Facebook Timeline Guide for Business Pages – Part 1 of 2

Bea Halstead - March 6, 2012

Facebook Timeline is changing the way Business Pages look, how they are managed, and how they interact with fans.  The new Facebook Pages are being pushed out to all existing Business Pages on March 30th, 2012.  Before your company’s Timeline is released to the public, make sure you have optimized what you are sharing with your fans.  This blog reviews the features of the existing Facebook Timeline and the new Facebook Page features for businesses.  Check back next week for tips to guide you through the pre-launch of the new page before the end of this month.

All Facebook Pages will look different, act different, and the tools have changed.
Many people have been getting used to the new Timeline layout within their own pages since the release in September 2011.  It boasts a much more visual experience organizing all status updates chronologically in a bi-column format with larger image areas.  Timeline includes integrating check-ins and photos onto a geographical map, and a new header design for highlighting a main image along with your profile thumbnail.  There is also a new navigation layout – below the header – with about info and image boxes that link to photos, friends, likes, apps, and more.  With this layout a new type of content is being highlighted in your newsfeed – based on a social plugin (Open Graph API) – that shares your activities, like what you are listening to, depending on the app. Going back over time, a user has more control over who can view posts by hiding them or staring them, and can add Life Events throughout the timeline at any point to note important status updates that might have been missed.

The Facebook Pages are similar in appearance/features to the individual Timeline.  The new page will allow you to interact more freely with your fans, includes enhanced graphics, the ability to feature posts, and engage in private messages with fans.  Social Media marketing strategies can leverage the large banner/header, the ability to pin a post for up to seven days to the upper left area of the page, star a post (making it appear larger in the Timeline), and also highlight the company “milestones” by adding posts to dates in the past to promote the history of the brand.

To learn more about how to leverage these new features, and what to focus on before publishing your company’s new page, look for the second part of this article in the coming week, or give us a call, 561-620-9682.