Facebook announced the launch of Global Pages for bands. The company describes this as a new structure to provide the best, localized experiences for brands’ customers.
The company has been testing the feature for months, but is now making it available to all brands “working with Facebook”.
Global Pages allows users to be directed to the best version of a Facebook Page based on the country they’re in. They can see localized cover photos, profile photos, Page apps, news feed stories, etc., while remaining part of the global brand community.
A brand’s Global Pages structure includes local pages for specific markets (which can include single or multi-country regions) and a default page for the rest of the markets. Users from different countries see the same Page name translated into their local language. They also see the same fan count and “People Talking About This”. Brands can still promote a single URL in off-Facebook campaigns. Users will automatically be redirected to their local version. All global user Insights data will be available from one dashboard.
“This structure works for brands that historically have managed one single Page with geo-targeted page posts, as well as for brands that have managed multiple, country-specific Pages,” explains Facebook product marketing manager Kelly Winters. “For example, the Dove team from Unilever transitioned from operating one single Page using the geo-targeting feature to creating new, localized Pages that maximize their global scale while still providing local relevance.”
“At the same time, clients using a multi-page strategy have been able to easily transition their existing Pages to the new Global Pages framework,” she adds. “The global Walt Disney Studios team working on Frankenweenie easily associated their country-specific Pages for France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States into the Global Pages framework. The Holiday Inn team and the Kit Kat team from Nestle had equal success migrating their localized Pages from regions all over the world to the new model.”
Facebook plans on including country-level fan counts for all Pages later this year (even for pages who aren’t using the new framework) in its API.
To use the new Global Pages, you’ll need to get in touch with the Facebook sales department.