On February 29, 2012, Facebook rolled out their new Like Pages. If you haven’t converted over, it will be mandated by March 30, 2012.
If you have gone through the tutorial, then you should be acquainted with the updates. However, I’m going to add my own insights to each section:
- Branding
- Analytics
- Messaging
Branding
There are a number of areas that have changed including the rules and condition. Please read carefully.
Cover Photo
The cover photo is probably the most obvious update of them all. It precedes your Timeline, so it’s important to have your brand message speak loudly and clearly.
- Dimensions: 850px by 315px
- Be sure to review the Page guidelines. There are important things that you must not do, such as “40% off” or “Tell Your Friends.”
This is where you can be creative without being too sale-sy. Yes, I made that word up.
Profile Picture
No more long vertical images. It is now a square that sits on the bottom left corner of your banner. Be creative and add something that represents you.
I talk about humanizing a brand all of the time. One of the most important features is to have your own profile (not a photo of a flower, client or kid).
This is one of the reasons why I believe Siri is so popular – she’s a person – while other voice command systems failed.
About Page
Before, the About Page was on the left column. Now, it’s prominently under your Profile Picture. Get creative!
No More Landing Tab
This is one of everyone’s disappointments. Don’t worry, they still have the Like, then reveal (fan gating) capabilities.
Therefore, it puts more emphasis on your Cover Photo to make your Page clear as possible. In exchange, Facebook does have certain Timeline features that can help promote your brand better. Read on.
Separate Page for Custom Apps
Custom apps are now on separate pages. If you already have one, they put it right in the center now, so that it’s pretty. You’re limited to 12 apps on your page.
- Old Dimension: 520px wide
- New Dimension: 810px wide
Pin
Since we don’t have Landing Pages, it’s important that your Timeline reflects your brand.
One nifty feature is pinning posts, so that it will stick to the top of your Timeline. This way a cool post won’t be drowned in a Wall of updates.
Highlight
Highlight is a cool way to, well, highlight a post. Rather than making it float on the left or right side of a Timeline, it expands across the Timeline’s full width. It definitely adds attention to important updates.
Analytics
Facebook combined most of the important Analytics all into one section above your Timeline – Notifications, New Likes, Insights. No one can see it except for you.
Engaged Users
A Negative Feedback is not an Unlike. It’s just as bad though. It’s when people decide to hide your posts. So, use this as a measure to see what posts work and what posts don’t.
To see your Insights, follow these instructions:
- Go view Insights.
- Hit “See All.”
- Under the graph, find the fourth column – Engaged Users.
- Find the individual Post you want to examine and click on the number of Engaged Users.
- A window should pop up with the information you need.
Messaging
Now, you can directly communicate with Like Pages. If you choose to not have this feature on, you could turn it off.
Conclusion
Overall, there are a lot of updates, but I welcome new changes. Facebook is always trying to improve. I’ll always write about updates on social media marketing. So, be a smart photographer and keep up!
- Follow my Facebook Page
- Follow me on Twitter
- Subscribe to newsletters for weekly fortune cookies
Do you like the changes? Comment below. And if you found this useful, share!
Ciao for now,
Lawrence Chan
P.S. I just discovered a card game and I’ve been obsessed with it. Monopoly Deal card game is so freaken awesome! That is all.
THANK YOU for the Negative Feedback definition! Great post, as always. Thanks!
Thanks, Lauren! That’s a neat tool to study.
Was just working on this today! Thank you for the detailed info. Now I have to go back in and check my “Engaged Users”….but couldn’t that also be my clients who are about to be hitched! :-)
This was so helpful Lawrence! I really appreciate you taking the time to compile and share this information. You are the best : )
Thanks so much for the always informative updates. This one especially much needed… I can never keep up.
Now to study it again and in depth.
Thanks!
I still have problems with Facebook. Is there somewhere I can go to get info?
You can look at their terms of service and get information from there.
Thanks you as always for taking the time out to make these new updates clear. Just what I needed and makes so much sense now! x
You’re welcome. Clarity!
Thanks Lawrence for your superb post. I was wondering how on earth to deal with the new changes for my business page when I first saw the preview… Your tutorial makes it so clear and simple what I need to do… great work!
I like simplicity!
Thanks for the info! Quick question: my cover photo is coming out all pixelated, even after sizing it to the 850px x 315px size. Not sure if you or anyone else is having this issue. I’ve tried everything to see if they quality would improve, to no avail. Is this just another FB glitch? Being that it’s the first impression people get when going to your page, seems like a major one!
Make sure that your resolution is not ridiculously high. Facebook doesn’t have a good resizing tool for images. They come out funky.
I was actually just thinking the other day that I was really hoping you’d come out with a post that would encourage me to “like” the new timeline layout because right now it’s not really doing it for me. Thanks for all the insight as always!
Haha hopefully this post eases in your transition. Cheers!
Awesome! I am looking forward to the ability to pin a post and the big banner photo will be great for photographers. Thanks for the tip on the size of the image. That will save me some screwing around. :)
Haha you’re very welcome. I had to do a few screenshots before getting it down.
Thanks for your insights (pun intended)! Just wondering what you meant by “they still have the Like, then reveal capabilities.” I thought there is no fan gating on timeline? Can you expand on this please? Thanks again.
You know, I have no idea why so many people hate the Timeline. I LOVE IT! Esp now that it’s available for business page, the fact that we can put our photographs to make it more attractive. I hope they have an “auto rotate” feature for the cover image eventually.
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Thank you for the post, its very helpful, but I have problems with statisctis – they just don’t load and i can’t find any info about engagement :-(
Just got to look harder :) It’s there!
I know it’s there, but it just dont load… i see the column ‘engagement’ but nothing more… i thought it is problem of everyone because of new like page, but as i see everyone else is ok…
Such good info!!! Glad I FINALLY got around to reading this. You rock our socks :)
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