Facebook strategy: How to update your Page when sidebar Boxes go away

The news

When Facebook starts removing the “Boxes” tab from Pages and profiles on August 23, the accompanying sidebar boxes on the Wall will also go away, according to a report this morning from AllFacebook.com.

Why this matters

Many company and brand Facebook Pages make use of these sidebar boxes to post FBML-rich content with community guidelines, promotions, and other important announcements.

Here are two examples:

1) Major League Baseball includes a “Rules of the Game” sidebar box on its Facebook Page (click screenshot below to enlarge), with a link to an offsite Terms of Use policy. In two weeks, when Facebook’s changes take effect, this box will no longer display.

2) The JC Penney Facebook Page includes a visually rich “work it” promotional ad (click screenshot below to enlarge) on the sidebar that links through to a “Weekly Fave” custom tab. While the custom tabs will remain — though with a reduced maximum width – brands will not have the option to drive fans there from a sidebar box.

How brands should adapt to the new landscape

With these custom sidebar boxes disappearing on August 23, we advise businesses and brands to update their Pages now to better guide fans to the most important content.

1. Add text and links to your description box. The description or “about” box is located in the top-left area of your Wall, just below the profile image. This box only supports static text (no styling through FBML), but full URLs do convert into hyperlinks. Use this space wisely by describing and linking to relevant offsite web pages or custom tabs on your Page.

Bonus: Longer URLs may wrap around to a second line in our description box, which looks downright messy! Use a URL-shortening service like bit.ly, as we’ve done on our LiveWorld Facebook Page, to keep links on a single line.

2. Beef up the Info tab. Similarly, the Info tab offers you space to describe the purpose of your Page (although again, without custom FBML styling). Consider the approach taken by Chevron, which posts its Community Guidelines halway down its Info page.

3. Be smart and strategic about your custom tabs. Apart from the Wall and Info tabs, you have free rein as a brand or Page owner to name and order your custom tabs.  Some recommendations:

• To help convert Facebook visitors into new fans, create a custom landing tab for all non-fans.
• Review your existing FBML layout. As of August 23, Facebook is shrinking the maximum width on custom tabs to 520 pixels.  If you designed for a wider space in the past, now is the time to make your changes!
• Create an FBML-rich tab that includes the Rules of the Road or Community Guidelines. Direct fans here from a link in your description box (see above).
• Use brief, descriptive words when naming your custom tabs, like “Help” or “Rules” or “Welcome,” as Likeable Media does (see screenshot below).

This post is part of an ongoing series on Facebook marketing strategy.