If you didn’t update your Facebook page to the new timeline layout before the end of last week, you may have been surprised to see that Facebook went ahead and made the change for you. Whatever you do, don’t leave your page as-is! Spend some time tweaking your page to make it work in the new layout, and while you’re at it, take advantage of the new opportunities for sharing rich content that it provides.
Last month, we posted about a few B2B companies who made an early switch over to the timeline layout. If you want to see how the timeline can be used effectively, that’s a great place to start. But now that we’ve made the switch ourselves, we’re ready to share a few of the lessons we learned.
Check out our tips and let us know how you like your new timeline.
1. The cover image matters. Your new Facebook cover image (the big image at the top of your page) measures 851 x 315 pixels. That’s a lot of screen real estate, so you’ll want to make sure to use a high quality image that is a powerful representation of what your business stands for. We chose a cover image representing our data and analytics mindset to represent Movéo and our approach to marketing. It’s simple, colorful and highlights work we’ve produced for our clients.
2. Custom apps are easier and more effective than ever. In updating the page to the new layout, we decided it was time to add some rich content like our blog and white papers to our Facebook page. Fortunately, this is a simple process thanks to the WooBox Custom Tab app, which allows you to create apps from any URL, HTML file or image you might want to use. We created an app that makes it easy to view our blog without leaving Facebook, and another that allows users to download our most recent white paper after submitting a form. All of this was done without coding using the Facebook Developer platform. Thanks to the new timeline layout, our new apps are featured prominently at the top of the page, making them more accessible to our fans.
3. Apps provide opportunities for design, too. In the new timeline, you’ll find your photos, ‘likes’ and any custom apps you’ve added right below your cover image and page name. While the standard version of this part of the page can look a bit disjointed, you have the option to adjust the way your custom apps appear through the “manage” section of the admin panel. Simply choose “Edit Settings” in the app section of the admin panel and add an image measuring 11×74 pixels for any of your custom apps to change how they appear. We created buttons and custom apps for our photos, blog and white papers.
