1. University
HOW TO USE
FACEBOOK TIMELINE
AS A MUSICIAN
V1.2

2. TABLE OF CONTENTS
GET THE PULSE OF YOUR PAGE
Facebook Admin Panel 4
Add Insights to Your Toolbox 5
Your Insights are Public 6 HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR EDGERANK
THROUGH ENGAGEMENT
Important Metrics to Track 7
What is “Talking About This” 8 Engage with Amazing Content 21
Facebook Stories 9 Respond to Fans 22
EdgeRank 10 Rich Media Posts 23,24
How to Improve Your EdgeRank 11,12 Showcase Exclusive Content 25
Ask Fans To Tag You 26
FEATURES OF TIMELINE Add Your Shows to Facebook 27
Be Active & Proactive 28
Cover Photo 14
BandPage Banner 15
Arrange Your Apps 16
Pinned Posts 17
Featured Posts 18 GLOSSARY 30-33
Design Notes 19 CONTACT 34

3. GET THE PULSE
OF YOUR PAGE

4. FACEBOOK ADMIN PANEL
Whenever you are the Admin of a Page on Facebook, you’ll have access to that Page’s
Admin Panel. From the Admin Panel, you can see all of your Page’s notifications, new
likes, a micro-version of Facebook Insights, and messages to the Page by your fans.
Think of the Admin Panel as your control center, where you can very easily edit key
settings, see what fans are responding to, and how well your Page is currently
performing.
4

5. ADD INSIGHTS TO YOUR TOOLBOX
You may not realize just how valuable Facebook Insights are. If you plan on posting
regularly, you should check your Insights every week, even if just for 5 minutes.
By doing this, you can see which posts are getting reach, going viral and engagement and
what is resonating with your LikeBase.
LikeBase is a term that we like to use that refers to the portion of your fans who have
specifically Liked your Page, that your posts can now organically reach.
5

6. YOUR INSIGHTS ARE PUBLIC
As of April 2012, Facebook now displays some basic Insights of all Pages publicly.
This is important to know for a few reasons:
- Other bands and Facebook users can now check to see if your Page is growing or
stagnant, as well as metrics like what market you are popular in. That means if you’re
courting a potential sponsor or manager, or you’re doing a big press push, you’ll want
to keep your numbers steadily growing and remain active on the Page.
- You can also view other Page’s Insights who have similar fan-bases to see what their
fans react well to, what city works for them, and which week they got the most
engagement (And then do some research to see why that week got so many fans
publishing Stories about them!)
6

7. IMPORTANT METRICS TO TRACK
Facebook Insights provides you many numbers and stats to check out. Depending on
your goals, you should try to track specific analytics based on your goals.
However, there are generic metrics that all Pages should track and have a good
understanding of:
 # of Likes for your Page (LikeBase)
LikeBase is important as it’s the maximum amount of users who can see your posts directly.
 Demographics that Like your Page
The better information you have, the more you can tailor your posts to that fan base.
 Engagement (Comments, Likes, Shares) Per Post
Knowing which posts work and which don’t helps inform you what your fan base responds to and can help
shape future posts
 Organic Reach & Viral Reach of your Content
Are most of your post views coming from your LikeBase? Or are most views resulting from a few, well
connected Superfans sharing your content to their friends? These numbers help shed light on the total
impact of your posts.
7

8. # OF PEOPLE TALKING ABOUT THIS?
# of People Talking About This is the number of unique Facebook
users who have commented, shared, or liked one of your
posts, tagged your Page in a post/photo, or interacted with your
Page in some way that has created a “Story” in the past 7 days.
This is a key metric to track, as it is a closest indicator of engagement and potential viral
reach within Facebook.
You can find this number under your cover photo or under your “Likes” Application on
your Page.
8

