Anybody who has used Facebook over the years knows that the platform is constantly in flux. With little and big changes alike constantly occurring, it can be easy to get frustrated at how often new functions must be embraced or learned.

With the Pages feature, this is especially true. Businesses and brands promoting their products, services and causes on Facebook have seen a plethora of changes for everything from algorithms to tools. Over the past year or so, it hasn’t been any different.

Today, we’ll look at five big changes Facebook has recently rolled out for Pages that you might not be aware of if you haven’t carefully looked at your settings in a while.

Page Stories

If you want your audience to see a particular post more so than the rest, then pages now have the option of creating “page stories”. You may have noticed friends’ page stories in your newsfeed: the same can be done for page posts.

Once created, you’ll be pinging users with your page story for the next 24 hours. This ensures that the post is more visible and prominent than it would be otherwise, which can be a great way to generate attention for something important.

Linking Groups & Pages

In the past, it was impossible to formally link pages and groups together. While somebody could easily search for your brand and find both outlets, they would not be officially connected or linked.

Now, pages and groups can be connected if you are the admin in both of them. The result is that pages will now have a “Visit Group” button at the very top of the page, and the group will show a comparable badge indicating the page with which it is affiliated. You can also post in the group as the page/brand once this is completed.

Customizable Layouts

In the past, Facebook pages were uniform: while you could edit the cover images and logos – and use developer tools to add some custom links and forms at the top – you didn’t have control over how each element appeared, and where.

Facebook has made it possible for pages to completely customize the look and feel of elements on their pages, letting you decide what appears and where. If you would prefer events to show up at the top of the page – above posts and photos, for example – then you can make it happen. Likewise, if there are select page elements that are not relevant to the brand and clogging up space, you can remove them from pinging users altogether.

Identity Verification

In order to run advertisements that are political in nature, Facebook admins must confirm their identity. Due to the controversies surrounding the 2016 US Presidential Election, Facebook is now requiring that all admins of a page setup two-factor authentication and provide a copy of their driver’s license or passport (plus last 4 of SSN) to run any ads. If you are promoting a party, policy, initiative or candidate, then you may now have to verify your identity in the US.

Undoubtedly more changes will be coming soon for Facebook Pages – as they always do – but these recent changes are some of the ones you might have missed. Be sure to take advantage of these tweaks – or at minimum, be aware of them – and use this knowledge to further promote your brand effectively.