facebook business page has its own news feed of pages it follows. Engaging with other pages via your business page is a great way to engage with others and shows your activity on the social media platform. Just be aware of which profile you’re posting as!

The future of Page “Likes” and “Followers”

Facebook claims the number of “followers” is a better indicator of a page’s fan base, as followers are users who are genuinely more interested in what the page has to offer.

If someone likes and follows your classic page, they will continue to be a follower for the new page and added to your total follower count.

IMPORTANT: According to reports, if someone “likes” your classic page, but does not “follow” it, they will not transfer to your new page as a follower. But, the people who follow and don’t like will still transfer to your new page as a follower.

What You Get with the NPE

A Different Page Design – Facebook says the new layout makes it easier to find and manage everything on your page.
Additional Ways to Connect with Others – Follow others from your page’s news feed to share, like, and comment on their updates as your professional page.
Simplified Insights Reporting – This is probably one of the biggest differences with the new format on the backend. Here you can discover your audience trends, including age and location, and quickly see your best performing content. This will help savvy marketers create content that appeals to their followers.

What Stays the Same from the Classic Page Features

Content and Information – Your existing posts, page information and other details won’t change.
Advertising & Ad Campaigns – You can still create ads and manage campaigns. Existing ads won’t be affected by any changes you make to your page.
Permissions – Current admins will share ownership of this page and are supposed to automatically get an invitation to manage this page when you switch to the new experience.

Changes from the Classic and NPE

Page follows and likes – Your updated page will display your followers and a follow button in place of page likes and a like button. Follows are meaningful because they represent people who receive updates from your page in their news feed.
Updates to Page roles – Existing admins will have Facebook access with full control and existing editors can be given Facebook access with partial control. Any actions you take as your page, including when you check into a location, may be visible to anyone else who manages it.
New content only shows on the updated Page – If you switch back to “classic” page layout, content you shared through the NPE (including posts, photos, videos) will go away and won’t be visible on Facebook.

Advertising through the NPE Facebook Page

Advertising on Facebook is still one of the most affordable ways to reach new people. Their level of users’ demographics and interests can’t be matched, when compared to other digital platforms.

NOTE: If you’ve created ad campaigns and they were still active when you converted to the NPE, they will be stopped with no possibility to restart them. From what others report (we haven’t tested this yet), this does not affect how Facebook video ads work (between the new and old formats).

New Page Features Coming

If there’s one thing we know about Facebook, it’s that there will be changes – some announced and some surprises. Keep up-to-date on the latest Facebook news by following experts in the field and by subscribing to our free newsletter.

Social media is an incredibly powerful way to attract new and connect with current customers. If you need help with your social media strategy, please call us at (402) 953-3500. We specialize in content creation, creative campaigns, social media page management, training and support, and real-time analytics and reporting.