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Ask Haley: Facebook timeline changes and your business

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Haley Marketing's Facebook Page

Q: Can you explain some of the new Facebook timeline changes and how they will impact my company page?

A: The new timeline format for businesses or brands is very much like the timeline format for personal pages.  The changes will impact your overall design, how your content is displayed and how users can interact with you.

Here’s a quick rundown of some of the important changes you will see and how they will impact your company page:

  • New design.  You will have to choose a “cover” picture that really showcases your company.  Be creative in order to stand out!
Example of a timeline cover picture that stands out.

Starbucks and Cocacola are a few creative examples of company pages that I like.

You can also use the new timeline feature to give a narrative about your company.  You can showcase major events and other interesting information that way.  You can go way back in time (before Facebook existed) to showcase other points about your company.

  • Sideline links don’t exist. The old format allowed you to have many different page apps in the left-hand bar.  Now, you’ll have four panels (one defaults to photos) that will be viewable all the time.  To see more, users must expand the tab panel by clicking a drop-down box.

    What does this mean?  You should make sure that the three viewable apps are the three most important places you want your users to go.  Use this as a place to drive traffic back to your site.  You can use analytics to see if you’re on the right track.

  • No more default landing pages.  With the old format, you were able to force a visitor to a page if they didn’t already “like” your company page.  Many companies used this as an opportunity to get more likes.  So without this feature, what can you do?  If you haven’t already, you might want to try using Facebook ads to get more “likes.”  One of our clients was able to get over 100 new likes within a few days of using their campaign, paying less than $.18/like.  Another idea is to include links to Facebook in your marketing and with social sharing.
  • Feature content in a more interesting way.  You can also “pin” or sticky note items to the top of your page.  You will have more control over what your users see.

March 31st is quickly approaching…

Businesses have until the end of the month to prepare for the new timeline format of Facebook.  (You can choose to switch to the new format early – and if you don’t, you will automatically be changed over by March 31st.)

Want to learn more?

Here are other resources that can help:
5 Key Changes to the New Facebook Page

Facebook Brand Timelines: 6 Big Changes Every Marketer Needs to Understand

Facebook Video Tutorials

And if you need ideas for ways to stand out on your Facebook brand page, please let us know.  Our social media team will be happy to help you!

Jennifer Jordan
Marketing Manager

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