Below is a quick overview of some of the things Facebook page administrators should know to design and manage their Facebook Page with the new Timeline.
1. It’s not Optional. That’s right. Effective March 30, Facebook started migrating all company and brand pages to Timeline, a switch that it had started with personal pages several months ago.
2. Facebook Pages look different. There are all sorts of new things with Facebook Timeline:
Pages sport a cover photo which is a great way to set up the page personality, feature a close up of a product, etc. Just be aware that there are rules about what can/not be included.3. Private messaging is here. This means brands can respond directly to fans or visitors with the caveat that only the visitor can initiate the conversation. This is a huge opportunity for companies, but make sure your business has a strategy for dealing with a possible flood of inquiries and comments—positive and negative.
Your profile picture has a new size—if you try to use your old one, it probably will end up off center, with random cropping, etc.
Tabs are now near the top of the page and feature icons. You can have 12 at a time.
Pinning and starring are a new way to highlight important posts.
You can no longer set a default tab for first time visitors—bye-bye like-gating your page. However, you can still like-gate tabs.
If you aren’t ready, you can turn this feature off; if you welcome a flood of inquiries, this is your chance!
4. Interaction is more important than ever. Timeline provides new opportunities for companies to interact with and engage their audience. The best way to take advantage of these opportunities is with engaging, interactive content.
Videos, quizzes, surveys, sweepstakes, contests, and coupons are the type of content that is most often interacted with, liked, shared, and otherwise consumed. Your best bet is to fill your Tabs and Favorite Apps slots with quality, interactive content and update it frequently.
5. Use the new Admin panel and Insights. Use the tools available to you to manage posts, post milestones, keep track of likes, networks, people talking about this, etc. To get deeper analytics on how your individual apps are performing including impressions, share rates, responses to calls to action, etc., make sure that you are choosing a solution that offers this information.
SnapApp recently hosted a webinar on Marketing Strategies Using Facebook Timeline that featured both tactical information like how many pixels a cover photo or profile image should be as well as information on some of the strategic/ content options that companies should consider.
About the Author
Seth Lieberman is the CEO of Pangea Media/ SnapApp. SnapApp is a marketing platform that empowers brands, publishers and agencies to foster conversations across the web. With the SnapApp platform companies can easily create engaging content including quizzes, surveys, sweepstakes, and contests that can be published on Facebook, websites, in emails, Twitter and more.
To learn more about SnapApp contact them at: 855-SNAP-APP or check out their website here: http://www.snapapp.com.
