Facebook has announced that it is rolling out its “Timeline” view to all company and brand pages. You can activate it right now if you want, but in case you want to spend some time designing your page and getting it right, you have until 30th March to do that before your page is automatically updated.
So, what’s new?
Add a “cover photo”
The page layout is basically the same as for personal pages, so you have the opportunity now to add a large image that runs across the top of your page. I’ve seen a few awful ones where companies have just used their logo here. And while that’s not particularly creative, what’s worse is that the logos were pixellated. You need to be a bit more clever than that and choose an image that reflects your company. Or, even better, have a new custom image created by a graphic designer. You’re not allowed to include calls to action or contact information in the image, so you’ll need to think carefully about this. Think about how you can capture the essence of your company or how you can incorporate some personality for your page. For example, if you offer creative services or products, you could showcase these (as has my photographer friend Stephanie).
Red Bull – whose previous Facebook pages were lauded for their creativity – have a nice new cover photo:
Yesterday I was playing around with the timeline to get myself up to speed for my clients, and was experimenting with what needs to be done. I ended up with an almighty great big image of me on my Kerrmunications page. Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will have had a chance to change that to something more appropriate!
Change your profile photo
You may only have to change the size of your image for this. However, many pages have previously created customised, tall images that explain a bit more about what they do. These are no good for the new profile photos which are now square.
Highlight your apps
You can choose up to four apps to appear at the top of your page, so choose the ones that you think are best for your audience. It may be your photos, or you may have created some custom pages. You can also now add custom images for the apps and custom page appear at 810 pixels wide instead of 520 pixels.
Customise your content
- You can highlight posts – this makes them stretch across the whole page, and so makes them more noticeable.
- You can also pin a story to the top of your page. Perhaps each day or each week you might want to highlight something new, and this is a good way to do that.
- Finally, you can populate your timeline with milestones. These can be stories or notes, accompanied by photos or images if you wish, that perhaps demonstrate the history of your brand or company.
Fast facts
Here’s what you need to know to change your page:
| What | How |
|---|---|
| Cover photo | This should be 851 x 315 pixels (width x height) |
| Profile image | This should be 180 pixels square |
| Apps | – To move them around, click the down arrow to the right of the apps, then click the pencil icon – Custom icons are 111 x 74 pixels – add them in your app’s actual settings (under “Admin Panel”, “Edit Page”, “Manage”, “Apps”) |
| Highlight a post | Hover over the top right of the post, click the star icon |
| Pin a post | Hover over the top right of the post, click the pencil icon and select “Pin to Top” |
| Add a milestone | At the top, where you would add a post, instead click “Milestone” |
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