these images – while not difficult – is not very user-friendly. The how-to can be viewed here (link to come). It’s worth noting that the Photos tab cannot be moved and the image cannot be fixed. I’ve tried many ways to do this but ultimately what appears as this image will be the latest photo uploaded to the Page. If you have a 3rd party App installed for a Welcome Page or a custom written one, it will no longer work as a ‘landing’ page. This means that when a fan visits your Page they will always default to your Timeline not your welcome page. They can still click on the Welcome tab if they want to, but in all reality very few will actually do this unless you give people a reason to click to do so. 2. Your Business Biography – what you say about your business
This is a good opportunity to review your profile bio - typed in your About section. Many people will have set this up a while ago, when the Page first went live and not looked at it since. It is important to ensure your Profile (the brief summary about your business) is written in the best possible way to accurately reflect your business. It should explain what you do and should also contain your keywords. You have a lot of space here, so use it well.
If you don’t have a well-written Company Biography, now is the time to get one. Surprisingly this often needs to be done by someone outside your business to create a biography that communicates the key messages about your business without getting stuck in too much technical detail. We meet many business owners who find it very difficult to write about themselves and their business in a concise, appealing way - not to mention in a format that contains their keywords, which is essential for Search Engine Optimisation. The About section has increased space, now up to 170 characters, but here is
a big tip – within this space, make sure your paragraph contains your website address, as this will be an active link and this is the only upfront opportunity to display it. You may need to change your Business Category in order for the website to display. Having said that, if you are business operating from local premises, it may be more important for you to have your address, operating hours and phone number than your website address. Remember, you can include this in the About box regardless of the category chosen.
In addition, if you use the Local Business Category and correctly write in your address, a Map will appear as one of your navigation tabs. 3. Updates – what you say about your business on an ongoing basis
This is just as important as getting the Page set up correctly. What you say and how often you say it is the whole point of social media marketing. The new Timeline format allows you change the dates of past posts (great if you haven’t posted an update for a while), to highlight certain posts (usually ones with an image that look visually appealing) and to also choose one post that you want ‘pinned to the top’ for 7 days (your priority message). You can also tell ‘stories’ by defining key milestones in your company’s history. This is great flexibility and adds to the ‘magazine’ style of your Facebook Page, but remember that it is what you post on a regular basis and how you post (ie. using images, links etc) that is most important, as it is what goes into your fan’s newsfeeds.
Kerry Ensor is the director of Social Media Mgr, a company based in Auckland that specialises in integrating social media marketing effectively into your businesses’ overall marketing and communications strategy. www.socialmediamgr.co.nz www.facebook.com/smmgrnz
So here’s a summary of the main things that you need to do to update your Timeline 1. Cover Picture – select and upload 2. Thumbnail – select and upload 3. Images for Navigation buttons 4. Edit your About Section 5. Highlight featured post(s) 6. Prioritise your important post by posting to the top 7. Keep posting!