Facebook has launched major changes to the functionality of Pages and have updated the layout to match the changes to the design of user profiles made in December. All Pages will be automatically migrated to the new design on March 1st.
Here’s a breakdown of the changes:
Smaller profile photo – The profile picture is slightly reduced in size from 200 x 600 pixels to 180 x 540 pixels.
Photostrip – there will now be a photostrip above the wall that displays thelatest photos the Page has tagged itself in.
No more tabs – like the profile design changes, the tabbed navigation above the wall will be no more. Navigation links will now be a list situated under the profile picture in the left column. A potential benefit of this is that names of “tabs” can now be longer and more descriptive.
Pages can “Like” other Pages – you can now like other Pages. Links and profile pics of these “Likes” are made visible below the navigation panel in the left hand column.
Use Facebook as Page – as and admin of a page, you can now choose to use Facebook as the page. A special version of Facebook loads where you can now post and comment around the site as the Page! Meaning you can post on other pages as your Page!
Wall shows relevant posts – Page admins can choose to show posts from “everyone” or the Page posts only. A major change tot he “everyone” option is that it shows user posts that Facebook thinks will be most relevant instead of a reverse chronological stream of posts. Posts that have received a lot of “Likes” and comments will bubble to the top.
iFrames for developers – Pages will finally feature iFrame tab applications. This won’t roll out till March 11 however.
Something to note – once the conversion happens, page admins will have to go in and choose their default landing page. The conversion will reset it back to the wall. I’m sure there will be several other things that need to be “tweeked” to be sure your visitors are still getting the same experience.
While many of these changes are beneficial for brands/businesses administering Pages, this is just another example of how Facebook can make changes at any moment and with little notice.
Here’ s the kind of CEO who really understands the concept of “brand” at the highest level. Obviously, that’s what it takes for the scrappy upstart to take on the Nike’s and Adidas’s of the world. It is possible for true believers!!!
There is a terrific piece from Knowledge @ Wharton about Kevin Plank, the founder and CEO of Under Armour, which he built from a company making “the first form-fitting, moisture wicking t-shirt” to one that currently generates more than a billion dollars a year in sales selling a range of athletic gear.
Plank says that the strength of his business comes from what he calls the “four pillars of greatness”: “Build a great product.” “Tell a great story.” “Service the business.” “Build a great team.”
Among the notable quotes in the piece:
• On building a relationship with customers… “Our object cannot be to try to convince 25-year-olds to change brands, though that is always something good. But now 8-, 9- and 10-year-olds have a relationship with Under Armour [and say] it is their brand. I tell them that their great-great grandfather [bought products from] the guys from Germany [Adidas] and their grandfather grew up with the guys from Oregon [Nike]. But you will grow up with Under Armour.”
• On passion and teamwork… “My passion is to build the biggest, baddest brand on the planet. My vision is that I want to stay focused…. We want to make sure there is nothing that prevents us from doing what we want to do with our brand. Finally, we want to have the best type of people — team, team, team. I can’t underscore that need [enough].”
• On protecting the brand… You do something so you can get a quick buck and that may look good on the revenue chart, but only for a little while. What you do must protect your brand or you will ultimately fail. If you slap a logo on it, it might sell right away, but the brands that will endure are the ones that respect the consumer.”
• On focus… “Nothing is really God-given. You have to embrace the things you feel are important and work hard — will it to happen … What I do know is that we have not yet built our defining product at Under Armour. We are not living in the past. Our larger competitors are 20 times our size. There is running room all over.”
• On the importance of narrative… “Great companies have to manage the cadence of what they do. ‘Chapter One’ [of a business's growth trajectory] has to relate right to Chapter Two and Chapter Three and Chapter Four. Every great brand is like a great story. Every commercial we run, every product we make, is like a chapter in that book. If we don’t manage the cadence, though, we will get too far ahead of ourselves.”
