The only constant in Facebook marketing is change, and this week, The Social Network has outlined a new business Page update which will see the removal of certain Page information sections, with prompts urging Page admins to integrate those fields into other sections.
As you can see in this example provided by Mari Smith (and shared by Matt Navarra), the change will see the following sections removed from your Page listing options:
- Mission
- Company Overview
- Biography
- Affiliation
- Personal Interests​
In all likelihood, these fields are not highly read, so it makes some sense for Facebook to remove them as part of a broader effort to streamline company Page listings. But then again, more context is better, more data for Facebook to read and categorize Pages can only help it better match people with the right information.
Maybe, as part of Facebook's broader re-assessment of the data it collects, and utilizes, the company is simply trying to reduce any unnecessary data collection in order to lessen its potential tracking and targeting issues.
The relative value of these sections will obviously be driven by your approach. Do people really need to see your personal interests on your business Page? Does your biography really matter - or is that just another variation of your Page description?
Really, it probably is - if you've described what your business is and what it does in your Page description, which is the key information panel of your business Page, then the 'Mission', 'Company Overview' and 'Biography' fields are all just variants of the same. No doubt Facebook has found that most businesses cut and paste between them, or provide vague descriptions which don't add a lot - in which case, removing them makes sense. And then you've got 'Affiliation' and 'Personal Interests' - two fields which probably don't contribute a heap of additional understanding.
When you break it down, the removals actually make sense, but it is another element to consider in your Facebook marketing approach, which may be a good prompt for you to re-assess your Facebook Page description and ensure it represents your business.
As noted, the changes are set to come into effect in August - we've asked Facebook for further clarification and will update this post if and when we hear more.