Weekly Buzz: Oops … I did it again!

Nope this is not a reference to a Britney Spears song, it’s about Facebook’s newest change coming at the end of this month. Here are the facts:

On March 30th, your existing Facebook business page will AUTOMATICALLY convert over to the new Timeline and will replace the default landing tab. (If you want to see what your existing page will look like if you don’t make any changes to it before March 30, click on the “preview” button to view the changes … don’t worry, you can click right back over to your current design.)

Cover Photo – Just like on our new personal pages, the cover photo will now be a part of our business pages. However, unlike our personal pages, there are some very specific restrictions on what we can and can’t include on our covers for business pages. Per Facebook’s instructions:

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:

Price or purchase information, such as “30% 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”

The top part of your avatar will make up your Profile Picture. It must be square and at least 180px wide.

Here is a biggy … with the change to Timeline, you can no longer land on or have a default custom tab! Your photos and apps will show in the central section in boxes, and you’ll be able to add graphics to your welcome pages and tabs to entice people to click through. Here’s what FB says about the central boxes; “Photos, likes and apps are now at the top of your Page. Photos show in the first spot, but you can change the order of everything else so people see what matters most. You can show a maximum number of 12 apps, so make sure to put your most important ones first.”

You can now keep your important posts pinned to the Top of Your Wall like a sticky post, add posts on PAST dates, click on the little star up in the corner of a post to make it cover the entire width of your page, or hide it from your page altogether.

You’ll have a new admin panel that will let you see your notifications, new likes, insights, as well as new private messages. There is also a “manage” button that will give you access to the main editing section of your page (Basic Info, Manage Permissions, Apps and so on). The one thing missing from the new admin panel is the default landing page section … which of course, is the biggest complaint I’ve heard from everyone so far!!

New Message Feature – One very cool feature is that your fans can now message you directly from your page! Whenever you get a new message, it will show up on your admin panel and you can respond from there.

Last but not least, Tab Pages are now much bigger … a whopping 760px.

If you want to read about the changes in more detail, make sure you check out Mari Smith’s beautiful explanation of the new Timeline for Facebook page at http://www.marismith.com/facebook-timeline-for-business-pages-key-points-know

Our Social Media department has been furiously studying up on all of the changes so we can be ready for them. If you’re not so confident with making the changes yourself, or want someone else to help you make the change … just because, or simply need more information. Give us a shout. We’ll be more than happy to schedule a complimentary 20 minute consultation!