How to use Facebook timeline effectively for your business pages

20 July 2012

There was recently a lot of hubbub in the advertising world when Facebook decided the change the layout of their page. They went from a pretty standard format, where ads and personal content and other features all fit the basic screen, to a literal vertical timeline running down the center of the page. Facebook’s Timeline feature has since changed minds. Advertisers started spending more money. Ads displayed in this format proved to be more reliable. Pages began receiving more views. And the trust of the advertisers witnessed a huge uptick.

How does any of this relate to you? It’s simple. If you are planning on using Facebook and are planning on creating an effective business page or a fan page, you will need to know how to effectively use Timeline to your advantage.

Effectively Using Timeline for Your Business Page

The Cover Photo

Having an attractive, alluring cover photo—banner—on your business page will be very helpful to your odds of overall success. With the new Facebook layout, not having a large banner is going to leave a lot of blank space at the top of the Timeline, and this is going to come across as just another user profile. Sure, that isn’t that bad. But it’s also not very good if you’re representing as a business and are trying to lure fans to your company’s page.

Contact Information

The new layout has brought about some new rules as well. This includes the contact information. For example, you can’t put any type of email address or phone number on the cover photo, and you can’t plaster it all over the site. Do you want to list your contact information? Of course you do! But this has to be done in the “About Me” section of the page. Your fans and other visitors are still going to click on it if your page is appealing enough. Don’t worry.

Avoiding Prohibited Information

There is other prohibited information that you’re going to want to avoid if you want an effective Facebook business page. For instance, you can’t have those “like” buttons on your cover photo. No one is really sure why, but Facebook doesn’t want it. Their house, their rules. You’re also not allowed to list any product information in terms of purchasing or price. So you can’t have any “all major credit cards accepted” slogans or any sale price listed for what you’re selling.

Organization

Now that we’re done with the cover and what you’re not allowed to do, let’s get into some of the organization aspects of your business page. Your applications, for example, are going to appear as thumbnails directly under your cover photo. Make sure they’re arranged per your liking and per your market. With up to 12 apps shown, proper organization can pay off. You will also want to monitor your post feed for the purposes of reorganizing any post or ad that’s effective or ineffective. For example, you will be able to pin your most important post at the very top of your page. Use these organizational features to your advantage.

Milestone Posts

As you scroll down someone’s Timeline, you will see “Milestone” posts. As it pertains to your business, you can really use these milestones to your advantage in order to share your business story with your fans. Over time, your Timeline will develop into something very interesting and enthralling. People will want to witness your growth from inception to the present.

All other Facebook page design tips will help you get a grasp on creating an effective page. The tips that you have just read about above deal specifically with using Timeline on Facebook. If you’re using Timeline correctly and if you have an appealing page, Facebook can surely turn your business into a huge hit.