How to Use Facebook Timeline for a Brand

Just when you thought you’d mastered your Facebook marketing strategy, Facebook rolls out one of its biggest changes to date. Now that brands are switching over to Facebook’s new Timelines layout, marketers are scrambling to learn how to leverage Facebook’s newest face. After a bit of research, I found five ways to use Facebook Timelines to promote your brand.

1. Apps for Timeline

Now apps are helping businesses become more visible to the community. When Facebook users add an app, it will appear at the top of their page. All interactions with that app are published to their Timeline. Businesses can create their own apps for their brands to leverage this opportunity for customer interaction and increased visibility.

2. Facebook Actions

Businesses will be happy to see that Facebook is giving users more options for how they interact with brands. Now your Facebook community can go beyond the Like by expressing that they “love,” “want,” or “own” a product. This feature will also help you identify current customers vs. potential ones, based on the expression.

3. The Cover Photo

One of the most noticeable changes in Facebook’s new appearance is the prominent cover photo across the top of pages and profiles. This 840 x 310 pixel, banner-like photo amounts to a lot of free advertising space to promote new products, promotions, events, and anything else creative marketers can think of.

4. More Prominent Posted Photos

Besides the cover photo, photos in general are gaining prominence on Timeline. The new layout allows photos to take up more space than they did on walls, which makes them stand out more on your page. You can take advantage of this feature by sharing photos with your posts to attract more attention to them and to make them more engaging for users.

5. Storytelling

Perhaps the best new feature of Timeline is that it’s set up to tell a story. Since effective communicators tell stories about their brands, products and businesses, this feature fits perfectly into a marketing strategy. Think about your company’s story, and how each of your posts fits into that larger story.

As with any changes in the marketing landscape, those businesses that adapt quickly and learn new ways of leveraging changes into opportunities will come out ahead. Start adapting your Facebook marketing strategy to the new Timeline layout, and let us know about any other ideas you’ve found for using Timeline to its fullest potential. [Source: networksolutions.com]