The new Facebook Timeline format will officially be applied to all business pages as of March 30, 2012,  many businesses have been playing around with the features including me and I love it and so do many of my clients who capitalize on social media marketing.

Many of us think the timeline format offers a great opportunity for our brands and companies to tell their story in a more authentic, visually compelling, and streamlined way. The new format offers businesses a bigger canvas on which to paint a picture.  The timeline allows businesses to share some of their history (including historic photos, documents, and company milestones) with the public in a way they might not have done before.

The Timeline creates a more even playing field. Now, even small, local businesses, such as retailers, doctors,  florists, and lawn care companies, can more easily create content that will sustain a community. In essence, Timeline gives businesses a template and an opportunity to share how their story has progressed through the years.

With the new Timeline design, you’ll notice the generously large cover image at the top of your page. This piece of prime real estate  is always visible to fans and non-fans as they land on your page. The dimensions are 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels high. It’s a wonderful place to showcase photographs and graphics pertaining to your brand/business.

Some Timeline Cover Design ideas include:

  • Photos of your retail store or business office
  • Photos of customers using your products or services
  • Historical snapshots
  • Pictures of popular menu items (for restaurants, bars, spas, salons)
  • “Before” and “After” photos (for contractors, salons, decorators)
  • Your company logo
  • Staff members and/or company founders
  • A photo montage that represents your brand
  • A collage of your fan’s photos

The ABOUT section isn’t new, but it’s now even more prominent, located right under the profile picture. This space allows people to quickly understand what your business is about. Keep it brief and include keywords and your website URL. This nugget of information can include important company branding, such as a mission statement, tagline, or customer service contact.

The MILESTONE or Composer feature is the most important new tool to help you tell your story and highlight important milestones in your company’s past. Dig in the archives and rediscover your company’s history. Share your company’s founding date, historical documents and photos, name changes, the first customer order, original logo or website, new products that changed your business and other occasions that tell the back story of your business.

TABS– While apps  still exist, they look different in Timeline and will be shown in thumbnails underneath the cover photo. Three tab “apps” can be featured in addition to photos, which appear first by default. You can show 12 apps in total. The thumbnails can link to things such as your photos, number of fans, a map, custom welcome, blog, email sign up, or other promotions.  Here are my custom TABS linked to my free ebook, subscriber list, and customer testimonials.

Draw attention to your most important posts with these great new features:

“Star” or highlight posts. When people visit your business Timeline, they’ll see a range of stories published by your business, friends, and those stories from other users that received the most “likes” and comments.

Pin posts. Emphasize important updates by pinning one post to the top of your page, which keeps it at the top of your Timeline for seven days. Pinning lets businesses control what visitors see first and draws attention to a specific post, such as engaging content, a special offer, a new photo, link to a blog post, or a promotional app you want to feature that week. I don’t recommend pinning for more than a couple of days as people want to see new content from you.

These are just the highlights of the new Facebook Timeline, if you need help with strategy or design, I’d love to help! CLICK HERE for more info.