I’m thrilled to introduce a guest blogger today – none other than Mika Howard, who owns MTHVirtualAssistance.com. Mika keeps
me on the straight and narrow with 1shoppingcart, social media, background research, and general hand-holding and believe me, she’s a joy to work with. When she sent over a full page of recommendations for how to capitalize on the change to my Facebook business page I was like “this is a blog post, will you guest blog for me?” So without further ado, here’s Mika.
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Have you converted your Facebook Business Page to the new Timeline? I had two clients who wanted to convert their Business Pages to Timeline last week, so I ended up just doing it and learning/thinking along the way. I now feel I have a better understanding of the new timeline.
By now, you’ve probably seen many experts offering advice on what to do with these changes since Facebook rolled out the Timeline at the end of February. Come March 30, all business pages will be automatically converted to this new Timeline format. Although many people are making it sound like a huge change, the basics haven’t changed. You still need to engage people and build community.
Yes, the frequent changes that Facebook makes are annoying, but this particular set of changes could help people get to know your business in a quicker, more visual way. Here are the immediate things I recommend that you take advantage of with these changes:
1. Create Your Cover Photo.
Some people don’t like the huge cover image that takes up a space, but it’s a great place to show your brand so that people can look at it and ‘get what you do.’ You are not allowed to have certain information on the cover photo, including:
- Website address
- Call-to-action
- Special promotions etc.
Facebook says there are other sections that you can use. I first thought this was ridiculous (“No website address allowed in the cover image? IT’S BUSINESS PAGE!!”). But, in fact Facebook did create other places, and most of those places are “
clickable,” too. (More on these below…)
Here is a great page where you can see the creative use of the cover page: http://www.wchingya.com/2012/03/timeline-cover-facebook-pages.html . Some of these might inspire you.
My personal recommendation for your cover photo is to include the following:
- Your photo and logo
- Your tag line and concise description of your business
- Any other visuals that would help people to see you as an expert in your field (certification logos, for example)
2. Custom Tabs
Custom tabs are those extra pages that show up as links in a very subtle way on the left column, and very often, people do not pay attention to them, unless you make it a default landing page for the new visitors.
Facebook no longer allows you to have a default landing page. With the new Timeline, you can create Custom Tab icons in a very visible way now. Here’s a great ex
ample – check out these fun tabs that Coca-Cola created: https://
www.facebook.com/cocacola. See those little tab icons? Don’t they make you want to click them all? Whatever you want people to see, create an icon for it that catches your visitors’ attention so much that they will click on it. I have a feeling this might change, but as of now, you can create these icons that will take people to a website outside of Facebook by inserting redirect HTML codes, too.
I mentioned above that you can no longer have a default landing page, but since each of these “tabs” has a unique URL, you can use any of those URLs when directing people to your Business page.
My personal recommendations for custom tabs includes the following:
- Create tabs for your Opt-in (special report/newsletter), contact info, and any current promotion
- Include a link to your Facebook page, using the URL to the tab that you want people to see first (could be special report). Also, include a button encouraging people to “Like” the page.
- If you want to get fancy, it’s also possible to create a “fan gate” (also known as a reveal page). That’s a page that shows certain content, but once your visitor presses the “Like” button, the page then shows different content. For example, you could use a fan gate to reveal a special report download link that is shown only after visitors click on the Like button.
3. About Section
The About section is displayed right below the cover photo on the left. Since this is a very visible place, you’ll probably want to review your information by going to Edit Page – Basic Information. Look at Mari Smith’s page, for example: https://www.facebook.com/marismith . Hers currently reads:
Author
Social Media Thought Leader | Facebook Marketing Expert | Author, Speaker. Visit: www.marismith.com and let’s tweet: www.twitter.com/
Note how Mari’s “About” section turns the URLs into clickable links? I think it’s important to make sure your site URL shows up in this About section.
My personal recommendations for the About section:
- Review and tighten up the copy you have in the About section. The elevator speech type of blurb might work, too. Example: “I work with (your target market) to provide them with (your services) so that they can (end results your clients get by working with you)”
- Include the URL of your site! Make the preceding portion concise so that the URL will be actually visible under the cover image.
4. Post More
I know, this hasn’t changed, and posting more is time consuming to do. But there’s no other way to engage people and create a community using your Facebook business page. If spending more time on your Facebook page daunts you, consider repurposing your existing content. (Note: I understand auto-publishing your e-newsletter to your blog could negatively affect your SEO in some cases, so I do not recommend that.) And drop in from time to time with the “I’m having fun in Facebook!” mindset. Really, when the right interactions start happening, it is a lot of fun!
 Mika Howard is the owner of MTH Virtual Assistance. She partners up with busy, high-achieving solopreneurs to rescue them from administrative and technology nightmares by providing them with much needed, dependable support and advice, allowing them to spend more time to grow their businesses. Her expertise includes Internet marketing, Infusionsoft, 1ShoppingCart, WordPress & HTML-based website design/maintenance, email marketing, database management, social media, systems & procedures, and more.You can learn more about Mika and her business at http://www.mthvirtualassistance.com |
Thanks for this informative guest post. I know I struggled with the concept for my cover photo as it is somewhat difficult to “picture” a service industry. At last I settled on me teaching/public speaking to a large group, something I often do. Thank you Sue and Mika!
Hi Mary Ellen,
You’re very welcome.
I love the new Facebook timeline for business. It’s user friendly and simplifies branding between social media outlets and your blog much easier.
Hi Sally,
Glad this was helpful!
Sue
Great article with lots of helpful information. OK I admit I’m a little overwhelmed by it, but I know when I sit down and dig in, it this info will be very useful!
Linda,
I agree, it’s a lot! Just take it one major point at a time.
Sue
Thanks Mika! I’ve saved a link to this post so I can come back and study more for right application.
Great article and cleared up the misconception I had on the url for the cover photo. It seemed dumb to not have a business url on a business page. Thanks Sue and Mika.
Great article, thanks Sue and Mika!
Brandi Kae,
Thanks, hope you will be able to use some of Mika’s tips.
Sue
Great info and ideas – I agree You still need to engage people and build community.
Heidi,
As you know (because you are so good at it) it’s all about community.
Sue