Today Facebook announced that business pages will be getting the “Timeline” layout by March 30th, and we have some excellent tips to help you design and utilize this new layout to your advantage.
You may already be familiar with the Timeline layout on your personal page, but now your business page will have cover photo options and an open graph of feed information. Here are some features you can take advantage of, as well as important rules to adhere to before starting your design.
Cover Photo: This is the large image that appears at the top of your page. It can be pictures of products, or work you’ve done and must be at least 399 pixels wide. For our image, we used 851px wide, by 315px tall. Facebook states that you may NOT use any of the following on your Timeline Cover.
Additionally, Facebook states:
All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.
So what IS allowed in our cover photo, and how can we market our business without infringing on the rules? While this might put a wrench in your previous concepts, here are some great cover ideas that are a-okay by Facebook, and great for business.
- Feature a Client. Remove the gimmicky price points and sales, and simply feature one of your favorite designs. Your client will appreciate it, and your potential clients can see your work right on your page.
- Feature a Product. You may have several templates you’d like to sell, or portfolio examples you want to showcase. Make a collage of your favorites, and feature them in your cover. Don’t worry about prompting people to “buy.” If they like what they see, they’ll interact with your site and find what they want.
- Feature Yourself. Get dressed up, organize your office, and show off a photo of you hard at work. Or really connect with your readers and show them your mess of a desk, and endless supply of coffee. We’re sure they can relate!
- Feature Your Inspiration. From pretty patterns to your favorite websites, highlight something that is catching your eye at the moment. Use it to create a new product!
- Change it up. Your cover photo isn’t like a blog or web header. All your business information is already right below the cover photo for fans to interact with. This means you can change your cover, spice it up, and get people curious about what you’ll create next, instead of filling what should be an image with tons of text.
Here are some more features that the new Timeline layout for Facebook has incorporated for business pages!
1. Use the admin panel to manage your statistics, view messages, and more.
2. Chat and privately message your clients and fans. Rather than dealing with issues publicly, you can receive questions or complaints and address them without everyone else seeing it. Keep in mind, you can’t message your fans – only reply to messages that have already been sent to you.
3. Highlight and “pin” your favorite content by putting it at the top of your page. Instead of the most recent interactions, you can pin the most pertinent (like a giveaway) or highlight the positive (like a review) information right at the top!
Other features are the same as your personal Timeline. Create large “milestones” in your business’s history by publishing stories and allowing them to take up the entire width of your timeline to draw in readers. Post an album and have a “portfolio” like feature. Check your history and delete and add important events or past photos. Lastly, get creative and organize your timeline, both personally and professionally!
Thank you for posting this! I definitely would have skipped over some of the finer points of Facebook’s terms if you hadn’t pointed them out.