Tips for Using Facebook Timeline for Business

I hope you’ve enjoyed my last two articles on the new Facebook Timeline for business and I hope that they’ve provided some helpful suggestions. Now, as we inch closer to the mandatory switch over, you should have a better understanding of the new layout and how to navigate it. If you happened to miss those posts, they are here and here.

As promised, here is one more post about the new Timeline format and how you can best use it to benefit your business and online networking experience. These are some ‘secret’ or unique tips about how to make the most of Timeline for business. Have more ideas? We’d love to hear them! Feel free to share them in the comments!

• Tie your profile image with your cover photo. Mine have a similar theme and ‘work together’. It’s all about branding! Here is a page of super-cool examples you might enjoy or find inspiration in.
• The second box down in the right hand column of your Timeline is dedicated to a post that one of your friends has made about your brand. So, it’s imperative that you have friends that like your brand and who are talking about it! What does it say about your brand if your own friends don’t ‘like’ it?
• With the disappearance of landing pages, custom apps have become that much more important. You need custom apps to set your page apart and engage your audience. You can customize their images {see my Constant Contact tab} and align them with your brand even more closely!
• Apps are also important because you can link directly to them with paid advertising! You can’t make them your general landing page, but if you purchase a paid ad, you can direct your audience to that giveaway or special promotion.
• You can adjust the order that your apps appear. While it’s great to see how many likes your brand has, why not move that down to the second row of apps to allow more room for custom content along the top? That would be more engaging to your readers than the number of likes you have, anyway.
• Now, with the new page options, you have the ability to filter and screen every comment left on your page before it’s posted. You can literally block any negative or questionable content and only allow the positive to post. However, I don’t personally recommend that. Is that a fair representation of your brand?
• Most importantly, tell your story! Insert the milestones that matter and set your company apart from the competition. That’s what Timeline is for! Why are you better? Why are you different?

Have you implemented any of these suggestions? Tell us about it!

Facebook Timeline for Businesses:: Are You Ready?

Are you concerned about your Facebook business page changing to the new Timeline layout later this month? Or, are you ready to embrace the change? I have to admit, I was a little {okay, a lot} leery at first. But, the more I learn about it and its advantages, the more I like it. I took the plunge and changed my page over this morning. Take a look. However, I didn’t make the change without educating myself first. This week on the blog, I’m going to cover the changes and make sure you know what you need to know to make them work to your advantage.

First, let’s discuss the new cover photo and all of its glory. To me, it was quite intimidating when I saw how big it was. Then, came the thought process of what I was going to put there. In a competitive business world of first impressions, the ‘above the fold’ presence on your page is everything!

This is what your cover image is and should be:

• An image sized at 850x315 pixels
• Attention grabbing and vivid
• Something that accurately represents your brand

These are the things you CAN’T include on your cover image:

• Website address or contact information {save that for your About Us page}
• Pricing or sales promotions
• The call to action words ‘like’ or ‘share’

Your cover photo should be just that, a photo. It should not be entirely made up of text. It also should not infringe on anyone’s copyright or trademark. Facebook has done it before and they will shut down your page for not abiding by these guidelines.

For those of you with product based businesses, this is a great way to get your product seen by others. This is going to put a big emphasis on product images and photography. For a service based business, the image might be a little more tricky, but the key is to be creative. {See below how we can help with that!}

If you scroll down ever so slightly on your new page, the cover photo is gone. It’s large, but it doesn’t take long to look past it. So, although that is a very important piece of your branding strategy, you also have to pay serious attention to what is displayed below it.

Directly below the cover image is a new, horizontal strip of information. To the very left is your page’s category and about information. The category you fall into will dictate some of the other options for what appears in this strip. For instance, if you’re a local business, a map application will appear to the right.

Directly to the right of the category and about, are your photos. You cannot move this, it always will appear there. The most recent photo you’ve uploaded will show in the application box, which means you have the ability to control what is seen there. The rest of the boxes to the right {and below using the little drop down button} are other custom applications that you use on your page. You have the ability to change their order and control what others see at first glance. Although the new Timeline has gotten rid of landing pages {you automatically are directed to a brand’s Timeline now} custom content and applications are still very important. On my page, you can see that I have the Constant Contact app, so fans can easily sign up for our mailing list. These application slots are crucial to setting your page apart.

