Facebook Timeline and the Business

Facebook Timeline for brand pages is about to complete its first month. Like every other new thing, Facebook’s Timeline is also facing good and bad reviews at the moment. Many people have accepted the change happily, whereas many of them are not happy with it.

According to the latest reports by Mashable, Wildfire’s CEO Victoria Ransom believes that comments are down with the Timeline redesign because “It’s much more difficult to see users’ comments, both on a brand’s wall and in the newsfeed.” Adding to the issue, “Comments from other fans don’t show up in brands’ posts on users’ newsfeeds and because Timeline is now so visual with so much real estate taken up by pictures and videos, comments are quickly collapsed. This encourages ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ more than comments,” Ransom says.

Remember these are just early reports and they are not to discourage you. The reports are suggesting that there is a lot of scope for improvement in your marketing strategies. To make your brand page look better, you need to give attention to minute things. Here are a few tips to help you make your Timeline more meaningful.

Let the cover image speak for your brand

Cover image gives you an opportunity to present yourself in front of your fans. You can visually inspire your fans towards your product/services with the help of cover image. You should make full use of this space on your brand page. Facebook has very strict rules about what you ‘can’ use and what you ‘cannot’ use in the cover image. It strictly says that you cannot include your contact details or any calls to action in your cover image.

Option to highlight

When you publish an important story on Timeline about your company, make sure to click the ‘star’ button to highlight it. ‘Star’ button is given on the upper right corner of each story. Facebook timeline provides many viewing options to the visitors. It also has one option that will take them to all your highlighted stories. So your valuable story will not be missed out. Remember that your aim should be to share valuable, meaningful and informative content with your fans. So make sure that you highlight only worth stories.

Apps and not Tabs

Timeline has replaced the old tabs with the new apps. Apps are displayed under the cover image with thumbnail images. You will see four apps are always displayed. You can swap positions of the apps whenever you want. Try to use these apps to attract more visitors. You can create apps that will take the visitors to your videos, blog posts, contests or your online store. You can use up to 14 custom apps.

Show milestones on Timeline

As the name suggests timeline means a sequence of related events that are arranged in chronological order. You can also set your milestones, your achievements on the timeline. This will help visitors to understand your company in a better way. You can highlight your company’s details on timeline like its opening, launching of new products from time to time, rewards received, your partners etc.

Take out some time to see what others are doing with this new feature, get some inspirational ideas. Remember that Timeline is still in its initial stage. Give yourself some time to learn and use it more effectively. Facebook is a useful tool for marketing if used properly.