I had the pleasure of attending a workshop on Timeline for Pages at Cement Marketing this week. Alaina Shearer, owner of the social media marketing company, led the casual, informative session. Like it or not, all pages are being switched to timeline today. Change is not easy, for sure, but the new format does have some distinct advantages. It allows a brand to tell a complete story, gives fans a chance to send private messages, and fosters engagement among fans.
Tips for Timeline
1) Use Cover, Profile, and Pinned Posts Wisely - Combined, the cover, profile, and pinned areas (pins last for seven days) offer a huge pixel area for marketing your business. The cover may not contain a call to action or redirect away from Facebook, but the pinned post can. Use these three areas in conjuction with one another to create a multi-faceted brand message.
2) Share and Highlight Images - The new timeline format encourages the use of photo sharing by making beautiful galleries from your albums. Highlight a picture or album to expand that section across the whole timeline page.
3) Maximize the Milestones - Milestones are your chance to tell your brand's story from the beginning. Beyond the traditional 'opening date', 'first xyz' posts, consider adding milestones that speak in the voice of your brand. This might include joking, cutesy, or heart-string-tugging moments. (Hint: Check the 'hide from news feed' box when making multiple milestones so you don't overwhelm fans.)
4) Prioritize Your Views/Apps - Just below your new cover picture on the right side of the page are boxes that might include photos, notes, videos, events, and likes. Click the little blue downward triangle to switch the apps around. With the down arrow clicked, you can hover over each box to reveal settings and swap places. Only four are visible to fans so you must choose your most important applications and feature them here.
5) Revel In The Engagement - A quick study by Simply Measured reported on Mashable suggests that fans are 46% more engaged with the new timeline format than before. This engagement comes from people staying longer on the timeline pages. Give fans plenty of milestones and highlighted posts to keep their interest and share your story. The handy Insights tool in the admin bar can give you plenty of stats about how timeline works for you.
Facebook is automatically switching all pages to timeline format on March 30 at 11 AM PST so you have a few more hours to play with the settings in preview mode before timeline goes live.
I am slowing improving the Hounds in the Kitchen facebook timeline as well as updating the pages I manage for social media clients. I enjoy the format as a reader and storyteller.
What do you think of timeline format? Are you using it for a business page? Tell all in the comments.