Getting the Most Out of Facebook’s Timeline for Brands

Webinar ~ March 5th, 2012

Sponsored by: Social Candy @SocialCandyNews

Presenter Information

•  Mark Gordon, Co-Founder, President of Social Candy

•  Shana Ray, Social Media Manager at Social Candy

Timeline is about Story-Telling Facebook’s new update makes it even easier to tell your brand’s story with:

•  Images; including the cover photo and albums

•  Custom pages and custom page icons on Timeline with even more room to showcase your promotion, contest, giveaway, coupon, videos, etc.

•  Marketing and Facebook ads that encourage engagement

The Admin Panel

The dashboard shows recent activity such as:

•  Notifications

•  Messages from users

•  New “likes”

•  Snapshot of insights

•  Facebook News

•  Editing capabilities

Cover Photos

���Be creative! This is your brand’s “marketing canvas” to tell your story.

•  This image is an extension of your website and brand personality vs. projecting a message

•  Show current event photographs, behind the scenes or hire a graphic designer to create a custom image

•  Change every week, month, season or keep the same

Shows off the Ben & Jerry’s branding

http://facebook.com/benjerrys

Shows off Verizon customer photos

http://facebook.com/verizon

Cover Photo Specifications

���850 pixels wide & 315 pixels tall and Facebook guidelines state that it cannot contain:

•  Price or purchase information

•  Contact information

•  References to like our page, share with your friends, or other Facebook features

•  Calls to action - "Get it now" or "Tell your friends"

Profile Pictures Square box (180 x180 pixels) with your brands logo or close up of brand symbol (if you use logo on cover photo).

•  Good practice to have the same image as your profile picture on Twitter, Pinterest, G+, etc.

•  Make sure that it fits within the box and looks good with cover photo

•  Think about how image is used (usually next to name of the Facebook page)

Profile doesn’t need the name Nike because everyone recognizes this symbol

http://facebook.com/nike

Social Candy logo made smaller to fit into the box

http://facebook.com/getsocialcandy

Two Column Layout The new layout is a timeline of your brand’s story

•  First widgets on right side can’t be changed

•  Go back as far as you want and add the story of your brand

•  Show pictures of when you first started off and milestones for your brand

•  Highlight content that is important

New York Times tells their story from the beginning

http://facebook.com/nytimes

St. Francis Winery highlighted a photo of spring flowers on their Timeline

http://facebook.com/stfranciswinery

Pinning Facebook Posts to Top Post important content at the top of your timeline (for up to 7 days per post – after seven days, the most recent post will be at the top of the Timeline)

•  Contests, sweepstakes, promotions, coupons, events, videos, images, etc.

•  Highlight custom pages

Right click on post to pin to top of Timeline or edit post

What About Custom Tabs?

Facebook Fan Pages are more like websites with Timeline as the home page

•  Fewer tabs + larger canvas = greater content depth

•  Custom pages are up to 810 pixels wide and are underneath a header with a drop-down menu to navigate other custom pages

•  No more default “Welcome Page”

•  “Fan-Gating” still possible (contact us for more info)

Custom Page Icons Think of “custom page icons” as your fan page navigation or menu bar (like on your website)

•  Arrange the custom page icons to highlight what’s important (the photos icon will always be the first tab and can’t be changed)

•  Customize the icon image – Create your own images to highlight your custom pages – icons are 111 x 74 pixels

•  View other page metrics – “Like”

Covergirl uses color to catch viewers eye

http://facebook.com/covergirl

Macy’s shows off many promotions

http://facebook.com/macys

Leveraging Timeline & New Layout Social Media is the perfect medium to your story while connecting with an engaged community

•  Initiate promotions to excite fans and encourage sharing

•  Experiment with Facebook ads to drive traffic to custom pages and content already on your page

•  Drive traffic to your custom tabs via non-Facebook marketing channels

•  Twitter, newsletters, printed materials, website, events

Thank You for Joining Us! Website: http://social-candy.com

Facebook: http://facebook.com/getsocialcandy

Twitter: http://twitter.com/socialcandynews

Phone: 707-536-8776

Email: mark@social-candy.com or shana@social-candy.com