What you need to know to get your page up to date

Facebook pages are changing again this month, and your marketing strategy will need to change as well. These changes affect anyone with a Facebook page. Here is an overview of how these changes affect your page, and how you can use them to your advantage.

1. Cover Photo & Profile Image

One of the obvious changes is that cover photo- you will no longer have the photo strip across the top. Instead, you are allowed 1 large image to showcase your business. The actual dimensions are 850 pixels x 315 pixels, but you can use any image as long as it’s at least 399 pixels across. You’re then allowed to drag it around to adjust accordingly.

It’s important to note the restrictions for this image- you cannot have any calls to action in this cover photo. Forget about telling people to like your page, or sign up for your special offer- Facebook’s rules say no (read the full details here ). This means you must get creative about drawing attention to your business without being able to use some of the methods we’ve got used to in creating profile images.

The profile picture itself (the one shown next to your name everywhere) has been changed to 180 x 180 pixels. The best use of this picture would be your logo.

2. Default Landing Tab Gone

One of the major changes that you’ll have to work around is the default landing tab being removed. Apps are still available, and any custom tabs or apps you have added haven’t disappeared. You can showcase 12 apps, only 4 of which will appear in the top row. Out of these 4, you cannot change the position of the ‘Photos’ app, so you really only have control over 3 of the apps that appear in the top row.

To move the apps around, click the down arrow next to the top row of apps. This displays all of your apps. Then, click the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the app. Now select which app you want to swap positions with.

If you’ve checked out the Facebook forums lately, a lot of people are upset about the removal of the default landing tab. However, the new app buttons allow you to change the photo and name to create a call to action, as shown below.

To change the app photo, display all of your apps as mentioned above, click the pencil icon, and scroll down to ‘Edit Settings’. Here you can add a custom image (111 pixels x 74 pixels).

3. Highlighted & Pinned Posts

With emphasis on the way people are telling stories on Facebook, they’ve decided to make the pictures and videos that you post larger. You can also highlight a story (by clicking the star icon in the upper right corner of a post) which makes it span across the timeline, as seen here:

You can also pin a story to the top of your Timeline for 1 week. You can do this by clicking the pencil icon in the upper right corner of the post, then select ‘Pin to top’.

4. Company Milestones

You can make your Timeline more interesting by adding company Milestones. Use milestones to tell people about big events in the history of your company or brand. To do this, just click on the line that runs down the middle of your Timeline and select ‘Milestone’. Then you can add the relevant information.

Fan posts are now in a separate area, so your company’s Timeline is more focused on your story. The goal here is to make your Timeline as visually engaging as you can.

What do you think about Facebook’s new Timeline for pages? How will you use Timeline to share your company’s stories?

UPDATE: Here is Facebook’s official video which shows you how to customize your page:

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