What the New Facebook Layout Means For Your Hotel

Facebook doesn’t shy away from change, and you shouldn’t either! With over 1.3 billion users (Statistic Brain), it’s no wonder that Facebook is constantly trying to better their offerings and maintain a compelling image. Keep yourself ahead of the game and make your page as optimized as possible for travel shoppers by understanding the new changes:

Streamlined Content Feed

One of the biggest changes to your Facebook page is how content is presented. In the past, your posts and status updates would be displayed in two columns as users scrolled down, but the new change puts everything into one streamlined column. This straight line of content will make it easier for users to read and consume your posts, photos, and videos.

The Left Side of Your Page Holds More Information

This is good news for hoteliers since this change will allow you to quickly communicate more crucial information to travel shoppers who are researching their next trip. You now have the option to showcase your:

 1- Address

2- Phone number

3- Hours of operation

4- Location on a map

5- Apps

6- Likes and visits

7- General hotel information

8- Photos, videos, and reviews

9- Posts from other Facebook users to your page

10- Pages that your page likes

Even though a lot has changed here, you still have some control. You can reorder your sections so they appear higher up in the left hand column. However, you’re unable to reorder the “people” and “about” tabs, but everything else can be shifted around to suit your hotel’s needs.

Your Apps and Custom Tabs Have Moved

Facebook has taken your apps from the top of the page and moved them into their own section on the left side of the page. The visual appeal of the apps’ thumbnails are now tucked away beyond the fold of the page, requiring users to scroll down a bit to see them. On the bright side, the apps are located right underneath the most important information (the “About” section) so travel shoppers still can easily see them when they’re scrolling through your page for that information.

Users can still access apps from the top of the page under a drop down menu labeled “More.”

Information on Your Cover Photo

Another important change in the new layout is that some information and buttons are now on your cover photo instead of underneath it. Here’s a quick rundown of what users will see over your cover photo:

 - Your hotel’s name and industry

- Like, follow, and message buttons

- Users can also perform other actions, including writing a review or sharing your page, through the drop down menu labeled as “…”

Keep the above in mind when uploading your next cover photo since the photo can now affect the visibility of your hotel’s name. Also, if you create a custom image, try to avoid putting text in the bottom right where it will simply get obscured by the like, follow, and message buttons.

Your Admin Tools Have Been Revamped

This change is great for anyone who manages a Facebook page because it allows you to see the most important page stats at a glance as soon as you sign in. You can quickly scan this panel to see:

 A- Information about your ads

B – Page likes this week

C – Post reach this week

D – Unread posts

E – Notifications

F – Private messages

You can also access your insights tab (which was also available in the old layout) at the top of your page, allowing you to gain even more detailed information on who your travel shoppers are and what they’re doing!

Keep Track of Other Facebook Pages A.K.A. Competitors

Facebook now allows you to monitor as many pages as you want, allowing you to find and compare yourself to how your competitors are performing. You can find this feature by clicking on your “Insights” tab (at the top of your page) and then scrolling down. You’ll be able to see how many likes those pages got in a week, how many posts they published, and the amount of engagement on those posts.

And before you ask, pages that you choose to watch will not know that you are watching them. Admins of that page will be notified that they were added to someone’s watch list, but it will not disclose the name of the page that added them, so stalk away!

Where to Go From Here

This is a lot to take in, but there’s plenty of opportunity to improve your performance and amplify your hotel’s story with these new changes. Don’t forget to take advantage of the new admin panel and “Pages to watch” feature to get ahead of the game. You can’t stop Facebook’s constant changes, so embrace them and come out on top!