A new post from Inside Facebook shows yet another change to Facebook’s Pages platform that marketers can use to their advantage. The new module that has appeared within Facebook Pages will allow marketers to use other companies’ and brands’ Pages to their advantage. It seems to be yet another way that Facebook is interconnecting people and businesses along with businesses and businesses, making for the ultimate social networking web. Facebook is making every possible social media relationship available to the public and customizable for users and Facebook marketers alike. The Like button represented an incredible breakthrough in the way of social marketing and online presence, and the new module that Facebook has released into the world recently, brings more power to the button on Page timelines.
Now, upon a user’s clicking of the Like button on a company, business, or brand page, the new module will show recommendations of Pages that a user may also want to Like. These recommendations will appear directly below the cover image and Page title, showing about eight Page recommendations at a time. For example, upon learning of this new module from Facebook, I went to the Page of Wholly Cannoli, a small, local café in Worcester, Massachusetts and hit the Like button. Upon clicking, the recommendations appeared, listing other cafés along with other local Worcester businesses. Also, upon Liking the Facebook Page of Guitar Center, a larger and more popular music store, brand Pages like Gibson, Jim Dunlop, and Ibanez appeared in the recommendations. Facebook lists recommendations for Pages that are most similar to the Page being Liked. When a user hovers over one of these recommendations, the famous thumbs up symbol appears, and users are given the option to Like the Page being recommended straight from the Page of the original business.
Facebook will show pages from a similar category, whether it’s local pages, entertainment or others, however this does not seem to be appearing on all pages. It should also be noted that these are not paid placements. Facebook makes these recommendations organically based on location, category and other pages that fans of one page also Like.
It seems there is no way for marketers to influence when and where their Pages show up in the new recommendations module. However, the new Pages You Might Like function allows those businesses that have a Facebook presence to reach out to users that Like competitors and businesses that are in some way similar. Essentially, it is just a way for Facebook to help Page owners in making their names seen more often and to bring in more Likes for Pages.
Inside Facebook mentions the possibility of this module taking engagement away from Pages, as users focus more on recommended Pages. They point out how frustrating it would be for users to visit your Page and end up Liking that of a main competitor in the industry. However, this same feature will appear on most Pages, so the balance of engagement distribution exists. Although it is similar to recommendations of Pages in the side bar of Facebook, this new module will better catch user attention.
