A couple of weeks back we posted about Facebook being ready with the Brand Timeline by the end of February 2012. And here we are, Facebook Brand Timeline is available now for all brands to move on. The decision now lies with the admins of each brands weather to switch now (if they are ready) or be moved on by Facebook by the end of this month (March 30th to be precise).
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| Facebook Brand Timeline Notification |
Some brands like Coca Cola are already on it with a few more giants. But don't rush in to it. The big giants may already have had access to test them out and play with it before they made the turn. If you are still to assemble all the pieces together, we suggest you take your time till March 30th and think about what to put where. The features list that we bring to you below may help in the process.
Cover Photo is Still Here
Just like the individual Timeline, Brand Timeline also have a cover photo. Take time to choose one that fits perfectly with the image of your Brand and will catch your users eye. Remember, the cover photo is what takes nearly half the page above the fold. Strike the eye in a never forgetting way; its the first impression after-all!
From the brands that we saw, Coca Cola and Macys stood out for us in this respect. With the former being just apt, look at the bubbles right up on the profile pic bottle. Macys were good with their The World's Largest Store image.
Choose one for yours that suits the best, for your brand and for your users!!
No Welcome Page
One of the to-look-out-for feature that we mentioned in our previous post about brand Timeline was the Welcome page (or the default landing page) that was so used in the previous format of the fan page. Facebook hasn't surprised us by removing that feature. So, there will be no left side panel containing different tabs and there will be no default landing page to go to.
What does this mean for you?
You will need to pay more attention now to the Ad Campaigns for your brands. It will not be easy now to create that first impression, which was so characteristic of the Welcome pages. So your messages and campaigns become that much more important now. Pay that much more time designing the content there! And a new feature to pin messages will help as detailed next...
Highlight Content: Pin Your Messages
If there is a message that you want stay on top of Timeline always, pin it. The pinned post will precede all and any of your Timeline posts. It is distinguished by a small orange colored flag on the top right corner (as you see in the image below, the pin message on Macys Timeline). This message will stay in your timeline at two places, one at the top and the other at its normal order/place in your Timeline. But only till its unpinned, at which stage it will only appear at its chronological order within your Timeline.
With Welcome page being not an option, you could highlight your content in this way!! As you can see, Macys has done a good job to attract its users.
Choose The Tab Panels Wisely
The new layout means, there will be only 3 (or max 4) tabs visible at any time on your Brand' Timeline. Choose them wisely, as these will be the first things a user may try to interact with after landing on the Timeline.
For the rest of the tabs, user will have to click on the small arrow on the last partially visible tab to see them. So all you got for the first impression and catch the user is choose the first 3, 4 tabs wisely!
New Admin Panel: All In One Place
The new admin panel will have all things then and there. So all your notifications, new links, insights and messages with tips; all at one place.
You may also manage the activities and build and audience with Ads or invites and sharing the page itself.
Help is not too far !!
Facebook is due for some changes in insight area as well (news is that you will soon have some real time data in there).
Private Messages With Your Users
This was so waited we are sure!
You will now be able to exchange private messages with your users. Thus in a way, getting a lot of things off the Timeline and providing resolutions with much cluster on your otherwise clean Timeline!
Our Views
Take your time!
Like we said in the start, the giants already had planned the move. So if you are still either not sure or putting the pieces together, we suggest you wander around a bit. Take a tour both provided by the platform and on the Timeline(s) that are already live and beaming. That will provide you with an idea on what you want from yours.
The story so far!!
Team up with all the members of the team who are responsible to do the job. Be precise on what you want and how and yes, don't forget to decide where. Feel free to put down the journey in the way you think is the characteristic of your brand, but don't over do it. Just that right mixture is what your users will love!
Oh by the way, as you go around watching the Brands new Timeline, don't forget to see the Founded area on it. You may be amazed to what brands chose to display in there ;)
Did you know what was Manchester United's initial name? See Founded area in their Timeline to find out !!
Let us know how are you structuring your Brand on this new Timeline, or if you are an individual; tell us which is the best Timeline you saw till now. Happy Crunching then!
I think brands are going to dig the new Timeline features because it's going to allow them to tell their story in more creative ways. That's how they can reach out to customers better. The Timeline is a success as a concept but the implementation is flawed. First of all, from a design perspective, putting a linear concept (time) into two columns is completely flawed. Make the Timeline one axis and stick to it. But from the perspective of having profiles with much bigger pictures, I think that's a resounding success. People are able to spice up their profiles without going to MySpace level extremes of crazy HTML and flash and sparkly stuff everywhere. Businesses like it because they can throw up some cool bigger picture that allow them to tell their story much better. Between Facebook ads directly or the types of services listed at BuyFacebookFansReviews there's plenty of ways for businesses to get traffic on Facebook. But the missing part of the equation, and one that Facebook isn't really designed for, is to find ways for users to convert into sales. A huge Timeline picture that allows creative brands a way to tell their story is something that should have a positive impact. I think the concept of the Timeline is killer for users and brands alike, just think that the major problem is to try and organize what should be in one axis in two columns which is disorienting.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteWe agree with your thoughts. This is a very nice feature made available for brands. Especially when it comes to highlighting the brand journey and their promotion.
The 2axis timeline is still an issue. Many have highlighted it and it remains to be seen how brands use them. Again, agree completely with you on this one as well.
Thanks for stopping by and hope we provide enough content for you to come back again. Happy Crunching!