The ‘New’ Facebook: It’s a Lot More Visual
While some brands embraced Facebook’s Timeline with great enthusiasm, there were others who weren’t as receptive. This was until 30th March 2012, when all business pages were automatically converted to the Timeline format. What makes the ‘new’ Facebook more exciting is the purposeful visual landscape it presents.
For the skeptical few who worry that Facebook’s new layout may confuse fans or cause decline in engagement, here’s some good news:
- Despite threatening to quit Facebook when the Timeline was first introduced, Facebook’s active user base has grown to +845 million as of February 2012 (CYGY.com).
- Considering that this figure is only expected to grow, we suggest marketers make the most of this chance to reinvent their brands and increase fans/customers.
Facebook’s visually rich Timeline will have quite an impact for online marketers:
- The Timeline is a great platform for brands to showcase their products/services in a visually compelling, streamlined way.
- Marketers now have a bigger canvas to present their brand. This means more opportunities to incorporate images/videos.
- The Timeline allows brands to dramatically alter the ‘look’ of their profile. For instance, in case of travel or fashion brands, where it’s all about capturing users’ attention with attractive visuals, the Timeline seems perfect.
The Cover Image
The cover image is one of the most discussed features of Facebook’s Timeline. When selecting the cover image, there are some things that brands need to consider:
- Creating Favorable First Impressions: The cover photo is the first thing that consumers see when they visit your brand’s Timeline. Therefore the first step is to ensure that it’s visually arresting.
- Including Appropriate Images: The Timeline cover image tells a lot about your brand; which is why it’s important to utilize this space judiciously. Coca-Cola’s Timeline is a great example of what a cover image should look like. The image is in line with the brand’s ‘Open Happiness’ tagline. It’s vibrant, and positions the brand as one that spreads joy. What marketers need to do is to use images that are unique to their brand.
- You Cannot Feature:
- Coupons or ads on the cover image
- Calls-to-action
- Discounts, special offers and promotions
- Website address and contact information
The Profile Picture
While the profile picture still remains, it now has to complement the cover image. Here are some suggestions for a great profile image:
- Ensure it’s relevant to your brand and is an extension of the cover image.
- Including logos is a good idea. E.g. the profile image on Oreo’s Timeline.
- Ensure it’s optimized for mobile viewing.
Custom Tabs: Why It’s Crucial to Include Videos
The Timeline makes featuring videos much simpler. Besides photos (this tab cannot be changed), there are three additional custom tab ‘apps’ that appear by default. Videos, in our opinion, should be among the top three Timeline apps, because:
- Videos, unlike text, captivate the audience immediately and are very useful in narrating brands’ stories.
- Creating additional tabs for videos and positioning them elsewhere increases the possibility of fans missing out on valuable content.
While designing content for Facebook videos, here’s what marketers need to keep in mind:
- The videos don’t just have to include company-generated campaigns. Including user-generated visual content in form of videos posted by happy customers is a good idea.
- Want to create winning Facebook videos? Take a leaf out of Ford’s Facebook page. Besides a healthy share of recent campaigns, their videos include customer testimonials, long-forgotten ads, road-tests, clips featuring their assembly plant etc. The list is endless.
- While videos are great for talking about your brand’s history, we suggest keeping it short and interesting. A lengthy, uninteresting video could result in users logging out, without checking out the photos or engaging with the brand.
Creating Visually Rich Milestones
The new ‘Milestones’ feature is perfect for fans interested in tracing a brand’s history. Although Milestones incorporate both visuals and text, let us focus on the visual aspect:
- Milestones allow brands to present their story in a visually organized way.
- Including memorable archival photos or even long-forgotten commercials makes the Timeline historically rich and adds to the variety of visual content.
- Milestones are like digital scrapbooks. Making them visually attractive only improves the ‘Stickiness’ of your brand’s Timeline.
Facebook’s Timeline: Using Visuals to Create a Unified Whole
Facebook’s Timeline, which is the new visual playground for brands, allows marketers to be their creative best. Starting with the cover image, to the profile picture and the option to include videos in the custom tab apps, it’s a great opportunity for brands to tell customers their stories with creative visuals. However, it’s vital for brands to ensure that the visual content works together to form a unified whole. The cover image, profile picture, the placement and content of the custom tabs, the highlighted posts, and the visually rich ‘Milestones’, should complement each other and must be visually organized. Making your brand’s Timeline visually attractive is not just about throwing in some creative photos or videos; a great deal depends on planning what to include and how best to position it.
Meanwhile, for marketers who still want to control their brand’s Facebook presence, Thismoment’s DEC CMS allows them to build a completely controlled brand experience. Check out the visually rich Lexus Points of No Return App to see how it’s done.
- Shama Ahmed
Thismoment