Below this horizontal strip, your posts start and the page is divided into two columns. On the right, there are a few more static boxes. The first is the number of your friends who like the page, the next is a box that features a recent comment one of your friends has made about the brand and the third is recent activity by others. This third one can be turned off in your settings. Next, is a box that features the pages that your business likes.

In the left column, your posts, links and status updates appear. If you post something of significant importance, you can now highlight it. The option is in the top right-hand corner of the post box. This will make the post stretch across both columns and will be very attention grabbing as others scroll down your page.

You are also now able to ‘pin’ a post to the top of your Timeline. This means it will stay at the top {for a maximum of 7 days} and will not get buried as you continue to post throughout the week. This is great for contest entry information, sales or important product information.

There are even more changes and updates. Later this week, we’ll discuss the new admin panel, custom options and messaging, competitive analysis, and some new advertising options. Lastly, we’ll also give you some top ‘secret’ tips about how to make your new Timeline as effective as it can be.

Meanwhile, check out our specials for March. Do you want the perfect cover image to engage your fans? Market Mommy can help! All month long, we are running a special on designing your new cover image. For just $55, we’ll design the perfect 810x315 pixel image to tell the story of your brand. Or, you can choose to have a coordinating profile picture designed as well. We also have options to be our pinned post for 7 days or on our featured likes list.

Facebook Page vs. Facebook Profile

In recent months, I’ve seen several businesses that have created personal Facebook profiles instead of business pages. In all honesty, it's a bit of a pet peeve of mine. Facebook very clearly defines the difference, and groups, brands, institutions, businesses, who are using personal profiles are subject to have their profiles disabled, erasing a lot of their hard work.

Facebook is a great way to network and market your business, but it must be done according to Facebook’s policies, or you’re at risk of being banned.  This is especially true if you’re running contests and giveaways on Facebook. You can see all of their rules governing those, here.

Let’s focus on the difference between pages and profiles. Facebook says this in their help section:

Profiles (timelines) represent individuals and must be held under an individual name, while Pages allow an organization, business, celebrity, or band to maintain a professional presence on Facebook. You may only create Facebook Pages to represent real organizations of which you are an authorized representative.

In addition, Pages are managed by admins who have personal Facebook profiles (timelines). Pages are not separate Facebook accounts and do not have separate login information from your profile (timeline). They are merely different entities on our site, similar to how Groups and Events function. Once you have set up a Page within your profile (timeline), you may add other admins to help you manage this Page. People who choose to connect to your Page won't be able to see that you are the Page admin or have any access to your personal account.

Profiles::        

• Can be created by anyone, over age 13
• Other users become friends of other profiles
• Can upload pictures, update their status, create events and invite people to become friends
• A Facebook Profile can upload pictures, videos, status updates, and can invite people to become friends

Pages:: 

• Are designed for businesses, products, organizations, brands and celebrities
• Other users can ‘like’ a page to follow their updates and posts
• Can upload pictures, videos, create events and post status updates
• Can track metrics, such as the number of likes, page views, interactions and demographics of users
• Can not invite other members to ‘like’ the page
• Can add free applications to run contests or for other features

As you can see, there are some differences and definite benefits to creating an actual business page for your business. The biggest benefit, I would say is the metrics you can track. This is extremely beneficial when you’re investigating how effective your page is.

I, personally, never ‘friend’ a business. If someone has created a profile instead of a page, I do not accept their request. I am pretty thorough at keeping my business page and postings separate from my personal profile. I do not know who is actually administering these profiles that were created incorrectly and therefore I do not want them to see my personal posts, pictures of my children, etc. When you accept a friend request from a business, you are allowing them access to all of your personal updates, pictures and posts. I’m sure this is one of the many reasons Facebook has clearly defined the two.

If you have incorrectly formed a profile, I’d recommend you start switching it over to a page as soon as possible. You will most likely enjoy the expanded capabilities, and you definitely want to make a change before Facebook makes the change for you and disables your page!

Watch for more Facebook related posts in the near future, we’re working on exploring other topics that will be of value to you and your business. Do you have specific questions related to Facebook marketing? Leave them in the comments and we’ll do our best to answer them for you!