How can you even begin to keep up with Facebook? As soon as you get used to their last changes, they spring something new on you.
The latest is Facebook Timeline – it’s been forced on us without our consent! All fan pages now use the Timeline format. Well, stop your crying because this is a good thing and here’s why.
Timeline offers a lot more than the old format did. You can engage more easily with your customers and brand your business better. They’ve listened to our feedback and created something that’s all-around better.
The Cover
First, you’ll notice that at the top of your profile is a huge picture. This is your ‘cover.’ It’s the most powerful branding opportunity you have on Facebook. Don’t believe me? Look at Coca-Cola’s Timeline. Check out the New York Times’ profile. They’ve used their cover in a cool, creative way, and that’s what you can do too.
New and Improved Tabs
Remember those boring tabs on the left-hand side of the page? Actually, you might not because what’s to remember? Timeline offers ‘views.’ These are basically the same except that their thumbnails instead of text. I smell another branding opportunity!
Control Your Posts
On the old profile format, whenever somebody posted on your wall, it appeared at the top. Whenever somebody came to your wall, they’d see whatever random thing somebody posted last. If you wrote a really cool post that you want people to see, it would get buried under all the new stuff. This is why I always advised people to backlink to their info, not their wall.
Timeline lets you control which posts are seen first. One way is the Starred Post feature. You ‘star’ a post and it stays on top. Another feature is the Weekly Pinned Post. You choose the week’s greatest hit and keep it there for all to see.
Multimedia Wall Posts
Have you ever tried embedding a video on your wall with the old profile? You needed to be basically an amateur coder to do it. You had to use iFrame and it could be messy if you weren’t a pro at stuff like that. Timeline makes it as easy as copying and pasting to put multimedia on your wall. This includes videos, music, slideshows, testimonials, custom apps and just about anything else you want to slap up there.
PM Me ASAP
I mentioned better engagement with your fans. Well, Timeline lets your fans send you a private message. If they want to communicate through your page, they don’t have to post publicly or send a message to the admin’s profile. This may seem like a tiny change and it is really, but it has serious consequences. You’re put in much more direct contact with your fans and if you use this to your advantage and communicate with them well, it can really help with your branding as the nice guy/gal.
Timeline is good, trust me. Once we all get used to it, we’ll realize that this is a change for the better for Internet marketers and business owners.
Tony Phelps
Why not leave a comment? Get involved and let us know how you’re doing and what you think about Facebook Timeline
