Facebook will be requiring everyone to switch to the new Timeline by March 30, 2012. If your practice has a Facebook Page, you’ll need to be prepared for the completely new look, layout, and features. The new Facebook Page layout looks like the new personal Facebook Timeline pages with space on top for a large banner and a more personalized feel. Some small businesses are already excited about the new format while others aren’t so prepared to make the switch.

Here are some things to look forward to with the Facebook Timeline change:

  1. Space for a large cover photo. One of the biggest changes to the new Facebook Page format is the cover photo section. This 810-pixel wide image is the perfect place to showcase your company logo or share an eye-catching picture. You’ll still have space to add a profile picture but that picture will be much smaller. Be creative with the image you choose as your cover photo — it could be a before and after transformation, a shot of your staff, or something else that makes your practice stand apart from others in your industry.
  2. You can operate as a brand. You can now have a Facebook “identity” that is based on your Facebook Page. You can send and receive messages, post comments, and “Like” items as your practice — instead of having to maintain your admin profile. This can make it much easier to communicate with fans directly as a brand or business.
  3. No more landing tabs. If you invested time and money in setting up a landing tab on your Facebook Page, you won’t need it any longer. Facebook has done away with tabs altogether so you won’t have any type of “gate” to encourage “Likes” and cannot set up any creative landing pages. This means you’ll have to work that much harder to engage your fans, build your audience, and use creative posts and incentives to lure in more fans.
  4. You can fill out your company history. Another promising feature of Timeline is, in fact, the timeline. You can tell your company’s story by filling out key details or highlights such as major milestones, founding dates, and other information.
  5. You can highlight important posts. Not all of your posts will be in chronological order because Facebook will only show a summary of some of the most popular posts to the casual visitor. You can, however, highlight important posts so that they can be pushed to the top and will always be visible.

How to Use the New Facebook Timeline

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Have questions about Facebook marketing and other online marketing options for your practice? Talk to one of our PracticeDock online marketing specialists today!

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