The New Facebook Timline
Over the
past seventeen months we’ve identified many steps in the process of building an
effective web presence, and Facebook Timeline is the newest twist. It’s a radical change to the way that you
will see your business page on Facebook, so here are some ideas on how to make
this work for you!
Facebook Timeline is coming
whether you like it or not.
In
typical Facebook fashion, you are not going to have a choice in the
matter. Business pages will convert to
Facebook Timeline on March 31st, 2012. The good news is that you will be able to
“preview” the page and adjust/edit the look and feel of the page before it is
published on that date. Start with your “cover image” and put something that
has your business branding involved.
Some geek speak here – the size of the cover image is 851 x 315
pixels. If you put something smaller
than that here, it will stretch. You can change your “cover” as many times as you’d
like. Your profile picture will display below your cover image and will
identify you as the page owner. By the
way, this image must be 180 x 180 pixels (more geek speak).
Don’t break the rules or the
Facebook police will get you.
We know
of several businesses that were using their personal Facebook profile (friends)
for business purposes, instead of a Facebook business page (fans). Their Facebook
profile suddenly disappeared overnight, without warning. Facebook is not very subtle when they
discover rules transgressions, so here is one Facebook Timeline rule we suggest
following. In your “cover” image, do not
put contact information, calls to action, or arrows pointing to
“Like/Share”. Put your contact
information and business information in the “About” section.
Use Facebook Timeline to highlight
your business growth.
Timeline
is a great tool to chronicle the major events in your business. On the right side is a scrolling year tool
where you can add milestone events. Some
ideas: add the year you started your business, dates you closed deals with
major clients, dates you added key staff, dates you garnered awards or
sponsored community events, or other
major events in your business. You can
also get very clever here…we are considering adding famous weddings to our
timeline for our bridal store, WhereBridesGo.com. Every time you add a new event, your fans
will see it. In this case, we want our
fans to comment and share info we are posting on these weddings.
Pin your posts.
This is
not to be confused with another hot social media channel called “Pinterest” (we
can talk about that in a later column).
This is now a way for a business to “Pin” a particular post to the top
of its wall where it will remain for 7 days.
This allows you to keep posts visible longer, but use caution if you
have many returning fans…better to keep content fresh.
Tip of the Iceberg
There is
a finite amount of space for this column, and we’ve barely touched the surface
of what capabilities Facebook Timeline for Businesses brings. To learn more, Google “Facebook Timelines for
Business”…you will find a wealth of information. I’ll give a free plug here…we follow Mari
Smith on Facebook and a lot of these tips were gleaned from her daily
posts. Her information is concise, easy
to follow, and she has the interest of the small business owner in mind.
I hope
this explanation helps you get ready for Facebook Timeline for Business! It’s
coming to your account on March 31, 2012.
Follow MSW
Interactive Designs
Twitter: @PutTheWebToWork
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/putthewebtowork
Blog: http://put-the-web-to-work.blogspot.com
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/putthewebtowork
Blog: http://put-the-web-to-work.blogspot.com
Mike Waggett, MSW Interactive Designs LLC ~ We put the web
to work for you!
573-552-8403
573-552-8403
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