Facebook Timeline: What does it mean for brands? Thursday, 15 March 2012
Oct 30, 2014
Facebook Timeline: What does it mean for brands? Thursday, 15 March 2012
Facebook timeline for brands
• On 30 March 2012 Facebook will launch the new timeline profile for brand pages.
• This is compulsory for all brand pages
• Many successful brands have already created timelines, including: • Coca-Cola (https://www.facebook.com/cocacola) • Mustang (https://www.facebook.com/fordmustang) • Subway (https://www.facebook.com/subway) • Old Spice (https://www.facebook.com/OldSpice)
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What will you find in this document?
• The document outlines the new changes to Facebook pages for brands & how it will impact your page.
• It also outlines some recommendations about
how to use the new Facebook timeline to maximise it for your brand.
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What will you find in this document?
• This document covers: 1. Overview: Timeline - what is it & what has changed?
• Cover photo: what can & can’t be done? • Profile picture: new restrictions apply • Tabs: default landing tab removed & what will happen to my existing tabs • New post option: double wide call outs & pinned posts • Posts: pinning a post • Interest lists: a new way to subscribe to updates
2. Admin panel, messaging & insights 3. Other changes impacting brands: offers & ads 4. Image dimension cheat sheet 5. Suncorp: Recommendations 6. Next steps
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1. Overview Timeline - what is it & what has changed?
Timeline: what is it?
• A powerful new way to communicate your brand’s unique story, personality & identity.
• Showcase images, logos & products to visually engage
your fans.
• The more visually engaging the better. • People are expected to spend more time reading the
timeline rather than just using the wall to ask questions.
• Companies can highlight key milestones in their history to help tell their story.
Sources: h+p://mashable.com/2012/02/29/facebook-‐:meline-‐brand-‐pages/ 6
Timeline: What does it look like?
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Timeline: what has changed?
• Facebook introduced: • Large cover photo • New restrictions to profile pictures
• Default landing page removed • Tabs are now called “apps” • New double wide call outs for company
milestones • Fan status updates about your brand will appear
in timeline • New admin capabilities • Not yet visible for mobile
Sources: http://mashable.com/2012/02/29/facebook-timeline-brand-pages/ 8
Cover photo .
• A cover photo is one large image that appears at the top of the Facebook page.
• Ideal size is 850 x 315 pixels
• This can be a photo of a popular menu item, album artwork or a picture of people using your product
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Cover photo: what can’t be done?
• What can’t be done: • 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
• Reference 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” • Be false, deceptive or misleading, & must not infringe on
third parties' intellectual property • Encourage or incentivise people to upload your cover
image to their personal timelines.
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Profile picture: new restrictions apply
• The new profile picture is restricted to 180 x 180 pixels
• Best used for logo or design without a lot of words
• Previously, brands could include extend the length, add calls to action & other information. • This is no
longer allowed
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-new-facebook-changes-impacting-businesses/ 11
Default landing tab: removed
• Previously new fans landed on a default tab with a like-gate, encouraging fans to like their page
• Now non-fans must find their way to apps where calls to action can be used
• Brand will have to be more clever in how they drive non-fans to these tabs
Source: http://info.shoutlet.com/TheUltimateFacebookTimelineforPag
esQA.html
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Default landing tab: removed (cont’d) • This means offering more interesting content on tabs
• The more intriguing the functionality, the more likely users will click to them from ads, page posts & thumbnails.
• Build apps that strike a chord with fans & are unique to your brand • Exclusive content, games, contests, samples, live events to attract
people.
• Fans are also more likely to share interesting content, tapping into their current friend network to grow your fan base.
Source: http://info.shoutlet.com/TheUltimateFacebookTimelineforPagesQA.html 13
Tabs: what will happen to my existing tabs?
• If you’ve created a custom welcome tab or other tabs, they haven’t disappeared
• Tabs are now called “apps” & appear as photos under the cover photo
• Four apps are displayed at all times • Users can maximise the app menu to reveal up to 12 apps • Custom photos can be made for apps • Apps can have unique call to action captions such as “click me” • App photo dimensions are 111 x 74 pixels
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-new-facebook-changes-impacting-businesses/ 14
Tabs: how will these be displayed?
