In case you haven't been around Facebook the past month, they switched all of their Pages over to the Timeline layout last week, same as you're used to with your personal profile.
As of March 30, all of Facebook's 845 million users have had to climb on board with these new changes.
Great news for you, Facebook has amped up their presentation with some pretty kick-ass features. What's this mean to you as a business owner or marketing professional?
Facebook's Timeline for Pages will help your business connect with a greater number of fans and gives you flexible tools to curate your unique social brand and share your story. That's pretty damn rad.
Here's 4 ways to get some extra mileage out of the new Timeline for Pages...
First up, your cover photo.
If your business could be represented with a single image, this is where you'd post it. The cover photo spans the entire width of your page (851 pixels wide x 315 pixels tall) and should be a photograph that captures the intrinsic character and true quality of your company.
Calls to action are strictly forbidden; the point of the cover photo is to visually engage your community, not to assault them with in-your-face advertising tactics. Include your logo and a strong USP (unique selling proposition) or positioning statement, pop your company logo in the slotted profile picture location (125 pixels x 125 pixels) and you're good to go.
Milestones is a fun way to share your brand history and to mark the poignant occasions in your company's future. You have the opportunity to share with your fans the wicked goals you have proudly achieved both in your business and in your community.
A super plus to marking Milestone's is that these images also span the full width of your page (843 pixels wide x 403 pixels tall). Can you see where I'm going with this? The more visually appealing your page is, the more likely your target group is to like, share and interact with your product. "Scientists" confirm that Pages with a greater number of pictures generate twice the amount of traffic. Wunderbar!
A cool new tool is the ability to Pin specific stories to the top of your Timeline. Let's say you have some content that you want front and center for a short time, just right click the pencil icon in the top right corner of your post and that story will remain in the top position for one week. This is a great way to highlight weekly specials, lead generation tools and other calls-to-action.
Facebook Insights have been updated. This is your analytics. Are you curious to know when your page gets peak traffic? What about how many times your post has been shared? And more deceptively (like a ninja), how are your competitors doing in social comparison?
With Insights you can see how many fans have clicked on their Like box, what the most popular age group is for that company, when competitor posts are trending and the most popular times it all went down. Spy-work made easy!
Don't be afraid of change folks, the team at Facebook is working hard to give you tools to better promote your business and communicate and interact with prospects and brand champions. Jump in, try it out, get your hands dirty and see what works for your business.
PHOTO CREDITS: TIME