Facebook Timeline: What You Need to Know Now

If you’ve been on Facebook for any significant amount of time, you have likely seen the mass disapproval that often accompanies change. And we’re probably about to witness another wave of that.

On March 30, Facebook will transition everyone’s profiles to timelines, and many businesses are concerned about what that means. So we’re going to answer the main question people have: How is the switch from profile page to timeline going to affect my business page?

The old format displays a series of changing photos at the top of the page. You will now have one large cover photo and a profile photo inset.

• The cover photo is the large image (851 x 315 pixels) that Facebook suggests you use as “a unique image that represents your page.”
• The profile photo is the smaller image (180 x 180 pixels) that will be used as your Facebook “avatar” when you post a status or interact with people or pages. This is where you will likely want to place your logo.

You will also be able to resize posts for emphasis, and “pin” posts so that they stay visible at the top of the page for seven days or until you choose to remove them. So if you have a call to action that you want people to see for a week, you won’t need to keep reposting. Plus you can expand the post so that it is immediately noticeable to anyone who lands on your page.

Just as personal timelines have a life history section for people to note  events, such as births, marriages, graduations and birthdays, the business timeline format has a “Milestones” section that allows you to document the company history using photos and videos.

If you’re looking for inspiration  for your brand’s new timeline, here are a few from major brands:

Burberry
Ford
Macy’s
Starbucks
So what are the next steps you should take to ensure your timeline looks like you want? For starters, you can go ahead and get Timeline.

Everyone on Facebook has the option to “turn on” Timeline before March 30. And once you create yours, you have seven days to review it before anyone else can see it, so feel free to play around.

And that’s the gist of it. Next week we’ll explore the most effective ways to use timeline – for yourself, your company, or your brand — so stay tuned. And more importantly: stay calm. Change can be a good thing!

 

Additional Resources:

Facebook’s page guidelines provides some good dos and don’ts for the new timeline pages and how to make the best of them.

Good overview of the Facebook changes and what they mean for your business from socialmediaexaminer.

 

2 Responses to “Facebook Timeline: What You Need to Know Now”

1. Mary Weber says:

   March 14, 2012 at 10:00 am

   Nice job Ashley! Your first paragraph (about change) was spot on. People hate change, no doubt about it.
2. Ashley Akin says:

   March 14, 2012 at 10:22 am

   Thanks Mares! I have so many 20-something friends that are tech savvy and still don’t want to learn another Facebook feature, so I think it’s an ageless problem…