9. WHAT IS A FACEBOOK STORY?
 A Facebook Story is basically any action that would involve a
fan posting content that is connected in some way to your
Page.
For example: If a fan likes or comments on one of your
posts, likes your Page or RSVPs to an event, or even tags you in
a photo - they have created a Story about you.
 A Story can be seen by a Facebook User’s friends and on ticker
feeds.
 Every time a fan creates a Story that involves your Page, you’ll
see benefits in the reach (viral and organic) of your posts.
 The more users who are producing Stories about you to their
feed gives you three benefits:
 Improves the amount of impressions
 Improved chances of your post gaining Viral Reach
 Improves your EdgeRank.
9

10. EDGERANK
Who actually see the posts you send out?
 Facebook doesn’t show your entire LikeBase every update you put out. For
example, if you have 1,000 fans, on average only 16% (160) of those fans
will see your Story show up in their news feed.
 Facebook has a advanced system (EdgeRank) that decides in what order and
how many fans see which posts on their news feeds– this is based on their
past history with the page, how “viral” the story is, and how new the post is.
 EdgeRank is an algorithm that ranks a post in the Facebook News Feed
based on several variables, like how often and frequently fans are
interacting with your Page’s Stories.
 The higher your Edgerank, the more of your fans will see your posts on their
news feed more often, higher up on the feed, and for longer.
10

11. HOW TO IMPROVE EDGERANK
 Look at your Facebook Insights and see which of your posts got the most
Engagement. Some LikeBases respond better to short, snappy text
posts, while others expect a more visual experience. Use insights to better
understand your audience!
 Ask fans to tag photos of you and to RSVP to the shows if they plan on going
– both actions create Stories that improve your EdgeRank relationship with
your fans.
 The higher your “# of fans talking about this” metric goes, the better your
EdgeRank is during that week (at least for those 7 days)
11

12. HOW TO IMPROVE EDGERANK
 Set goals – figure out which metric you’d like to improve
and set your Page’s ideal situation. (for example:” I want to
raise my Page’s # of fans talking about this by 10% each
month”)
 Keep track of your progress using Facebook Insights and be
flexible if the tactics you’re using aren’t working – adjust
tactics and try again!
12

13. FEATURES OF TIMELINE

14. COVER PHOTO
 Cover photos are 851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. If you upload an image
that's smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size.
Tip: When creating your image, try starting a new file that is 851h x 315w pixels.
That way you know exactly how it will look live.
 Cover photos come with some restrictions – if you do any of the below items
Facebook maintains the right to suspend your page...so play by the rules!
 It can’t have price/purchase info (ex: “4.99 CD sale this week!”)
 It can’t have contact info – good places to place this are in your “about
section” and your BandPage Biography section.
 It can’t have references to Facebook actions (ex: “Like this Page to unlock…”)
 It can’t contain “Calls to Action” (ex: “Click on our new video below!”)
14

15. BANDPAGE BANNER
 Your BandPage banner is 810 Pixels wide by up to 360 Pixels in height.
 If you’re using BandPage Plus – you can actually have two banners. One
banner would be for users have liked your Page and one for users who
have not yet done so. By doing this, you’ll be able to have a call to action
in your banner asking fans to like you, but once they have, the messaging
can then change to whatever else you’d like to advertise.
15

16. ARRANGE YOUR APPS
 The three boxes to the right of your photo can be used to showcase apps
like BandPage. Any apps that are not in this “Top 3” will have far less
clicks and usage, so make sure you highlight the apps that are important
for your fans to interact with.
 Keep in mind that any apps that are no longer in use or broken (with the
Timeline change) should be removed from the three apps that you’re
showcasing.
16

17. PINNED POSTS
Pinned Posts are Page posts that admins have chosen to display prominently at
the top of their Page.
 A Pinned Post always appears in the top left of a Page's timeline and has a
flag in its top-right corner.
 A post a Page admin pins to the top of their Page will remain there for 7
days. After that, it’ll return to the date it was posted on the Page’s timeline.
17

18. FEATURED POSTS
Featured Posts are posts that you want to highlight within your timeline – as users
come to the page, these posts now take up both Timeline Columns and allow you to
show off full panoramic photography.
Adding Featured Posts (by hitting the star button) and Milestones throughout your
Page creates a backstory for your page, and great content for fans to explore.
18

