February was a busy month for Facebook news. Not only was CEO Mark Zuckerberg popping up on Saturday Night Live, but the site has slowly rolled out some significant changes and new features that effect how your company or brand may interact both on and off Facebook:

New Layout for Company Pages

In late 2010, Facebook released a new layout design for personal profile pages that eliminated category tabs, and a photo strip of tagged pictures at the top of the profile. This month the new design became available for Company Facebook pages as well. Check out our Facebook page for an example of a company profile with the new layout.

Right now upgrading to the new Company profile layout is voluntary for page admins, with all pages converting to the new layout by March 10.

Use Facebook As a Company or Brand

With this new feature, you can now interact on Facebook AS your company or brand. Previously, company page admins could only post as their company on their company page. Everywhere else on Facebook would only allow you to interact through the individual’s personal profile. Now companies have the ability to ‘Like’ other Facebook pages and post on other company pages or personal profiles.

This feature improves a companies ability to interact with Facebook users, and converse outside of their designated Company page. Careful though, do not use this function to post spam or direct marketing messages on others’ profiles. Doing so will only result in your messages being ignored or blocked. Instead, use this new feature to engage your audience and provide helpful insight and conversation.