Archive for the ‘Graphic Design’ Category

Facebook Timeline for Business Pages – A Reminder that Changes Take Effect Today, 3/30/12

March 30 is upon us, so if you haven’t already updated your business’ or organization’s Facebook page to the new timeline style, make sure you do it today. Facebook posted their final reminder just yesterday:

Reminder! Tomorrow starting at 11am PST we will begin to migrate Pages who have not upgraded yet to the new Timeline format. If you admin one of those Pages, you still have time to get your Page ready by adding a cover photo, milestones, etc. before tomorrow! Check out these tips from other Page admins: https://www.facebook.com/marketing/posts/10150758346981337

While the new appearance is significantly different, the steps that FB page admins need to take to prepare are pretty minimal. The main thing you should do is created and upload a cover photo that is 851 X 315 pixels. Check out our upgraded Facebook timeline page to see how we adapted to the change. Our friends at the Energy Co-op of Vermont have updated their page as well.

Cover photos are one of the most obvious new features of timeline pages for business and one of the best new ways to brand your company. If you don’t upload a cover photo by 11am PST (2pm EST) today you run the risk of having a large block of white space at the top of your page. SMsimplified offers a few additional tips on new image size requirements:

• Cover photo: 851 x 315
• Profile picture: 180 x 180
• Thumbnail image for apps: 111 x 74
• Highlighted & milestone images: 843 x 403
• Images within wall posts display as 404 x 404.

But the need to adapt goes beyond appearance. As Entrepreneur notes, a new study shows that user engagement is up significantly for those who migrated early (emphasis mine):

The study, by Seattle-based social engagement analytics firm Simply Measured, focuses on 15 large brands, including Toyota, Ben & Jerry’s, and The Humane Society. It compares each brand’s engagement rate with its fans both before and after Timeline was made available earlier this month.

The results indicate that brands are enjoying an average 46 percent increase in engagement per post.

One reason: Timeline is conducive to larger photographs and videos. What’s more, the Timeline user interface is starting to behave more like a website, by offering more control over the look and feel of content.

At this point we’re only hours away from all pages being converted to the new timeline format, but that alone obviously won’t increase user engagement. It’s important that you’re posting updates, photos and videos that will encourage users will interact with, comment on and like. Entrepreneur also offers 4 tips on how to get the most out of your new Facebook timeline for business, including:

1. “Star” and “pin” your status updates, photos and videos. When you “star” a photo, it calls attention to the post by doubling its size and expanding the width of your Timeline. “Pinning” a post keeps a story or article at the top your Timeline.

This is a significant change that we recommend testing as soon as you’ve moved to the timeline layout. When you visit our new page, you’ll see that we’ve starred a couple of posts and they now take up the full width of the page.

Have you already made the move for your business page? Leave us a comment below so we can check it out. If you haven’t yet made the move and you’d like our help, contact us today!