Facebook's Parent-Child functionality has been popping up on the communities for several large retailers recently including Starbucks. Parent-Child is a great way for any business with more than five locations to tie several Facebook place pages back to a single location. In this document we highlight all the good and bad, and tell you how to get this process kicked off for your own community.

1. Room 214 || FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
Facebook Parent-Child
Social Media Marketing gives big brands the opportunity to feel small, and visa-versa. A common
struggle for big retail brands with multiple store locations is increasing the social visibility of these
individual destinations, not to mention building loyalty among local customers. With Facebook’s
Parent / Child feature, these brands now have the ability to elevate their retail locations and drive
traffic by providing relevant content and running engaging check-in deals.
We recommend Facebook’s Parent / Child functionality for the following reasons:
• Greatly increased social visibility of individual locations
(rather than only the overall brand)
• Opportunity for stores to build a Facebook following with
their own local customers
• Activating check-in deals for discounts or gifts-with-purchase
is quick and extremely easy to manage
• Promotion of deals and News Feed stories generated from
those who redeemed them drives store traffic
Throughout this document, a “Parent Page” refers to a brand’s
main Facebook Page while a “Child Page” refers to the Page for an individual store location.
How To Get Parent Child
It’s important to note that Facebook has not yet made this feature available to the masses. They
allow brands to activate Parent / Child functionality on a case-by-case basis. You need at least 5
business locations, and if you’re not a preferred Facebook advertiser you should go through an
agency who’s been commissioned to setup the features, like Room 214.
To Setup Parent-Child For Your Brand Contact Us
ROOM214.COM | INFO@ROOM214.COM | 866.624.1851 | @ROOM_214 | FACEBOOK.COM/ROOM214

2. Room 214 || FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
Feature Overview
From a very high level, here’s how the Parent / Child feature works: Brand completes Facebook’s required
data sheet, Facebook uploads the data, “Map” application on the Parent Page (containing all Child Pages) is
live within 15 business days. We can split this functionality into 2 main pieces: Pages for individual locations
and running check-in deals…
Pages for locations (Child Pages):
Once setup is complete, there will be individual Facebook Pages (Child Pages) for all of your locations, and
they will all link back to the main brand Page. Features include:
• Retain full control over Child Pages, or grant members of the local staff Administrative access
• Customize location information such as address, store hours, contact information and description
• Change the cover photo (or keep it linked to that of the Parent Page) and add photos and albums
• Post updates to the Child Page’s wall
* Note that as of March 30th, 2012 both the Parent Page and the Child Pages will have the Timeline layout.
Running check-in deals:
Possibly the most significant feature for individual locations (not to mention the overall brand) is the ability to
quickly create and activate check-in deals, offering a discount or a gift-with-purchase to store visitors.
Features include:
• Create deals through the Parent Page, pushing the deal to all Child Pages, or for individual stores
• Customize copy in the digital coupon that end-users will receive
• Determine start and end dates, allowing for automatic activation and removal of deals
Facebook currently offers 4 types of check-in deals:
• Individual Deals: User checks-in at your location and gets a one-time deal
• Loyalty Deals: User received deal after checking-in a certain number of times
• Friend Deals: Deal is received when users checks-in with a certain number of friends
• Charity Deals: Brand makes a donation to charity for every customer who checks-in
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3. Room 214 || FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
From The Eyes of a Customer
• Customer opens Facebook • Customer sees a list of nearby • Your customers will see your
on a mobile device, and locations. If you’re running a offer, and be asked to Check-in
clicks “Check In.” deal, there will be an icon. to claim the deal.
• After clicking “Claim deal” • News Feed post is created, and
customer will be checked into friends of that user can see the
your location, and given further check-in, and details of the deal
details to redeem the offer. which was claimed.
* Photos above from Facebook documentation
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4. Room 214 || FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
Setup Process
The brand team helps to complete Facebook’s data spreadsheet with the required information, Facebook’s
Pages team uploads the data and the Map application and all Child Pages are live within 15 business days.
What We Like
• Helps make big brands look smaller
• Gives individual store locations a social presence, helping to build loyalty with local customers
• Individual stores show up as Places when using Facebook search
• Store managers or other staff can have control over their page to ensure locally-relevant updates and
content
• Running check-in deals is extremely easy and leads to organic promotion through friends of those
redeeming
• Ability to push deals across all locations or run them individually
• Quick and easy to set-up
What We Don’t Like
• Feature is still only available on a case-by-case basis
• No control over the Map application design (as there would be with a custom application)
• Users don’t have the ability to print the deal from home and redeem (check-in only)
• One set of Child Pages cannot be linked to multiple Parent Pages
Cost
As long as the brand meets all of Facebook’s requirements, there is no cost from Facebook. Room 214
charges a setup fee based on the number of locations and initial requirements from the brand.
Final Thoughts
Facebook’s Parent / Child feature gets Room 214’s stamp of approval, and it should be considered for any
brand with a Facebook Page and multiple store locations. With the feature still living in “beta” mode, it will be
interesting to see where Facebook takes it in the future.
ROOM214.COM | INFO@ROOM214.COM | 866.624.1851 | @ROOM_214 | FACEBOOK.COM/ROOM214

5. Room 214 || FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
Room 214 | FACEBOOK PARENT-CHILD
Connect With Us:
• Get Parent-Child Features
• Email
• @Room_214 on Twitter
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