If you’re just starting out or if your business is going global, chances are you need to merge some of your Facebook pages. And let me tell you, this is not a trivial task that requires two clicks. That’s what I was expecting. Instead, this process got me my first grey hairs.
Since I really care about your sanity, I decided to tell you everything I learned while combining some Facebook pages (and crying).
Why you would need to merge pages on Facebook — the scenarios
You probably started your page as a test, and now it needs some tweaks. Maybe you didn’t plan to expand. There are a lot of situations that require a Facebook merge. Here are the most common cases when social media managers need to merge two Facebook pages.
- You lost admin rights to your old page, created a new Facebook page, and got back admin rights to the old page.
- You ended up having two personal accounts and one business page. That’s against Facebook’s Terms & Conditions. So you turn one of the personal accounts into a business page and now you have two business pages for your business.
- Your brand needs a global Facebook page that makes local pages more manageable. For that, scroll down ‘til you reach the Facebook global page scenario.
- Somehow, several people created several pages for your business. Good intentions, but no, thanks.
- You need a local page, but it wasn’t set to be local. People tried to check in on your business Facebook page, but instead, they created new place Pages.
- You set up a wrong name for your business Facebook page. You then created a new business page with the correct name. Now the page with the wrong name started growing and you need to merge the two pages.
Facebook page creation is a slippery slope that fortunately has a counter-poison.
How to merge pages on Facebook?
Facebook’s help center is pretty straightforward when it comes to merging Facebook pages. To make sure everything goes smoothly, you have to:
- Be the admin of both Facebook pages.
- Make sure your pages have the same name and represent the same thing.
- Set the same address for both pages (if they have physical locations).
What to do before you combine two Facebook pages
The merging itself seems to be quite easy. The preparations before the actual merger, on the other hand, are a minefield. Start preparing with at least one week in advance. It’s never too early if you want everything to run smoothly.
Claiming your pages
One of the first warnings Facebook makes is about the campaigns you’re running to the Page that will be deleted. Make sure there are no active campaigns that are targeting the page you’re about to delete.
If you find any “places” pages created for your business, make a list with all of them. I suggest you search from both mobile and desktop versions of Facebook, as they may reveal different pages. Now that you have the list, add the number of check-ins and likes you have for each page and then claim all the “places” pages you have on the list. You must claim these pages one by one.
Merging your pages
After you claim all these pages, start merging them into one single page. These pages have little to no content, so you don’t have to worry about that. What you need from them are the previous check-ins customers made at your location.
Now you have two business pages: the main business page and the one you’re going to merge. Change the name of the page you’re going to merge to the same name as the main page (if possible). To make sure Facebook will approve the merge, the pages should have names as similar as possible. Experts recommend you keep different profile pictures. It will help you tell the pages apart during the merge.
The About section
Time to move on to the “about” section. Just like the name of the pages, the information should be similar on both pages. Pay attention especially to the website, phone number or virtual phone number, address (if you have one), and description.
Note that you will lose all the content from the page you’ll merge. If there is any information you want to save, now’s the time to download it. Don’t worry about the page you’re going to keep. It will remain the same. Likes and check-ins will most likely see a slight growth, but they won’t necessarily double, as some people liked both pages.
Double-check and get ready for the actual merge. Woop Woop!
What to pay attention to while merging two Facebook pages
Surprise surprise, Facebook doesn’t like you logging in from different devices, so perform the merge from the same computer they’re usually accessed. Chances to succeed with your merge will increase if you keep this in mind.
Then, you should do these three steps:
- Go to facebook.com/pages/merge.
- Select the 2 Pages you want to merge and click Continue.
- Click Request Merge.
Last tweaks after you merge your Facebook pages into one
Checklist time. Before you announce the big news, give your new Page a refresh. Add a new profile picture, change the cover photo, and add all the information about your business in the “about section.” If you struggled with the “place” pages, don’t forget to set your new page as local – to allow check-ins.
Four steps to make sure you (re)launch with a bang
- Refresh your media assets. New cover image, new profile picture, and the most detailed “about” you can think of.
- If you started with some “place” pages, set your new merged page to local. This way, you will allow check-ins.
- Get the blue tick. If possible, get your new Facebook page verified. You will build credibility, and you’ll get bumped into the search algorithm.
- Connect your account to a free social media management tool. Create the content your business deserves. Hassle-free.
And speaking of, in Planable, you can easily plan your social media content so you can start with a cohesive communication from day one. The calendar view will allow you to have an overview of your campaigns, and organize them as you think best.
You’ll be able to create a smooth workflow that will let you and your team brainstorm, create, review, approve, and schedule your posts to go live on Facebook. And Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram, since we’re talking social media.
Facebook global page — a scenario that doesn’t stop at merging pages
Your brand will gain traction in other countries and regions. That’s when you may consider a global Facebook page would work better. Especially when your newly discovered market speaks a different language. You’ll want to start splitting your audiences accordingly.
