Facebook Matures Its Marketing Features

Facebook went public this year, forcing it to not only open its financial kimono, but also to mature as a business -- and that maturity continues as it rolls out new features to help businesses better control its social media performance.

Three new features allow brands to have tighter control of who sees what and when.

First there's the timed release of posts. Most brands have been using HootSuite or some other third-party app to keep a steady presence on the platform. Now it's handled within Facebook's interface. Not a huge deal, but a long time coming and a definite efficiency for companies.

There is one caveat: one cannot unschedule a post if it's within three minutes of going live. (So, you know, think ahead...)

Second there's the admin access control. Used to be if brands wanted a vendor to handle something for them on Facebook, the brand would hand over administrative access from stem to stern, allowing full access to non-employees. Now there are tighter controls around this, allowing for greater security -- another critical advancement.

Finally there's the unpublished posts. (But why, you ask, would anyone waste time preparing a post and not publishing it? Good question...) Mostly, it's so brands can control their marketing message without spamming its users main newsfeed. Segmenting certain posts for certain demographics -- and putting a budget behind it -- is a key feature of Facebook.

This keeps us brands from getting in users grills too much, which leads to un-follows, which leads to management getting quite concerned.

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