It’s finally here! Facebook Timeline for Pages and the changes are looking great!
The changes being rolled out for pages are not identical to what you have on your personal profile so you will want to pay close attention so you can take advantage of what is new!
Let me walk you through the simple steps of getting your page set up here. So, in the end, you have something that looks like this! A beautiful landscape for you to showcase your business.
The first thing you will see is a message at the top of your page like this. The first thing I did was add a cover image (I used the one I have on my profile for now) so I could get a preview of my new page and see what it looks like. To add a cover simply click on Add a Cover button and upload your picture.
Note the details though – only Admins can see the preview until you press Publish Now. And, on March 30 you will automatically get the new design, so you have a month to set it up the way you want before it is automatically set that way.
When you click on the add a cover button you are going to get this warning message. Now this freaks a lot of people out – they don’t want to be in “violation” of the rules. The biggest message here for me is the cover should not be primarily text based (meaning all words no photo) and should not infringe on copyright. You will want to use some discretion around this and come up with something that is a good indication of your brand but does not cross the over the boundaries and get yourself in trouble. For more info, click on the Learn More button – but the explanation might not be as detailed as you are hoping to find.
Once you add a cover photo you will be able to immediately see it at the top of your page. This is a great piece of real estate for you to show off your business! It is definitely going to make more of an impression than the mishap row of photos that was there before. I love it!
Next you will want to Start the Tour and see what all the changes are about. Click on the Start Tour button and your tour will look like I am about to explain.
1. This first view is all about choosing your cover photo. We already did that – it’s too much fun to wait for the tour before adding the picture so you might as well get it out of your system right away!
You will also notice a recommendation on how to set up your profile picture for your page. This is what people will see in the newsfeed. Notice, here you are going to be told to use a logo or image that represents your page and that this new profile picture is square – at least 180 pixels wide.
2. You can highlight what is important! Photos, likes and apps are now at the top of your page so it is easy to find them. You can change the order of your photos to show what you want in the photo box, and you can show a maximum of 12 apps on your page.
3. Next you will see how to work your actual timeline. This is where you can go back and add events, start an event to make it wider etc. For those of you who do not like the two column view, you may want to star all events (this turns the event into a wide post) so that all your posts line up in one column and see how you like that view.
4. The fourth change is your new admin panel. I love this because you get to see all your notification and messages. YES, I said messages! There is also a spot for you to Manage your Page and Build your Audience which is really neat!
5. Finally you will see what page admins have been waiting forever for! Messages for pages! This means you will be able to communicate privately with your community via your Facebook page which is amazing!
Now that you have completed the tour you should be ready to publish your page and have some fun! If you want to see what a published page looks like first, head over to my page www.Facebook.com/SocialMediaForYourBusiness and take a look!
Lastly if you admin more than one page you will see this notice at the top of your page, making it easy to manage and preview all of your pages in one spot!
Want even more details on how to get started? Facebook has just launched a video tutorial to get you going. Check it out here: http://www.learnfacebookpages.com/
So, what do you think? Are you going with the flow, sick of the changes or, like me, are you super excited about all these new features that can make it easier for you to market your business? Please share with me in the comments!
And, if you still don’t have your profile timeline up and going, my Timeline Training can help you with that. Just CLICK HERE to get started!
4 thoughts on “Facebook Timeline For Pages is NOW live!”
Great blog post Lisa! I just finished one as well- not quite as detailed as yours, love your content! Miriam http://justjumpmarketing.com/facebook-timeline-for-fan-pages/
I do like the new look but I hate the fact that they have removed the ability to designate a default landing tab. The pages are primarily used by businesses and not having the ability to force feed content, opt-in, or basic content/videos is a big fail. I hope the decide to bring it back.
Thanks for this, Lisa – wow, you’re speedy! Shared the link with the BBTL students, too. 🙂
Thank you so much for this post! It’s so helpful! 🙂
But I do have a question…
On your #2 above, you mention that you can choose the photo you want to show – how?? I’ve chosen a photo to be the album “cover”, and I had hoped that would mean it would always show in the little photo box at the top of my timeline, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. The photo changes when I refresh the page. Am I missing something?