• Tabs/apps are represented by a tile image on timeline • Only 4 tiles show on timeline automatically. Other tabs/apps are only
shown on click & expanded
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Timeline profile example: Coca-Cola
1. Cover photo 2. Profile picture 3. Number of fans
& fans talking about the brand
4. Company information
5. Apps (expanded view – only displays top 4 in normal view)
6. Unique captions 7. Admin centre
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New post option: double wide call outs
• Unlike personal timelines, brand timelines have the admin option to make posts span the across the entire width of the page.
• E.g. Brands use this for important milestones like an anniversary, debut hit product, acquisition or first sale.
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New post option: pin posts
• Posts can be pinned to the top of the timeline for 7 days.
• A pinned post has an orange flag in the top right corner.
• To pin a post simply click on the pencil icon in the upper corner of the post & select “pin to top”.
• This is a good way to feature items like interactive posts, offers & encourage users to like the page or add to lists.
Sources: http://
www.facebook.com/help?
faq=235598533193464 18
New feature: interest lists
• Interest lists help users organise updates from fan pages & public figures into similar categories
• This feature is connected to the “subscribe” function.
• E.g. a user can create a list called “Recipes” & add pages like Betty Crocker, the Food Network & food bloggers to which they’ve subscribed.
• Users can subscribe to interest lists created by other people – just like recommended friends, Facebook will recommend popular lists
• Content is automatically pulled into newsfeed & can be viewed in separate list newsfeed
Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31766/facebook-launches-interest-lists-why-marketers-should-care.aspx 19
New feature: interest lists (cont’d)
• How can brands leverage interest lists? • Brands can leverage this on the new timeline by
pinning a message that encourages users to add your content to a list.
• Remember, it is called an “interest list” so fans won’t add you unless your content is interesting. Update regularly with fresh, relevant & high-quality content.
Source: http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31766/facebook-launches-interest-lists-why-marketers-should-care.aspx 20
2. Admin panel, messaging & insights
Admin panel, messaging & insights
• Insights are now located in an admin panel.
• Can invite email contacts, friends, share the page & create ads.
• When clicking on the likes box you can now see:
• The most popular age group,
• Number of people talking about your posts,
• Most popular week.
• Fans can now send messages to the page – this is optional.
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Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-new-facebook-changes-impacting-businesses/
3. Other changes impacting brands Facebook offers & new advertisements
Facebook offers: what are they?
• Described as “deals on steroids” • Offers are made as deals which appear in fans
newsfeeds • Fans claim the offer by clicking the “Claim Offer
Button” • Only a few companies have access currently. • Expected to be made more available more
broadly – TBC • Investigate caps on numbers before jumping into
offers – high demand could lead to fulfillment issues
Source: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/7-new-facebook-changes-impacting-businesses/ 24
Reach & premium ads: new ways to advertise
• Ads will be larger: • Reach generator ads:
• Designed to reach more existing fans than through the newsfeed. • Currently pages on reach 15% of audience each
week with posts. Reach generator ads will increase this to 50% weekly and 75% monthly. – E.g. through beta testing Ben & Jerry’s found it was able
to reach 98% of fans & double engagement. – Reach ads will be “always on” and shown on the right
hand side of the page in newsfeeds & mobile streams.
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Reach & premium ads: new ways to advertise
• Premium ads: • Designed to distribute stories to new connections and
will be shown on • Home page • News feed • Mobile streams & on the log out screen
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4. Cheat sheet
Dimensions: what size images will you need?
• Cover photo: • 850 x 315 pixels
• Profile picture: • 180 x 180 (on page) & 32 x 32 (post icon) • Positioned 239 pixels from the right side of the cover photo & 23
pixels from the left
• Custom apps (formerly ‘tabs’): • 111 x 74 pixels (need to replace old tab images with new ones) • No larger than 5MB (JPG, GIF, PNG)
• Tab page width: • 810 pixels wide • Old designs will remain 520 pixels wide & will be centered
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Thank you
WiTH Collective
withcollective.com | facebook.com/withcollective | [email protected] | 02 8203 2128