Dear Friends,
In March 2012 Facebook launched its new Timeline for users. Timeline provides a new look for all brands and private users, and although optional for some users, over time it will be implemented whether we like it or not. In saying this, at Piggieback we think the new Timeline for brands is fantastic! It has enabled brands to be more visual with their page and as such some very creative designs have been implemented.
So what are the main differences between the “original” layout and Timeline?
1. More room for photos - with Timeline, Facebook users now have two photo spaces to fill and plenty more options for displaying visual content. There’s the profile picture (which is the photo next to your name) and the Timeline cover photo (the large image at the top of your timeline).
We’ve included some examples of visual brand pages below:
2. Easier to navigate - It doesn’t matter if you’re a Timeline enthusiast or not, it is hard not to admit Timeline is a lot easier to use than the original layout. All the information you need about a company/private user is right in front of you. In the top section (where your cover image and profile photo is located) is a small section underneath the profile photo where you can fill out all the details about yourself. Next to that information you can find photos, likes and mutual friends. All of this information used to be found at the very top on an original layout, however it was less colourful and harder to spot. Brands can customise how this looks and choose their top 4 “app” items to be displayed below the cover photo and beside the “about” section.
3. Storytelling – Timeline is all about storytelling. You can highlight your top stories to enable Facebook fans to find the interesting wall posts more easily. The wall is divided by a thin timeline with dots. If you click on one of these dots a post (which might not be visible on the timeline) pops up. You can track a company’s or private user’s Facebook “history” back to when they first joined, kind of like a story of their Facebook life. This presents an opportunity for brands to create history for their brand or their identity.
4. A private message between Brands and Users – One of the most important features for brands is the new private messages settings. Up until now, if your fans wanted to contact you directly they would have to either post on your wall, contact your personal Facebook, or go through your website. Now Timeline offers the opportunity for brands to interact with their fans on a more personal level through private messages. From a brand perspective, this new feature makes a world of difference. It gives them the opportunity to reply to customer enquiries/complaints without having to refer the customer to a website or other Facebook account. However, there are some restrictions. A brand can’t initiate a conversation, they can only reply once a fan has contacted them. This is to prevent brands from spamming fans’ inboxes with campaigns and advertising.
5. Cover photo guidelines – Facebook are very strict with their cover photo rules, and anyone who doesn’t follow them risks having their account deleted. One of the most important things to remember is: never use your cover photo as an ad, no matter how tempting it may be. Furthermore, you can’t include your contact details anywhere on the photo. This includes website, telephone number, and email. Facebook are strict with that there’s only one place you store that kind of information, and it is in the “about” section. Brands are not allowed to include any form of “calls for action” e.g. “get yours now on our website”. It’s also strictly forbidden to mention or use any graphic to point to your Like button.
6. Promotion – Facebook doesn’t allow brands to use their page as a promotion platform if it involves any form of Facebook features or functionalities. Post like “Mention abc as your status to be in the draw for a $500 voucher” will therefore have your page deleted. Brands also have to clearly state that this is their promotion and has nothing to do with Facebook. Notifying winner through Facebook is also forbidden.
7. No difference – From a fan interaction point of view, these changes don’t have any negative effects. A common privacy worry is the fact that everything is suddenly visible on your page as opposed to the original layout where people had to click on different pages to find your information. This is great for brands because fans can see information very clearly, however it does mean that as a brand community manager we need to consider what posts are visible and “highlighted” on our brand pages.
Facebook Timeline is an adjustment for brands; however it is definitely worth migrating your brand over to Timeline, if you haven’t already, and embracing what these changes now enable for brands. If brands can utilise all of Timeline’s fantastic features they are well on their way to successful social media marketing.
Piggieback offers services to plan, set up, design and implement social media marketing strategies. You can also contact us if you’re interested in outsourcing your social media management to Piggieback. We offer competitive retainer fees for brands that don’t have the time to manage but understand the power of social media investment.
Make Facebook work for you!
Piggieback
- Cover Photo - The cover photo gives brands an opportunity to display emotive imagery, campaign imagery in a large rectangle space but it does come with some restrictions which will be outlined further on.