19. DESIGN NOTES
When working with creative assets, care should be taken to make sure that you get
the most bang for your buck. Upon creation of a new design, if you use the below
sizes you will get a perfectly proportioned picture that will fit perfectly and get the
most screen real estate.
 Cover Photo  Profile Picture*
851 x 315 pixels 180 x 180 pixels
 Images*  App Image
404 x 404 pixels 111 x 74 pixels
 Highlighted Post Images & Milestone Images  BandPage Banner
843 x 403 pixels 810 x (upto)360 pixels
*For these shapes, anything above this size is fine as it will scale down and users can click on that image to see the
full size image. As long as it is at –least- this size you’ll get the full real estate on the news feed as possible.
19

20. STRATEGIES ON HOW TO
IMPROVE METRICS AND
EDGERANK

21. ENGAGE WITH AMAZING CONTENT
 Fans want to connect with artists they love on a
personal level. Keep your posts personal and don’t
overexpose yourself with self promotion. Talk
about items outside of just your own music.
 Post regularly, at least a few times a week, keeping
your fans engaged on an ongoing basis.
 Share videos, pictures, and audio while you’re on
the road or even just hanging out during your day.
 Always try to be authentic in the way you engage
your fans.
 Great posts will lead to more Engagement
(Comments, Likes & Shares), which will improve
your Edgerank and get your posts to be more
visible on Facebook.
21

22. RESPOND TO FANS
 After you’ve posted something new on your Page, spend time responding to your fans
in the comments.
 Responding re-engages fans that already commented and increases the likelihood of
other people commenting and liking. They see that you’re listening and responding
and will want to be a part of that.
 When Facebook’s Edgerank system sees that your content getting traction shortly after
it’s posted, it will show that content to more of your Fans, so make sure you encourage
fans to interact and respond back to posts quickly on new posts
22

23. SEND OUT RICH MEDIA
 We’ve found that sending out rich media (like
pictures, videos & music) gets higher
engagement, interaction and shares than plain
text post.
 On some Pages, we’ve found the overall
difference in engagement was 2-3x higher for
rich media posts!
23

24. RICH MEDIA TIPS
Photos:
 When sending out photos, try to send out images that are
as close to being a “square” image as possible. This is
because Facebook only gives you 404x404 pixels of real
estate, and if your picture is very wide or very long, you’ll
lose out on the available space you could use.
 Make sure the main idea of the picture is easily conveyed
to a fan when they’re looking through her news feed.
Videos and Music:
 Send out your tracks with one line or less of messaging and let the music
or video speak for itself, which will also create listener curiosity that will
lead them to play the track. Otherwise they may read the description and
decide to skip over the song without listening, or mentally check out if its
“too long”. Historically, when paired with rich media, paragraphs get less
traction, so add just a sentence or two around your media posts.
24

25. SHOWCASE EXCLUSIVE CONTENT
 Give fans a reason why they should not just read your posts, but
actually visit your Facebook Page.
 Share exclusive interviews, music, merchandise, photos, art or videos.
 The more times you update your
Facebook Page with content that can
only be found there, the more your fans
will be educated that FB is an important
part of the full experience.
 Don’t be afraid to have fun and be silly –
your fans on Facebook want to see the
real you and don’t want to always talk
music 100% of the time.
The Foot. Behind The Scenes –
Exclusively on their Facebook Page
25

26. ASK YOUR FANS TO TAG YOU
When a fan tags a photo of you OR tags your page you get 2 important
benefits:
1. A Facebook Story is created that shows up in fans’ Facebook feeds and
their friends’ feeds
2. Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm will automatically detect that they’re a
bigger fan of yours than the average person, and will show more of your
posts to them more often
26

27. ADD YOUR SHOWS TO FACEBOOK
 Add (and keep current) your tour
dates - either via an app like
BandPage and/or through Facebook
Events.
 Add Show Time, Location, and Ticket
Purchase info – the more fans have
to hunt, the less chance they’ll buy
your wares.
 Encourage your fans to RSVP or hit
“I’m Going” to events – each time
they do this it increases your
Edgerank relationship with that fan
and also helps spread word of the
show.
27

