Facebook Facelift: How to Handle the New Timeline

Last fall, Facebook rocked the social community by introducing the timeline to personal pages. This caused widespread panic of the masses as many did not like the change. Their argument, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. This month Facebook launched their timeline for business pages and the reaction was met with mixed results. I for one think the new layout is amazing, it allows you to be more creative and visually inspiring. Today I am going to run you through some of the new features and how we at Trileaf Designs plan on utilizing them.

First, we have to start with the timeline cover picture. It’s easily the most noticeable change with the new timeline feature. This may be my favorite addition to our social media arsenal because it highlights your creativity. As a design firm that thrives off of its creative work, this allowed us to show off a little.

One of the main issues with the new timeline pages was that they cannot have a custom landing page. Without a custom landing page the look and feel of your timeline page must be able to catch someone’s eye.

You are also now able to feature posts on your timeline wall by pinning it to the top of your timeline. The post will remain pinned for seven days. This is great to allow every visitor to your site to see the post. We pin our monthly coupon promotion to encourage our visitors to participate.

Posts are now able to be enlarged on your wall by highlighting them. This stretches them across both columns of your timeline, making them stand out above the rest. We use this feature on only important posts that pertain directly to our company, not just conversation posts. You do this by clicking the star on the upper right corner of each post.

Before the timeline was introduced pages could have countless applications to prompt viewers to check out specific parts of their page. Facebook has limited that to 12 applications that you can showcase, with only three that can be moved into a position to seen by everyone who visits your page. Below is an example of the apps that we chose to feature on our timeline. Prominently featured, is our contact information and our monthly coupons. This is a great way of driving potential clients to the point of sale. We chose to display our “likes” tab for the time being but we have big plans for that button. Stay tuned! Finally, the photos tab is a default tab that cannot be moved.

I know that many are going to complain that this change is just another thing to worry about. My only advice to them is to quit being lazy. This new format is going to make pages much more appealing to visit. Social citizens weren’t visiting your page solely for information. If a page is not interesting, they will not visit. The image of your business is important at every level. The Facebook timeline is no different. And if you really don’t have the time, contact us, we can help.

What are your thoughts on the new time lines? Any suggestions for Trileaf Designs’ Page?

Feel free to leave any comments on our Facebook page as well!

For more information on the complete change, please check out 7 New Facebook Changes Impacting Businesses.

Written By Ryan Farrell