While it may have slipped under the general public’s radar, a couple weeks ago Facebook began significant implementing changes to its “pages” interface — through which companies, organizations and public figures use the social networking site to communicate to large audiences.

One of these changes was the removal of the “Suggest to Friends” button which impacts the ability for organizations, particularly political campaigns, to grow their Facebook presence without the investment of advertising dollars.

Since Facebook introduced pages as an alternative to “groups” a few years ago there was one tried and true method of stimulating growth on a page: the “Suggest to Friends” button. This button allowed Facebook users to literally suggest to their friends individually that they “like” a certain page — it was an endorsement of sorts and if used effectively could grow a page’s following quickly.

It’s likely that Facebook made the change to force its corporate and politcal users to rely more heavily on its paid advertising platform to drive growth. It’s a sneaky strategy that will work because Facebook has reached that “tipping point” — in that nearly all major advertisers value the site as a powerful tool to reach new customers and engage current ones.

There are plenty of ways to make your Facebook page thrive, even while spending little or no money, but it requires an effective strategy and some creative leadership.

All the more reason you need a partner guiding your social media program — just tell us when we can get started!