Why Use the Facebook Pages Manager When You Can Do Everything From the Facebook App?
Facebook has come a long way in making its Pages section intuitive and useful. When you navigate to your Page within the Facebook app, you’ll see four main buttons at the top: Home, Posts, Ads, and More. There is also a Create Post field and a snapshot of Updates, Insights, and Recent Posts beneath it. The upside of managing your Page through the Facebook app is that it makes most of the main tasks simple. The downside is that it looks nothing like how your fans or followers are viewing your Page. The Facebook app doesn’t have the option to view the Page as a fan or follower. This is where the Facebook Pages Manager app comes in handy. You can view it and use it like an actual Page, similar to how your fans and followers view it. And also similar to how you would view and manage your Page from Facebook.com. The Facebook Pages Manager app also offers better functionality through a menu at the bottom and quicker switching between Pages if you manage multiple ones. In many cases, it might be a better option over the Facebook app. Use Facebook Pages Manager when:
You want to view your Page similar to how you view it on Facebook.com or how fans and followers view it (including the cover photo, Page photo, and post feed). You have multiple Pages to manage. You want to manage Page insights, messages, and notifications. You don’t use the main Facebook app for anything but managing your Pages.
Use the Facebook App when:
You occasionally check your Page on mobile but do most of your posting and management from the desktop.You’re more interested in seeing your latest insights and creating quick, convenient posts on mobile rather than viewing your Page the way fans and followers view it.You only have one or two Pages you want to manage on mobile.You often use the Facebook app and prefer to keep the number of apps on your device to a minimum.
A Look at the Facebook Pages Manager App Features
There are five main menu tabs located at the bottom of the app, plus two important manager options in the upper-right corner.
Page tab (flag icon): See your Page how a fan or follower sees it. Update your cover photo or Page photo, add a button, publish a post, share a photo or video, create an event, promote your Page, and see a feed of your latest posts. Page Insights tab (line graph icon): See a summary of your insights for the past month, your most engaged posts, your event insights, your page activity, your page discovery, and your audience. Messages tab (inbox icon): See your latest Page messages and respond to messages easily. Notifications tab (bell icon): See your latest likes, comments, tags, mentions, and more. Tools tab (briefcase icon): Take advantage of Page tools for sharing and promoting your Page. Menu option (hamburger icon in upper-left corner): See the Pages you manage and toggle between Pages easily. Settings (upper-right corner): Configure your Page’s general settings and options, such as visibility.
Getting Started With the Facebook Pages Manager App
The Facebook Pages Manager app is free to download for Android devices from Google Play and for iOS devices from the App Store. Once you open the app on your device, it may recognize that you’re signed in to Facebook somewhere else, like on the official Facebook app, if you have it on your device. If not, you’re asked to sign in to your account. Facebook Pages Manager automatically recognizes the Pages where you’re an admin or editor and adds those Pages. You can toggle between Pages by tapping the menu icon in the upper-left corner.