Business Suite started rolling out in late September so if you’re logging into business.facebook.com and it still looks the same, don’t worry, your update will be on its way. Ours hasn’t arrived yet either!
So, what’s changed other than the name?
Their main sales pitch for this update is that you can now access all the important bits in one place. The dashboard is much better, offering key insights at a glance. The scheduling tools are better, with post creation tools and analytics all improved. Previously, we’d be heading to Business Manager, Creator Studio and an external Instagram scheduling app to find everything we need. All those things are now housed together and from what we’ve seen so far, the user experience has significantly improved.
The most exciting change on our behalf is the fact that Instagram scheduling has finally launched. It’s better late than never? Facebook released this feature last year in Creator Studio but it was clunky and time consuming. When creating a post, you can select both IG & FB feeds, or pick and choose. We haven’t had enough of a play yet to know if you can access all the features like feed planning and location entry that an external app such as Sked offers yet, but we’re going to have an educated guess and say no – we’re sure that Business Suite will be catching up quickly though as there’s money to be made.
Another pain point of social media management has been the lack of insights that Instagram offers users. Again, we refer to a third party app such as Iconosquare to help on this front. Business Suite is bridging this gap and offers more in depth analytics for Instagram. It also presents the existing FB analytics in a much more digestible way.
Whilst there aren’t any new features for messenger, it’s more integrated into the Suite so you’ve got easier access and it’s faster to manage. Something worth pointing out for retailers is the ability to directly send products to a person in messenger. Next level customer service! And don’t forget about Facebook Pay, which we assume will be hitting our shores in the next few months. Another rumour flying around is that Whatsapp will also be integrated into Business Suite. This could open more doors for businesses who are already using the app, and those that aren’t.
You can read more about Business Suite on Facebook and Social Media Today.
As always, hit us up if you’ve got any questions about digital marketing.
