A lot of Facebook tools and different interfaces, but how are these different and when should you use which tool? In this article I’ll try to put some order in the chaos.
Facebook Business Suite
Facebook Business Suite was launched late 2020 to replace the popular ‘Pages Manager’ app. If you use the Pages Manager app you are invited to try the new Business Suite.
The Business Suite itself promises to simplify communication with your audience, connecting with your customers and managing your business in Facebook and Instagram.
Right now Facebook Business Suite allows you to:
- See insights about your business pages on Facebook and Instagram
- Read and respond messages
- Get notifications all in one place
- Create and schedule crossposts to both Facebook and Instagram at the same time
- Create Ads
- Manage your business across Facebook and Instagram
There is also a desktop version of Facebook Business Suite, but not all users are able to see the new Business Suite yet and many still get redirected to Facebook Business Manager. It will take some time, but rest assured that Business Suite will be the new place to go for everything related to your business on the Facebook Platform. If you already see the new Business Suite on dekstop, you can still switch back to Business Manager though.
Facebook Creator Studio
What about Creator Studio? Is it still useful? Will this also be replaced by Business Suite? Most probably, the anwer will be yes. When? Hard to tell. Right now there is still a big difference, though Creator Studio already is very similar to Business Suite:
- See insights about your business pages on Facebook and Instagram
- Read and respond to messages and comments from Facebook, Messenger and Instagram Direct
- Create and schedule posts and publish to Facebook and Instagram
But apart from these features, Creator Studio allows you to view and manage much more things:
- Create different content types:
- Standard posts
- Stories
- Videos to crosspost
- Playlists
- Series
- Clips
- Instant Articles
- Get in-depth insights about videos, Stories and Instant Articles
- Access Monetization options and Brand Collabs Manager
- Access Creative Tools: live dashboard and sound collection
So what are the big differences right now between Facebook Business Suite and Creator Studio?
To put it short, Business Suite is a quick way to create and crosspost to Facebook and Instagram and allows you to follow basic performance of your pages. The app also provides an easy-to-use interface to follow up on messages and to connect with your audiences.
If you are looking for more in-depth performance insights and more advanced post setup options, Creator Studio is still the best tool to use.
Okay, now let’s talk about Business Manager…
Facebook Business Manager
Facebook Business Manager is best known by business owners that also advertise on the Facebook Platform. Pages and Instagram accounts are linked to Business Manager from the moment you start advertising.
What is the main purpose of Business Manager?
- Manage all your assets in one place
- Pages / Instagram accounts / Whatsapp accounts
- Ad Accounts
- Catalogs
- Apps
- Properties
- Manage access to all your assets
- Add people
- Add partners
- Add system users
- Create and manage performance, optimization and data pixel events
- Facebook Pixels
- Events
- Custom Conversions
- Manage Brand Safety, Registrations and Integrations
- Manage Payment Options
- Manage Business requests, notifications and general Business Settings
How Business Manager mainly differs from Business Suite and Creator Studio right now is that it is not focused on content creation and communication. Instead, Business Manager is meant to ‘Manage’ your assets and to make sure your Business is setup following best practices and ready to advertise on the Facebook Family of Apps.
We already know that Business Suite will also provide management of all assets and settings, so it is only a matter of time to say goodbye to Business Manager.
Conclusions and tips
- Switch to Business Suite when you are using the Pages Manager App. Start using Business Suite and get used to it.
- If you are looking for an easy-to-use, on-the-go solution to crosspost content and quickly reply to messages and comments, Business Suite is your new best friend.
- If you love working on desktop and are looking for more advanced options and insights, use Creator Studio for now. Time will tell if Creator Studio will also be replaced by Business Suite when the desktop version is fully rolled out. I’m quite sure Creator Studio will also be migrated into Business Suite.
- Business Suite will replace Business Manager, but it will take time. Not all features and tools offered by Business Manager are already integrated in Business Suite, Ads Manager is still seperated from the Suite for example. For some users, especially small businesses, the switch already started in September 2020, but users are still given to option to switch back to Business Manager.
Facebook plans to make the Business Suite the main interface for business of all sizes who use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger over the coming months/years(?).
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I’m answering more questions about this topic and Facebook changes on my LinkedIn profile.
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https://www.linkedin.com/in/bramvanderhallen/
