Facebook is planning to convert business pages to the Timeline format. The announcement of Timeline for business pages is expected to come on February 29th during a marketing conference in New York City. When Timeline was rolled out for personal profiles there were a lot of mixed feelings. Timeline hasn’t been an option for brands because Facebook requires companies to use pages instead of profiles. What will this switch mean to brands? While we don’t know what features the Timeline for business pages will have, here are a few things you can do to prepare yourself for the inevitable.
Start Planning – Get the Timeline for your personal profile. This will give you an opportunity to get adjusted and learn about some of the features that are likely to cross over to the business page version of Timeline.
Think Visually – A big difference between the Timeline and the current interface is the emphasis on images. The Timeline has a large cover photo at the top, but also features images throughout the page. Start brainstorming ideas for your cover photo. You will want the cover photo to be as compelling as possible. Think about including pictures of you and your staff, images of your products, community photos, or testimonials. Your cover photo is going to be the first thing a client sees when visiting your Facebook page so choose wisely.
Reflect on Your History – One of the features of Timeline is the ability to go back in time and add relevant information. You are not confined to only the period of time you have been active on Facebook. This feature may allow you to tell the story of your company history. Start brainstorming ideas and collecting highlights from your career to add to your timeline. Updating your business page Timeline with historical and nostalgic information will keep people on your page longer.
Build Content – Think about the type of content you have been posting. It is important to keep the content on your page interesting and engaging, no matter what format your page is in. If you are not generating the clicks and comments you would like to be getting, now is the perfect time to look at your status updates and reorganize your content strategy.
Expect the Unexpected – It is uncertain what features will be offered with Timeline for business pages. Third-party apps and landing pages are a big part of most business pages. Whether or not these features will be conducive to the Timeline layout is unclear. These changes are inevitable so go with the flow, don’t sweat the small stuff, and don’t resist change. Jump in and be a leader in your industry.
What do you think of Timeline for business pages?
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