28. BE ACTIVE & PROACTIVE
 The worst thing you can do is let your Page go
stagnant – make sure that you’re posting at least
one piece of content per week.
 If you miss a week, don’t try to make up for it by
posting a week’s worth of Posts at once. Just like in
real life, if you forgot to say hi to a friend, you
wouldn’t tell them hi 20 times to make up for the
last 20 days you haven’t talked to them. You’ll
weaken your Page’s Edgerank since those posts will
get less engagement and users will block your posts.
Simply go back to your regular programming.
 If you plan to no longer use a Page or have moved
on to a new project – let your fans know where you
have moved to, give them a couple warnings, and
then deactivate the page. Last thing you want is for
someone to go searching, find your out of date and
incorrect page, and associate that with your
prescience.
28

29. GLOSSARY & CONTACT

30. GLOSSARY
 Admin
 An Admin is anyone who has access to all of the features, settings and can
post as a Page. This is usually the band members and their managers or
social media experts.
 Admin Panel
 The Admin Panel is your Page’s main control hub. From the Admin Panel, an
Admin can change the settings of the page, see messages to the
Page, check insights, and manage ads.
 EdgeRank
 Pages with high EdgeRank Scores will be more likely to show up in the
newsfeed than Pages with low EdgeRank Scores. EdgeRank is a black box
(private) algorithm that Facebook uses, based on Engagement that
determines the placement of posts by Pages and Users.
 Engagement
 When talking about Posts, the amount of interaction (shares, likes and
comments) that a post ends up receiving. The higher the better at raising
your EdgeRank.
30

31. GLOSSARY
 Featured Posts
 Posts that have been selected by an Admin to be displayed over two
Timeline panels (panoramic) instead of the square space that a typical post
occupies
 LikeBase
 The number of users who have “Liked” your Page. The higher this
number, the more fans who can see your content organically without it being
shared.
 Milestones
 Much like Featured Posts (they have the same dimensions), Milestones are
used to annotate specific items on a timeline. These are used more so for
actual notable changes (Band added a new member, new album) than status
updates.
 Pinned Posts
 Pinned Posts are Posts that an Admin has decided to feature at the top of
their Page for 7 days. This way, new posts don’t bury whatever campaign that
they are promoting.
31

32. GLOSSARY
 Reach – The number of unique users who see your Post.
 Organic: Users who saw your Story in a News Feed, ticker or on your Page (whether
they’ve liked your Page or not)
 Viral: Users who saw your content through a Story published by a friend – this could
be by their liking your post, sharing your post or taking other actions related to the
post that created a story that was visible to other users.
 Real Estate
 When talking about Facebook Real Estate, this refers to have much space your
content has when it is featured. A featured post or Milestone has more Facebook
Real Estate for instance. An image post that is smaller than 404x404 pixels would
have much less real estate, as the image would not be stretched and would not use
all of space allotted to it.
 Story
 Any piece of content generated by a user or a page – when a user creates a Story
about your Page, that means that they have interacted in some way with your Page
that has published that interaction and improved the EdgeRank between yourself
and that Page.
32

33.  Superfans
 Not all Likes are created equal – Superfans are the fans who that are
extremely engaged and use social media heavily. If one fan shares your post to
their friends and family, a Superfan could share it to 3,000 colleagues.
Superfans are critical because they are usually the ones who comment/share
first, and that momentum is important for encouraging your average fan to
participate, as well as getting your Story into more news feeds.
 # of People Talking About This
 The number of unique Facebook users who have created a Story about your
page within the last 7 days. This is a key metric to track, as it can give you a
real pulse on how your page is performing and how much it is being talked
about. The higher this number is, the better your EdgeRank (theoretically)
would be.
33

34. THANK YOU FOR READING!
Please let us know if this was helpful for you and if you would like to see more
articles or demos like this!
Any Questions, Ideas, Thoughts? We’d love to hear them!
@BandPage
/BandPage
Info@BandPage.com
presented by
Matt Conn
Dr. of Pages
34