Some people have been a bit upset by the change and I know that at times it can also be frustrating- Facebook changing all the time that is. I do know that Facebook is very smart in their way of constant changes (yes I said it, I agree with how Facebook is constantly changing). Facebook is a form of social media and social media is a constant evolution. Can you even remember what Facebook looked like when you joined? Facebook in my opinion is smart for their constant evolving. They are not a company that gets "stuck in the times". They know that to survive they must constantly stay ahead of the times.
The problem with the constant evolution is that people have to constantly understand a new Facebook format every so often and that is frustrating. At first we all become annoyed and confused by Facebook's changes, but we all stick around in the end and eventually pick up on a new Facebook format.
Lately we are all trying to adapt to the timeline version of Facebook and especially trying to adapt as brands and businesses on Facebook;s timeline.
Today I hope to give you a few tips to update your brand or businesses' page for the timeline format.
We are going to go through a brief summary of a handful of pieces of the new Facebook timeline for brands and businesses.
1. Profile Picture::
When updating your profile picture for Facebook timeline the ideal image size is 180 x 180 pixels. There are endless options to choose for your profile image, but it is important to remember this is the image that people will see when you are posting on other pages or when you appear in someone's live feed. This is why I have chosen my logo and brand name for my picture. I want to represent my brand and name when I am using Facebook as "The Elephant's Trunk". This is why I pick my logo so it sticks in people's brain- the simple image of an elephant. Hopefully people will remember that one comment I left on that one page by my profile with a picture of an elephant. Make an impact with your profile picture... an impact that relates back to your brand or business.
2. Cover Photo::
The cover photo is one of the most noticeable changes to Facebook since installing the timeline as the main layout for brands and businesses. A great idea to stay on your reader's time lines is to update your cover photo every now and then. The important thing to remember about the cover photo is that there are some sticky restrictions by Facebook as to what can be on your cover photo and these are important to keep in mind when you update your cover photo. Here is a great post illustrating those restrictions.
3. Custom Tag::
Using the short stack app I was able to create a custom tab for my Facebook page that allowed me to form a newsletter sign up. People can simply click this tab and sign up for my Mail Chimp newsletter straight from my Facebook. Short Stack is an easy to use program and will help you install a newsletter sign up to your Facebook page. It will also help you install a lot of other cool options such as a Facebook contest, photo promotion, video voting contest or more.
How to customize what the tabs look like on your Facebook timeline::
1. You are going to need to head to your Facebook page and hit the "edit page" button.
2. Hit the apps button on the side menu.
3. Select the edit settings button.
4. Red Arrow- change the name of the tab here to whatever you would like it to read when it shows up on your main business/brand page.
Blue Arrow- here is where you will change the image of your application as it appears on your main Facebook timeline. You can create a custom image that is 160 pixels by 160 pixels and upload it here. For example: My Etsy Shop App's image on my page I updated it to an image that was 160x160 pixels that simply read "shop". This way people could easily access my shop from the main page of Facebook.
I hope these tips are able to help you navigate and customize your Facebook timeline page a bit more. Please let me know if you have any questions.
5 comments:
You rock Lauren. Bookmarked this to remind myself when I forget in the morning. I actually saw you posted on Twitter. Are you proud of me? Editting my Twitter Lists to see what Friends or Family are posting. Hard to do that with so many following. Thanks
Very helpful! Thank you so much!!!
I agree with you!! I have knocked some of facebook's changes in the past, but I really like the new timeline. It gives us all so much more room to personalize our pages.
One thing about the cover photo - there is a handful of rules and restrictions as to what you can put there. You can't include promo information. What you have up now is fine because it doesn't tell people to shop your store to buy the card, but if it did that would be breaking the rules. You also can't include arrows or web addresses... but someone wrote a post about all the rules are here: http://linzlovesyou.com/2012/03/facebook-timeline-for-businesses/
I posted your blog post on the EOF team 'Introducing New Facbook Pages' discussion! http://www.etsy.com/teams/10355/etsians-of-facebook/discuss/9877362/
thanks for the tips Lauren!!
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