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Everything you need to know about Facebook Timelines for brands

Posted by Danny Whatmough on 29th February 2012

So today Facebook rolled out its much anticipated Facebook Timeline for brands.

Here is a breakdown of what you need to know:

  • You can preview what your page will look like here
  • Anyone can sign-up for Timeline today
  • You then have 30 days to curate your Page
  • Timeline will be forced onto all users on March 30th
  • Existing APIs will be unaffected
  • Timeline for Pages is not visible from mobile yet, but will be soon

Generally the new timeline should make your Page a more engaging place for fans. The main benefits are:

  • Ability to pin posts at the top of your Page for a week
  • Design consistent with new user Timelines
  • Large ‘cover photo‘ at the top of Pages (851 x 315 pixels – profile picture is 180 x 180 pixels)
  • Receive and respond to private messages from users
  • Feature posts within your timeline to make them more prominent
  • New admin panel and Activity Log lets admins see a quick view of Insights data, respond to inbound private messages and feature, hide or delete posts
  • The admin panel now sits at the top of your Page making it easier to access
  • Apps and photos are now displayed in tabs under the big cover photo
  • Set milestones – e.g. to highlight that you’ve reached a certain number of fans
  • New, more prominent about section under the cover photo
  • Page app width can now be adjusted to be“Narrow” (520px) or “Wide” (810px) in theDeveloper App under “Edit App”

The only thing that really goes is the ability to set a specific tab as a landing page, but creative use of the cover photo should replace this fairly effectively.

Of course, before anyone gets too carried away, it is worth remembering that most users will engage with brands on posts that come through on their timelines rather than on Pages themselves. Despite this, the move is still a major one that potentially gives companies new exciting ways to engage with fans.

The full user guide is embedded below and you can view our new Page here!

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Danny Whatmough