10 Critical Things to Know About Facebook’s Timeline for Business
Are you ready for the transition? Time is almost up! According to Facebook, by the end of today, all business pages on Facebook will convert to the new page design, embracing the Timeline look whether you like it or not.
Some businesses are scared of the change. But you, the reader of this post, shouldn’t be! The new Timeline design will require you to make some changes to your Facebook business page, but acting quickly and optimizing your page specifically for the new design will give you an edge on your lagging competition. Read on for some interesting things that you must know!
1. “Likes” don’t matter anymore, if they ever did. The call to action to “Like” your page is gone. Folks will have to be enticed to return to your page or voluntarily give you a “Like” and that will directly be a factor of the next item.
2. Content matters Why would anyone want to put themselves in front of commercials all the time (other than at the Super Bowl)? They wouldn’t, so you cannot become a commercial, but more than that, you must be interesting. Images, videos, and opportunities to share their own opinions are what tend to be the most interesting to others – and it’s about them, not you!
3. Your Cover Photo (851px x 315px) has a lot of restrictions on what it can be. Get help or do the research, but don’t risk your entire Facebook account by violating their terms.
4. Use your Cover Photo to spark curiosity, enhance your brand, connect emotionally, or highlight your features, but like any image, it will need to be visually appealing to the eye.
5. Murphy’s Law applies here. Designing your Cover Photo (and custom apps/icons) will absolutely take more time than you think. Plan for it.
6. Customize your Apps! And again, customize your apps (or tabs if you’ve not made the jargon upgrade). Use these to generate all of the Call-to-Actions you want to, but remember to personalize the icons, too. (App images are 111px x 74px).
7. Carefully consider which 3 apps you will emphasize. The top row of apps will be seen regularly, so put your best call-to-actions there!
8. Learn how to use the “Highlight” and “Pin” features. These will allow you to emphasize key moments on your Timeline in strategic and unique ways. Enter key dates, use pictures and links, etc. Experiment with these tools. You may find, they are actually more engaging than a Landing Page.
9. Get familiar with the Admin panel. There are some great features there for engaging with your fans. Messages, “New Likes,” Insights, and the Activity Log are great resources to monitor what’s going on with your page and your fans as well.
10. Ads matter. Yes, we said it – the “A” word. Ads will become more important now, BUT they will need to be done differently. Engagement over Likes will be important, so your ads may need to be run to your current fans. Or, you may want to direct your Ad to one of your apps where you have a specific call-to-action. You may want to do both! Focus on engagement, not the “Like,” as one thing can be said to be true…
Timelines for Brands and Businesses changes everything!
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