The new Facebook Timeline for business pages has arrived. The new design changes almost everything about your Facebook Page. But don’t panic, you have until March 30th to publish your page. To make the transition easier we are sharing the basics every Facebook brand page owner needs to know about their brand’s new Timeline page.
Start with this great interactive course from Facebook to get up to speed quickly on the changes. Everything you need to know is clearly explained by Yvonne Chen, Product Marketing Manager and Jeff Kanter, Product Team. Complete the interactive details section to master connecting with people, customizing your page, controlling your content, and managing your page activity.
Click the link below to start the Learn About Facebook Pages course.
The course will open in a pop up window so disable pop-up blockers this page to watch.
Rick’s Tip: Pressed for time? Get up to speed in less time that it takes to drink a cup of coffee. For a great quick start guide to the new Timeline for Facebook Pages watch the course introduction section and read our list of take-away tips.
Top Tip: Start working on your Facebook Timeline now!
You can always toggle back and forth between the old design and the new until you publish your page.
Tip: Hide the Admin Panel when you aren’t using it. Click the Hide button in the upper right corner. Need to use it? Click the Admin Panel button in the upper right corner.
Tip: Rewrite your “About” section. Put your call to action in your brand’s About section. Use this area to list your website, phone number, email too recommends Donna Saliter of In Touch Promotions: Make the Most of your About Section in the Page Timeline.
Tip: Design the right size cover photo. The cover photo dimensions are 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high and the image you select for your cover has to be at least 315 pixels wide. Landscape oriented photos will work best and Facebook will automatically re-size existing images to fit. For more info and sources for cover photo pictures check out our articles:
How to Make Your Facebook Timeline Cover Photo: The Basics
Your New Facebook Timeline Cover Photo: Free Cover Picture Sources
Tip: Use your logo or other brand identifier for your page profile photo. Minimum image size is 180 by 180 pixels.
Tip: Stay within Facebook’s Cover Photo content guidelines.
- No price or purchase information, such as “40 percent off” or “Download it at our website.”
- No contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section.
- No references to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features.
- No calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
Get some inspiration to how to stay within the guidelines and take full creative advantage of Facebook Timeline cover photo: 20 Facebook Page Cover Photos to Inspire Your Brand
Tip: What to do now that default landing/welcome pages are gone. To direct visitors to a landing page use the link in a post in the Timeline, on your website or a Facebook Ad.
Look to this article by Facebook guru, William DeRosa of Talking Finger to learn the new way to use your landing page link:
Oh No!!! Facebook Killed the Landing Page! Well, Not Really…It’s Just Different.
Tip: How to highlight your page’s apps. Apps new home in the section below the Cover photo has limited room, so rearrange your apps so the three most important show “above the fold.” Draw even more attention to an app by creating and applying a custom image (111 pixels wide by 74 pixels high).
Tip: Use the pinned post as an ad. Design it to highlight info about your brand. You can include calls-to-action, links to direct to an app, promos, etc.
Tip: Make sure your timeline is social and engaging. Kick the interest up a notch by creating milestone stone posts, featuring select posts and cleaning “house” by hiding or deleting no longer relevant posts.
Tip: Use the Activity Log to manage all the posts in your page’s Timeline. In this simple one stop center you can hide, highlight or change the date of posts. You can find the Activity Log in the Admin Panel under the Manage button.
Timeline for pages is a very different way of displaying brands on Facebook. What are you going to do with your Timeline? We would love to see, share your page link in a comment and we will share your page in a future article.
More Page Timeline Resources:
- Inside Facebook: Timeline for Facebook pages: a complete overview of new features
- HubSpot Blog: The Complete Guide to Setting Up the New Facebook Page Design
- Facebook Help Center: Introducing New Facebook Pages
- Facebook Pages Complete Detailed Photo Guide PDF: Facebook Pages Product Guide
- Mashable: Facebook Brand Timelines: 6 Big Changes Every Marketer Needs to Understand
- Social Media Examiner: 7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses
- Mari Smith: Facebook Timeline for Business Pages – 21 Key Points To Know
About landing pages, I’m going to do what you suggest, I’ll link the facebook icon on my websites directly to my former landing page. I just can’t afford ads so going to go with this workaround.
Bill DeRosa’s tip is certainly a good solution to keep from paying for the ads. Also, I have been seeing some nice “app buttons” for former landing pages and pinned posts containing either a link to the landing page or a call to action to click the app button.
By the way, I took a visit to your PizzaSpotz site. Which is really fun, by the way! Then I checked out your FB landing page and liked your page. I think you could “legally” use your cover photo to display your Logo with the byline Largest PIzza Directory in the World beneath it and then add: Pizza Spot for the latest in…followed by the Top Ten Lists, etc.
Are you on LinkedIn? The Facebook & Twitter For Business group has a great Facebook Like exchange that really works.
I work for an online marketing company that deals with social media for businesses. We’re updating to the new timeline but I have a question relating to the cover photo. Are we allowed to use the FB icon (in addition to other social icons – ie, YouTube, Twitter, Google)? We’re not technically using user interface elements as we don’t use the like button or state anywhere to like or share the page. It’s basically including the FB logo to give a general idea of the work we do (social media).
Hoping you can clarify for me!
Good question, I hope it is OK since if you visit the Social Media 101 Artizon Digital FB page you’ll find I used the header of this blog which includes social media icons in the cover design. My understanding is that calls to action are not allowed on pages. In my case and in what you are asking the intent is to display the icons to tell the story of what our businesses do. I think that the line would be crossed; however, if account addresses or a call to action to like, follow, link, etc were added.