Facebook announced a new Global Pages feature to help international brands around the world deliver social content to their fans in different regions and countries.

Global brands with presences in multiple nations and regions can now develop localized Facebook Pages for their customers around the world. According to a release from Facebook, the new structure directs users to the appropriate version of a Page based on their locations.

Kelly Winters, product marketing manager for Facebook, said the company designed the new feature to be as easy as possible for marketers to use. 

The local versions of a Pages are automatically translated based on a fan’s region and selected language. However, fan count and shared content will still be visible to users no matter their location to help build a global identity. Additionally, Winters reported that marketers won’t have to adjust URLs to their Pages, nor will administrators have to manage separate, regional Facebook Insights.

Further controls for marketers include the ability to use different cover and profile photos for specific region’s Pages. Moreover, those using more than one Facebook Page as part of their social media marketing strategy can easily integrate each one into the new Global Pages format. Facebook’s release points to brands, such as Holiday Inn, Kit Kat and Disney’s Frankenweenie, that have already successfully transitioned multiple Pages on the site to the Global Pages structure.

As the feature progresses, marketers will have access to more data to gauge their localized Pages’ performance across each nation or region. Specifically, Page admins will soon be able to track fan counts and other metrics at the regional level. Facebook did not provide a specific date for further expansion of the analytics information, but Winters suggests it should roll out by the end of 2012.

Facebook’s global reach continues to expand, and the rollout of the Global Pages framework can help brands appeal to their audiences around the world. Brafton recently reported that about 152 million Americans accessed the site in August 2012. However, Facebook announced earlier this month that it has surpassed 1 billion users around the world.

Joe Meloni is Brafton's former Executive News and Content Writer. He studied journalism at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and has written for a number of print and web-based publications.