As we’re nearing the end of 2010, it’s time to give the little 2D QR Code a shout out as a breakout interactive tool this year. With a smart camera phone (and an installed reader, like QRReader app for iPhone), the consumer points and scans the QR Code (on anything from an ad to an in-store display to business cards) and then the code takes them to a URL (website, social media channel, video, data capture form, etc.). They’ve been around but brands have been paying more attention as more consumers are buying into the Smartphone. It’s a way to get a little more of consumers’ attention, hence the abbreviation QR for Quick Response. Bonus feature: they’re basically free to generate and totally track-able. Here’s a recap by month of what I found to be brands’ coolest applications of the QR Code. Creatively runs the gamut!
January: GMC uses QR Codes to promote the Granite
February: Best Buy uses QR Codes to directly link customers to mobile shopping
March: Facebook gives 450 million members and brands a QR Code linking to their profile
April: Iron Man uses a QR Code in movie posters promoting sequel
May: HBO uses QR Code for trailer promoting True Blood
June: City Of New York blankets Times Square with huge QR Code
July: NYC billboard with QR Code promotes Calvin Klein Jeans
August: JFK Presidential Library and Museum uses a QR Code to promote their Twitter account
September: Toys“R”Us launches mobile campaign integrating QR Codes on signage and shelf talkers
October: eBay releases new version of RedLaser iPhone app that includes QR Code with ability to populate product results with eBay Marketplaces and Half.com listings
November: Mesob Restaurant in Montclair, NJ puts QR Codes on each table and diner is taken to a video on how they make their dishes
December: Who’s going to end the year with a breakout QR Code idea?
We were lucky enough to meet Charlie Petrizzo and hear about his unbelievable story. As a child, Charlie survived death twice from two horrible accidents—he was hit by a car when he was five and electrocuted when he was in his teens. With physical and emotional scars, Charlie had a long road back to recovery. Aside from the strength and caring of his family, Charlie found help from the healing power of his dog. No caring what he looked like, no judging any limitations, the dog provided the unconditional love and support that Charlie needed. Looking back and realizing how much that dog helped him in his healing process, Charlie has now dedicated his life to helping children with special needs heal through the love of a dog. Project 2 Heal is a non-profit organization that Charlie founded—where he breeds and trains labrador retrievers to become working service dogs for these children. As Charlie says, “I want to heal the world, one puppy at a time.”
The team at Concentric wanted to get his story out, so we created a video about Charlie and his Project 2 Heal foundation. It’s a great cause and we’re very proud to help Charlie and are pleased with the results so far (over 1,000 YouTube views in the first week alone). It’s yet another example of how Concentric can help brands/causes/people breakout and become successful.
Please share Charlie’s video with others. Thank you.
Calling The Workforce: Raise your hand if you’ve become formula-fatigued by CBS’s second season of Undercover Boss. I’ve got both hands raised. As a lover of reality TV, I totally find coziness in format recycling…challenge is next, tribal is coming. But Undercover Boss’s product has gone stale. Why is that? The show’s format is based on a CEO-level working “undercover” in their own company to investigate how things “really” work, identify how it can be improved, and the icing on the cake is rewarding (in a life changing way) the staff he/she meets along the way. We’ve seen Waste Management (first episode and highest rated), Hooters, 7-Eleven, GSI Commerce, Frontier Airlines, Choice Hotels, Chiquita…
A good story is calculated, but now on episode 18, a better word for Undercover Boss is manipulative. The CEOs work awkwardly in the frontlines, beside people who are doing a fine job – the job that was formulated from the top. What I want to see, and you might agree, is the raw stuff: the brainstorming behind the customer feedback computer system, the strategy behind the packaging ounce change, the ideas behind the sales programs, the marketing meeting agenda! Now there’s a real peek behind the curtain and it involves the executives themselves and the decisions they make for their brand that trickles down to those who sell their brand. We’ll spend more scene time in whole picture brand ideation and feel rewarded for being part of those conversations. Undercover Boss breaks through when it takes one more step into transparency. America, you like?
Now, I must ask: Which brand would you like to see go “undercover” in this “new” format? My pick is the middle market guys who are nimble enough to make real changes in the challenges they face.
