Until now, a Facebook Page showed up only in the language it was created in, alienating foreign fans. Now Pages can appear translated into a visitor’s local language, which could inspire global brands to buy more Facebook ads promoting them. Global Pages could help a billion language-fragmented users commune around what they like, and connect Facebook to the pesos, pounds, and yen Wall Street wants.
With the new Global Pages structure, brands can set up localized versions of their cover photos, profile photos, Page apps, milestones, “about” info, and news feed stories. An English version’s cover might say “Hello” while users visiting from Spanish-speaking countries would see a version welcoming them “Hola”.
Page admins can set up local versions for different single- or multi-country language regions, plus a default for everyone else. A single, global URL dynamically directs users to the appropriate local version. This relieves businesses from having to set up separate, country-specific Pages which can be a headache and require expensive social media marketing software to efficiently manage.
Businesses can now ask for access to Global Pages and merge their country-specific Pages through through their Facebook marketing reps.
So here’s how this puts money in Facebook’s pocket. Say an international brand headquartered in the US wanted to run a Facebook ad campaign asking people to Like their Page. They might have customers around the world, but their Page only appeared in English. So if people from other countries saw the ad, they might click through, not be able to read the Page’s info, and refused to Like.
As a result, they only bought ads targeted at users in US. Now with Global Pages, that same brand may be willing to buy bigger international Facebook ad campaigns. The new global functionality could be even more powerful for businesses based in countries with more niche languages. Indonesian brands might now pay for ads targeting Americans. This all must have Facebook’s international ads offices in cities like Singapore and Dubai salivating.
Meanwhile, localized Page management has just become the next enterprise social marketing software feature steamrolled by Facebook. This was a hallmark of Hearsay Social. There’s plenty of others way these toolmakers can help brands that want i18n (that’s coder slang for internationalization). Still, today’s release follows a long-running trend of Facebook gobbling up features and forcing third-parties to find news ways to offer value.
But if we can stop thinking revenue for a minute, this is good for Facebook users as well. Now people from far reaches of the globe who Like the same thing are more likely to interact on a Page’s wall. Community across geopolitical lines is one of the clearest ways Facebook benefits the world. When you discover you and an Angolan / Afghani / Argentinean kid both Like the same Norwegian metal band, you see how similar you are and racism seems pretty stupid.