How to Update a Facebook Page to the New Experience

Switching your brand’s home base to Facebook’s New Pages Experience can feel like showing up to your office to find they've rearranged all the furniture. This guide is here to walk you through exactly what this update means, how to handle the transition, and most importantly, how to use the new layout effectively. We’ll show you how to find everything you need so you can get back to building your community.

So, What Exactly Is the New Facebook Pages Experience?

Meta's overhaul wasn't just a cosmetic touch-up, it fundamentally changed how pages function. The goal was to make pages feel more like personal profiles, creating a more intuitive and community-focused environment. If your page has been updated, you likely noticed a few big differences right away. Think of it less as a "page" and more as a "brand profile."

Here are the biggest shifts you need to understand:

• A Profile-Style Layout: The new design looks and feels much like a personal Facebook profile. It features followers as the primary metric, a short bio, and a clear call-to-action button at the top. The old left-hand side menu with tabs like 'About', 'Photos', and 'Videos' is gone, replaced with a more streamlined navigation bar under your Page’s name.
• A Dedicated Page Feed: This is one of the most significant changes. Your Page now has its own separate news feed, completely distinct from your personal feed. This allows you to follow other pages, public figures, and groups as your brand, enabling you to comment, like, and share content directly from your page's identity. It’s a powerful tool for industry engagement and community building.
• Updated Admin Roles and Permissions: The old system of 'Admin', 'Editor', and 'Moderator' roles has been replaced. The new system is built around 'Facebook Access' and 'Task Access,' giving you more granular control over who can manage what. We'll get into the details of this a little later.
• Seamless Switching Between Profiles: You no longer "act as" your page. Instead, you directly switch between managing your personal profile and managing your Page. It’s a cleaner, more distinct separation that helps avoid accidentally posting personal content to your brand’s page (and vice versa).

How to Officially Make the Switch

For most page managers, the switch to the New Pages Experience wasn’t an option - it was an automatic, mandatory migration in 2023. If you've been managing a page for a while, you likely logged in one day to find everything looked different. However, if for some reason your page is still operating on the classic layout, you may see a prompt or notification inviting you to update.

If you see that invitation, here are the steps you’ll generally follow:

1. Navigate to your classic Facebook Page.
2. Look for a notification banner at the top of your page that says, "Update (Your Page Name) to the new Pages experience."
3. Click the Get Started or Learn More button in the banner. Facebook will then present you with a guide outlining what will change when you update.
4. Take a moment to carefully review the overview of the upcoming changes. It will explain which content (like your posts and photos) will be moved over and what might not be compatible.
5. Once you’ve reviewed everything, click Next and then Update to start the final transition. The process is usually quick, but it can take a few minutes for everything to migrate.

Once you’ve updated, there is no going back. The New Pages Experience is the standard going forward, so embracing the change is the best path.

Navigating Your New Home Base: A Guided Tour

Getting used to the new layout is the hardest part. Things have been moved, renamed, or redesigned. Let’s break down how to find and use the most important features in the New Pages Experience so you can manage your brand smoothly.

Switching Between Your Personal Profile and Your Page

This is the first skill to master, as it’s the gateway to managing your page. Before, you might have used a separate dropdown to "use Facebook as" your page. Now, it's a direct profile switch.

• From your desktop, click your profile picture in the top-right corner of the screen.
• In the menu that appears, click See all profiles.
• Select the Page you want to switch to.

Once you switch, you are entirely operating as your Page. Your bookmarks, settings, and notifications will be specific to that Page. To go back to your personal account, just repeat the steps and select your personal profile. This clear separation is designed to prevent mix-ups and streamline your workflow.

Understanding the New Roles: Facebook Access vs. Task Access

The old roles (Admin, Editor, Moderator) are gone. When you invite someone to help manage your page now, you’ll assign them one of two types of access:

Facebook Access (With Full Control or Partial Control)

This is the new "Admin." Giving someone full control means they can do everything you can: post, reply to comments, link Instagram, manage permissions, view detailed insights, run ads, and even delete the Page. You should only grant full control to fully trusted individuals, like a business partner or senior team member.

You can also grant Facebook access with just partial control, letting them manage certain aspects without giving them the keys to the entire kingdom.

Task Access

This is a more limited, safer option for assigning specific duties. A person with Task Access manages the Page through tools like Meta Business Suite or Creator Studio - they don't switch into the Page profile on Facebook directly. This is great for assigning specific roles:

• Content: Create, manage, or delete posts, Stories, and more.
• Messages: Send messages and reply to comments as the Page.
• Community Activity: Review and respond to comments, remove unwanted comments, and manage reports.
• Ads: Create, manage, and delete ads.
• Insights: View page performance metrics.

This system gives you precise control, allowing you to bring on team members or agencies without handing over total administrative power.

Using the Page Feed to Build Your Community

Perhaps the most valuable new feature is the Page’s dedicated news feed. When you’ve switched to interacting as your Page, the feed you see is not your personal feed. It’s a feed composed of content from other public figures, pages, and groups that your brand has chosen to follow.

Here’s how you can use this strategically:

• Engage With Industry Leaders: Follow other brands in your space. Like, comment on, and share their posts (when appropriate) to get your page’s name seen by a relevant audience.
• Participate in Groups: Join public and private Groups relevant to your audience as your Page. You can answer questions, provide value, and build authority without ever using your personal online profile. This is an awesome way to connect directly with potential customers.
• Support Partners and Collaborators: Follow pages you partner with and interact with their content to strengthen the relationship. Genuine, authentic engagement is much more powerful than a simple tag.

The Professional Dashboard: Your New Command Center

If you're wondering where all your analytics, ad tools, and page settings went, they're now centralized in the Professional Dashboard. To find it, switch control of your Page, and you’ll see 'Professional Dashboard' in the left-hand side menu.

Inside, you’ll find:

• Page overview: At-a-glance metrics for your reach, engagement, and audience growth.
• Content insights: Detailed performance reports for individual posts, letting you see what’s resonating with your audience.
• Audience metrics: Information about your followers’ demographics and when they’re most active online.
• Tools: Shortcuts to important areas like the Ads Manager, Meta Business Suite, and other moderation tools.

Take some time to explore the Professional Dashboard. All the data you relied on in the classic layout is still here, it's just organized a bit differently now.

Final Thoughts

Moving to the Facebook New Pages Experience is about adapting a different approach - thinking of your Page less as a static billboard and more as an active profile for your brand. By understanding the new profile-style layout, the dedicated Page feed, and the updated management tools, you can not only get comfortable with the change but actually use it to deepen your community engagement strategy.

As you get settled into your new Page layout, you’ll want tools that make managing it all feel effortless. With a content strategy to plan and platforms to keep up with, our visual calendar at Postbase gives you a bird's-eye view of everything you have scheduled. We help you create and schedule your content, see it all in one beautiful calendar, and get a clear picture of what’s coming up next without feeling overwhelmed.