What You Need to Know about Facebook Timeline for Businesses

You may have noticed your favorite companies’ Facebook profiles have changed to match the Timeline style utilized in personal profiles. While it’s always controversial anytime Facebook makes a visual change, we all know that change can come with benefits, and this is definitely the case with the Facebook brand page Timeline.

For companies who may not be as social media savvy, we thought we’d break down the changes to help you make the most of the business Timeline format.

Updated User Interface

When you log in, you’ll notice that the side bar of administrator options has moved above the page into an “Admin Panel.” There, you’ll find new notifications, a list of people who have recently liked your page, messages, insights, and page tips. More in-depth options are found under the “Manage” tab at the top of the panel (profile picture, basic information, apps, etc.). The streamlined look puts a lot of what you’ll need to assess your Facebook profile in one place and can be hidden if you want to focus more on your profile content.

Messages

Previously not a feature on a Facebook business page, messaging is now available to organizations! While this will help you better communicate with current and potential customers and clients, it could also be tough for larger companies to keep up with an ever-growing inbox. For those who may not be able to answer all the messages they receive, Facebook allows businesses to opt-out of this feature by turning it off in the admin settings.

Highlight Important Updates

Just like your customers can highlight important life events in Timeline, businesses and organizations can “pin” certain events and highlight status updates they deem important. If you scroll over the top right corner of any status update, link, or photo, you’ll notice the “highlight” option. By clicking this, the status update becomes larger and takes up the width of your page. This highlighting option shows clients that it’s important enough for them to give it a second look. Make sure not to highlight everything, though, or your page will become a visual nightmare.

Add Milestones to Your Timeline

Similarly to highlighted updates, you can add important events or milestones to your business’s Timeline. This is a fun little way to show the history of your business. By clicking the milestone option on the status update toolbar (above where you’d type a status), you can add the date and pictures from when your business was founded, when important members joined the team, and other exciting business milestones. Facebook offers companies a unique way to enhance brand identity with the milestone feature.

Cover Photo

This is one of the most visible changes in the business page’s switch to the Timeline format. While it’s an exciting new way to draw in new followers, there are specific rules Facebook has issued for the cover photo including no pricing info (“20% Off!”), no calls to action (“Tell your friends!”), and no company info that would be in the “About” section. You can’t encourage people to like your page on the cover photo. Instead it’s supposed to remain, just that, a photo that describes your company and services. So get creative with your graphic design!

The new Timeline for company pages offers businesses a chance to really engage in social media in ways that the previous format didn’t allow. By making the organization pages similar to personal profiles, Facebook gives companies the opportunity to really shine and show the personality of their brands. For more information on social media marketing, make sure to follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+!