Ready to become a global marketer? Here’s how the merger will go.
How do global Facebook pages work?
Before you start, look at how others do it. There are tons of regional Facebook pages already. I bet there’s not a lot of global brands that don’t work like that. And for the sake of love brands, I’ll go with Coca-Cola throughout the entire case study.
Once you visit the Coca-Cola page, you’ll notice that everything looks normal. A classic Facebook business page. The secret is under the three dots towards the top. With Coca-Cola, you can travel wherever you want by simply selecting the “Switch Region” setting. Mexico, Vietnam, or your favorite neighbor country? They’re all regional pages that speak their audience’s language.
Hint: every regional page has a unique URL, and there’s also a default URL for each brand.
For Coca-Cola, the default URL is https://www.facebook.com/Coca-Cola/
But if you access it from Mexico, the URL will switch to https://www.facebook.com/CocaColaMx/
Hola, mamita! Soy yo, tu hija desde Mexico. No idea what I just said. Blame Google Translate.
The fun part? It still looks like I’m a fan of Coca-Cola (which, again, really am), and my Facebook friends still like Coca-Cola, too. ❤️
The same will happen to your regional audiences. Once they visit the default Facebook page, they’ll be automatically redirected to their regional page. How cool is that?
When to use Facebook global pages
- The products or services are different from one region to another. Even when there are slight differences, it’s better to focus on the products, not on the logistics of how to market the products.
- You have multiple locations. Shops, restaurants, cinemas, and whatnot. For example, look at some of the shops KFC has in Western Europe.
- You serve different markets, and you want to personalize your content.
Meeting one of these scenarios? Then you’re ready to move to the next steps.
After you get the green light, go to your default Facebook page and click on Locations to set your new pages.
Here’s the current structure Facebook uses to recognize you have region-specific pages:
Root page – this is where insights are aggregated for all global pages. The root page is not visible to admins or the public.
Default page – the main page of your global pages structure is the default page. This is where a user will be redirected if they do not meet any of the criteria an advertiser sets for their market Pages. The default Page also acts as the main username for a page structure (such as www.facebook.com/brand). When people navigate to a default page, they’ll be redirected to a market page if they meet the criteria.
Market page – you can have an unlimited number of market pages, and you can customize which Page users get redirected to based on their location and language. You can also manually edit the targeting for each market page.
How to create a Market page
- Start with your default Facebook page that you probably acquired after you claimed and merged other small Facebook pages created by various users.
- Create your first pages for local markets. Start with only one or two, so you get used to managing them.
- Go to your default page and click on “Settings” at the top. In the screen that appears, click on the “Global Pages” tab.
- On that page, add your new Market pages. Set the right targeting preferences from the beginning. Countries and languages should be mapped accordingly.
- Don’t forget to save changes to your new page.
How to manage a Facebook global page
Now you have a default page and at least two market pages. You can customize them however you want — different profile pictures, different cover videos, and so on. The flip side is your social media efforts will grow exponentially. If you post something on the default page, it won’t automatically be shared on all other Market pages.
Good thing some cool guys (I happen to work with) built Planable, the social media collaboration tool that covers it all. Managing Facebook global pages included.
Here’s how Coca-Cola would do it. *wishful thinking*
1. Create the company account
In Planable, a company is a new way to organize your resources (such as workspaces, pages, collaborators, subscriptions). Think of it like the dashboard of your entire social media efforts.
2. Create a workspace for the default page and each Market page
If you start with two Market pages, then you’ll have three workspaces in total. A workspace is a collaborative place for your Market page social media content. Where you can create, review, collaborate, publish posts, and keep everyone in the flow. One workspace may be used for one market or different products (sub-brands). If you are Coca-Cola and you want to launch both Coca-Cola & Fanta at the same time, you can’t keep all brand assets in the same folder.
3. Content creation and distribution
Once you set everything up, you can start creating content. Each workspace can be personalized to what your team needs. From labels and time zones to team members and levels of approval, the content in each workspace is encompassed, and only specific people have access to it.
However, you can copy-paste content from one workspace to another. That makes global marketing campaigns so much easier to be managed. For example, every regional market can duplicate the content from the default page, add it to their workspace, and tweak it according to their audience. All that happens with two single clicks.
What a journey! Setting up the right Facebook pages is not easy work. If you do it right from the start, your social media will run smoothly. Cohesiveness is harder and harder to achieve, and one thing’s for sure: you can’t manage global brands without a specialized social media content collaboration tool. Fortunately, Planable now offers a free plan for you to see how easy it can be to manage your content globally.
“Digital devotee & data junky. SEO is my religion and Social Media is my playground. Reciprocate is my favorite word for both its meaning and its sound.”
