There is loads of online buzz happening on the social web about Timeline coming to Pages on 30th March 2012. Many brand pages have converted already including BizEez.
The Cover Photo on Timeline is prime real estate for your brand, but it wouldn’t be Facebook if there weren’t a few rules. So find below a few tips to help you easily stay within Facebook guidelines.
Guidelines for Facebook Timeline Cover Photo
According to Facebook’s Help Center, below is what you cannot do with your Timeline cover photo:
- Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
- Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
- References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
- Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”
Infographic from socialbakers
We’re already seeing some very creative ways for business to use the cover photos (Social @ Blogging Tracker has some great examples and we were excited to be included in the mix). Don’tt forget though, a simple photo may easily cover your needs.
Useful Dimensions to remember
Cover Photo
For optimal effect the Facebook Cover Photos should be sized 851px x 315px
Profile Picture
180px x 180px is suitable
Thumbnails or Tab Icons
111 ps x 74px – you can have 12 apps, but only 9 will you be able to customise to your needs. Photos, Notes and Likes are Facebook staples.
You have until March 30, 2012 to voluntarily implement the new Facebook Timeline before Facebook will officially push out the changes, like it or not.
Better to plan for it and manage it now, while there’s still some time left.
Tania is a social media consultant, presenter and trainer. Originally from “The Alice”, she now happily calls Australia’s famous wine community ~ the Barossa Valley home. Her joys in life include great wine & food, Formula 1; a heartfelt laugh with friends and of course the social web. Favourite Quote: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life" ~ Confucius
Thank you so much, Tania for the kind mention. We’re all working hard to prepare our pages before/on 30th (with some already published their pages). Plan to publish mine soon but still feel a little glitchy with the new layout. Still adapting.
But embracing the changes with a positive mindset. Have a wonderful day! Hugs~
I love your FB Page Ching Ya – always worth a mention because it offers such great content.
Not being too confident with Photoshop I’ve found the process a bit overwhelming, but figure I’ll keep the cover photo simple for now and maybe rotate some images as customers send them through to us. I’m quite keen to go through and list all our milestones. I think this will create quite a nice story of our progress over the last 5 1/2 years.
I changed the BizEez page over to Timeline earlier this month and I’ve noticed a steady increase in the number of fans as well as more interaction. I do believe it is a positive step on behalf of small business and a great opportunity to tell their story online. The Milestone events is great for this.
Don’t worry too much about Photoshop Tricia – you’d have some fabulous photos of your products – use those. Looking forward to seeing your end results.
Cheers
Tania