Help Changing Facebook Page to Timeline

Facebook pages are the essential place for businesses to build connections with people and allow you to express your business identity. In February, you might have heard the news that Facebook was changing all Personal Profiles over to a new layout called Timeline. This was met with equal parts excitment and criticism but nevertheless - the format stuck. Now in early March, Facebook announced that all Pages (including business fan pages) will be changing over to the Timeline format on March 30th.

How is a Business Page different than a Personal Page?
Personal profiles are for personal connections (ie: adding friends) whereas business pages feature a specific business, offer exclusive URL addresses, are search engine friendly and can accumulate thousands or millions of fans who 'Like' them. With the new timeline format - they will look very similar however there are some specific differences that small businesses will need to know.

Features of Timeline for Business Pages...

• Visually Engaging Design - you can now express your business identity with visually engaging pictures including a large cover photo and a profile picture.  

• Pinned Posts - Have a post that you want to stay visible longer? Now you can anchor a post to the top of your page for up to seven days.

• Large stories - when you post a picture, video or link on your wall, it will now appear larger to drive more effective engagement.

• Highlight stories - place a star on important posts to attract views

• Set milestones - Embrace key moments with your page by having a picture displayed when you reach a certain number of friends, open a new location, win an award, etc.

• Activity - to drive engagement, people will see stories about how their friends are interacting wity your page.

• Complete Management - use the admin panel to view and respond to fans as well as glance at insights and performance.

• Annual Log - see your posts by year to manage your marketing campaigns and track performance.

New Policies to Be Aware of...

• Cover photos cannot include:
A. Price or purchase information , such as "40% Off" or "Download at our Website"
B. Contact information such as website address, email or other info that should be located in the "About" section
C. References to Facebook features or actions such as "Like" or "Share" or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features.
D. Calls to action such as "Get it now" or "Tell your friends."
Failure to adhere to these new policies could result in Facebook's removal of your page.

Making the Change to Timeline...

This process of changing your Business page to the Timeline format can be daunting if you don't understand it. We have a few suggestions.
• Read the Facebook Tutorial here
• Visit www.Facebook.com/about/pages for more information
• Let us do it for you!