2020 was a tough year for many small business owners, and just when you thought that the fog might be lifting, Facebook rolls out another update to its Pages. NPE or New Page Experience has rolled out and this rollout will not be kind to businesses, especially those who have spent years working on doing all of the “right” things.
Before I get ahead of myself, let me explain what happened to me. The other day, I worked with a client who wanted to increase the reviews on her Facebook business page. She wasn’t exactly how to do it, so I brought her over to my page to show her step by step on the Zoom call. Pretty simple, right?
When I started to show her the steps, the options were gone!
Wait! Where did it go? I thought it most likely moved to another area, and I couldn’t find it, so I looked again. Nope, It wasn’t there. So I turned to some others in my industry to get some insight, and this conversation brought up many things that caught me by surprise, so I’m sharing them with you, so you are aware.
Below is a screenshot of what Mari Smith shared in response to my question. Now, if you don’t know Mari Smith, I’m telling you to give her a follow. I have followed her for years, quite possibly 10 at least, to learn about Facebook. She is an expert, and two things about this made my day (despite the frustration of Facebook)
- Mari Smith actually responded to me! *Celebration dance*
- This also threw off Mari Smith? *Raise the roof celebration dance*
Not only did she find and share what immediately with us (in Mari fashion), but she shared something I didn’t know and am kicking myself now for not knowing it. Ugh!
Here’s what the changes that don’t have a big impact:
- Page likes going away isn’t a big deal. For far too long, we have had likes and follows. The most important one being followers, so definitely not a big deal.
- Classic Page Roles, such as moderator and editors, will go away
- Publishing tools, such as schedule posts, will go away. Again, not a big deal, You’ll still have access to Business Suite or Creator Studio.
Here are the not so great changes that will have a big impact:
- Jobs
- Appointments
- Offers
- Reviews
- Check-ins
- Page Templates
Reviews/Recommendations are going away! Before you get all worked up about seeing reviews (like some of my colleagues did), let me explain. Yes, I know reviews went away in 2018. Yes, I understand that recommendations replaced it. However, the tab on pages shows the word “Reviews” even though they really are recommendations. I want to make sure we’re all still on the same page and didn’t lose someone in 2018 with the confusion. Whew!
Just when I thought I had some clarification, there was more!
Someone from Team Mari reached out to me because when they clicked the link to get to my business page, they got a dead link. *enter panic mode*
I tried and was able to see my page perfectly.
Was it because I’m an admin?
Was he the only one having issues?
Maybe the link was wrong? Yea, I’m sure that was the problem. So I confidently reposted the link!
A few others commented that they were having the same issue, so I grabbed my husband’s phone and checked….I was still there. My friends said they could see it, and then Mari found the issue. It appeared that the link did NOT work inside the group. Was this a glitch? Is this something new?
Personally, I think it’s just a glitch because I can’t find anything about it on Facebook when they share about NPE (New Page Experience).
My Solution:
I went back to the Classic Page and left the NPE. It wasn’t an easy decision because there’s a loss that goes along with that.
- I lost all of my posts from the time I switched over.
- Any new admins added were removed.
- I lost some of the features I really liked about NPE
- I lost 11 Recommendations that were given while on NPE! *so disappointed*
The biggest lesson I learned here today? Don’t do the Facebook update when available. Just wait it out until there’s no longer a choice.
Oh, and I’ll be sending my past and current clients over to Google for a review from now on. This is yet another reminder to not put everything into Facebook; use your email list, website, and a platform that Zuckerberg doesn’t own.
What are your thoughts on the NPE? Will you stay on Facebook, or are you feeling pushed out as a small business?