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By Tanya Salcido

Branding Matters
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Friday, March 2, 2012

Tips on Using Facebook’s Timeline for the Best Brand Exposure

Facebook recently rolled out timeline for brands, and it’s important to know what this means in order to maximize your brand’s presence. Have you converted your page yet? Have you been wondering how your brand can benefit the most out  from the new layout? One benefit is that when someone visits your new timeline business page, he/she will now have a more personalized experience. Visitors are now able to see how their personal Facebook friends have interacted with your business page. So, if a visitor tags your page in one of their posts, those with whom they originally shared will see these stories highlighted on your business page’s timeline. This is an opportunity for brands to tell a more engaging and authentic story.

Here are some key points I’ve collected from Mashable, HubSpot and Facebook on how to get the best exposure for your brand.

Cover Photos – Be sure to take advantage of the top image area by adding an image that is 851 x 315 pixels.  According to Facebook’s policies, the image may NOT contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your page’s “About” section
• References to user interface elements, such as “Like” or “Share,” or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”
• False, deceptive or misleading content, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property

Visual Content - There will now be more emphasis on visual content, such as photos and videos. Take advantage of this new real estate. Visual content will  increase brand engagement on your page: According to an internal Facebook study, “posts including a photo album or picture can generate 2X more engagement than other post types.” Because images will now appear larger and be more prominent, make a point of posting your best-possible visual content or making the content you already create more visual; Think photos, charts, infographics, and other content visualizations.

Existing Landing Tabs – The ability to specify a landing page is no longer an option. This is a major downfall for brands, although your existing tabs are still available and are now located under the cover photo. You can link to each page (i.e. if you have a custom page for a promotion), and once you click on a tab, there is navigation to select other options from a drop-down. You are able to manage three of the tabs ( or “Views” as Facebook now calls them). Click the down arrow to the right of the displayed tabs (the number next to the arrow is how many tabs you have). See image below.


designactionstudios-facebook

 

You can change the “Custom Tab Image” for all tabs except the “Photos”  and “Likes” tabs. Creating a branded image of 111 x 74 pixels is another way to enforce your company’s image.

Click: Admin Panel > Manage > Edit Page > Apps;

Click “Edit Settings”;

Next to “Custom Tab Image” click “Change”.

Pin New Featured Promotions - Business page administrators can now pin content to the top of their pages for seven days at a time. You will be able to anchor updates about featured promotions, such as marketing offers, at the top of your page, making them much more visible to visitors. Pinned stories appear right below the compose box for status updates. You can update your anchor pin every seven days. To pin a story, simply hover over it, click on the pencil icon in the top right corner, and choose “Pin to Top.”

As page owners, you will have until the end of March to develop ways to promote your new visual content for your page. You can certainly preview your page before it goes live. When you are ready to publish, simply hit the “Publish Now” button.

For more tips on building your brand exposure, visit my blog and connect with me on LinkedIn.

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Posted By Branding Matters On 03/02/2012 3:06 pm

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