- Profile Picture - The profile picture should be used to display a square version of the brand logo and is used as a thumbnail beside any posts or engagement across Facebook.
- Status updates – Status updates from brands can include images and these images can be “highlighted” to display the entire width of the page. This is fantastic news for pushing new campaigns from brands or for brands where product or scenery shots are important. There is also a great feature which enables brands to “pin to top” any update which is a key update and for the next 7 days it will appear at the top of your page.
We’ve included some examples of visual brand pages below:
2. Easier to navigate - It doesn’t matter if you’re a Timeline enthusiast or not, it is hard not to admit Timeline is a lot easier to use than the original layout. All the information you need about a company/private user is right in front of you. In the top section (where your cover image and profile photo is located) is a small section underneath the profile photo where you can fill out all the details about yourself. Next to that information you can find photos, likes and mutual friends. All of this information used to be found at the very top on an original layout, however it was less colourful and harder to spot. Brands can customise how this looks and choose their top 4 “app” items to be displayed below the cover photo and beside the “about” section.
3. Storytelling – Timeline is all about storytelling. You can highlight your top stories to enable Facebook fans to find the interesting wall posts more easily. The wall is divided by a thin timeline with dots. If you click on one of these dots a post (which might not be visible on the timeline) pops up. You can track a company’s or private user’s Facebook “history” back to when they first joined, kind of like a story of their Facebook life. This presents an opportunity for brands to create history for their brand or their identity.
- Milestones – Facebook Timeline offers another great feature for brands called “milestones”. Milestones are key moments in your brand’s history which you’ve decided to highlight on your page. They automatically expanded to the full width of the page and are visible to anyone who visits or likes your page. This gives brands an opportunity to share old photos and logos with their fans, and it makes it very easy for fans to click on a specific date to find out what their favourite brand looked like back in e.g. 1854.
- Louis Vuitton
- Target
4. A private message between Brands and Users – One of the most important features for brands is the new private messages settings. Up until now, if your fans wanted to contact you directly they would have to either post on your wall, contact your personal Facebook, or go through your website. Now Timeline offers the opportunity for brands to interact with their fans on a more personal level through private messages. From a brand perspective, this new feature makes a world of difference. It gives them the opportunity to reply to customer enquiries/complaints without having to refer the customer to a website or other Facebook account. However, there are some restrictions. A brand can’t initiate a conversation, they can only reply once a fan has contacted them. This is to prevent brands from spamming fans’ inboxes with campaigns and advertising.
5. Cover photo guidelines – Facebook are very strict with their cover photo rules, and anyone who doesn’t follow them risks having their account deleted. One of the most important things to remember is: never use your cover photo as an ad, no matter how tempting it may be. Furthermore, you can’t include your contact details anywhere on the photo. This includes website, telephone number, and email. Facebook are strict with that there’s only one place you store that kind of information, and it is in the “about” section. Brands are not allowed to include any form of “calls for action” e.g. “get yours now on our website”. It’s also strictly forbidden to mention or use any graphic to point to your Like button.
6. Promotion – Facebook doesn’t allow brands to use their page as a promotion platform if it involves any form of Facebook features or functionalities. Post like “Mention abc as your status to be in the draw for a $500 voucher” will therefore have your page deleted. Brands also have to clearly state that this is their promotion and has nothing to do with Facebook. Notifying winner through Facebook is also forbidden.
7. No difference – From a fan interaction point of view, these changes don’t have any negative effects. A common privacy worry is the fact that everything is suddenly visible on your page as opposed to the original layout where people had to click on different pages to find your information. This is great for brands because fans can see information very clearly, however it does mean that as a brand community manager we need to consider what posts are visible and “highlighted” on our brand pages.
Facebook Timeline is an adjustment for brands; however it is definitely worth migrating your brand over to Timeline, if you haven’t already, and embracing what these changes now enable for brands. If brands can utilise all of Timeline’s fantastic features they are well on their way to successful social media marketing.
Piggieback offers services to plan, set up, design and implement social media marketing strategies. You can also contact us if you’re interested in outsourcing your social media management to Piggieback. We offer competitive retainer fees for brands that don’t have the time to manage but understand the power of social media investment.
Make Facebook work for you!
Piggieback
great,
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