Facebook revamped the pages businesses can set up on its online social network, providing a new way for brands to promote their goods to Facebook's 845 million users. The new feature lets businesses, as well as celebrities and bands, create self-contained mini websites within Facebook using the Timeline format Facebook introduced for its users' profile pages earlier this year.

Earlier this month, Facebook announced plans to raise $5 billion in an IPO expected to value the company at between $75 billion and $100 billion. The introduction of Timeline for businesses comes ahead of a big event Facebook is holding in New York City on Wednesday to introduce various new services for marketers. Businesses can set up pages on Facebook for free, but the idea is that companies whose pages experience a lot of customer interest might be interested in advertising on the service as well.

The world's No. 1 social network is ramping up efforts to attract the attention and budgets of large companies and advertisers ahead of its initial public offering. Facebook generated $3.7 billion in revenue last year, with 85 percent of it from advertising.