Facebook Timeline for brands goes live on March 30, 2012. Here, the Periscope Community Team presents a how-to guide for getting your brand's Timeline up, running and optimized.

1. SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS (ITʼS REALLY HAPPENING) March 2012
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

2. When is this happening?
Automatic rollout happens on March 30th, but
brands can proactively switch to Facebook
Timeline format any time before then.
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

3. Why is this happening?
“Today we can’t just talk, we have to listen as
well. And that means for marketers, too.”
Facebook Timeline for brands makes it
possible for people to interact with brands the
way they interact with friends.
Sources: Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook Marketing Conference, February 2012
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

4. How is it different?
Say hello to the new Facebook.
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

5. Format
Facebook Timeline for brands looks a lot like Timeline for users.
Brands can add milestones
that pre-date Facebook, in
order to give a comprehensive
representation of the brand’s
history. Life before Facebook?
Do any of us remember it?
Large cover photo
Smaller profile
photo that
doubles as avatar
for brand posts
The About section is
more visible and tabs
have been replaced by
featured content areas
(photos and custom
apps) that can be Users who visit your
arranged to
page can see how
your preference
other Facebook users
are talking about your
brand.
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

6. Format
Users can message a brand
New features place the emphasis on engagement.
privately—a huge help for
keeping the focus on content
vs. individual issues or posts
Stories can be sorted
“Talking about this” by highlights, brand
measures the level of posts, posts by others
engagement with your or posts from a users
content. Including own social circle
Likes, shares, tagged
photos and mentions
of your brand
Users who visit your
page see how many of
Prioritize content you their friends like you, and
want people to see: how they’ve talked about
“Pinned” posts stay at your page
the top of your page
for up to seven days.
Like your personal
“Star” a post that is
timeline, the visibility of
important and hide
every post or piece of
stories you don’t like
user engagement is
managed on the
“activity log”
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

7. Open Insights
Now, your engagement is (semi) public domain.
Anyone who visits your page can see who
among their friends Likes your page and
view the evolution of your fan base.
Sources: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

8. Admin Panel
Messages from users
A centralized place for page management.
will all appear here
All user activity is
located here
New likes used
to disappear
after awhile.
Now they’re
all here
Page insights are readily available and
visible for all admins
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

9. Things to Consider
The good, the bad and the okay.
• Apps are now wider:
• You can choose from the formerly standard “narrow” view
(at 520px) or the new “wide” view at 810px.
• Like-gates are gone.
• Cover photos aren’t a free-for-all. You can’t:
• Include a price or offer
• Include a call to action
• Include contact information for your company
• Violate a third party’s intellectual property (duh)
• Photos are better than ever
• Each milestone can include an image of 843x403px.
• “Starring” posts can make them fullscreen, so choose
photos that are a minimum width of 852px.
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

10. Facebook Timeline in 5 Easy Steps
New features place the emphasis on engagement.
• Pick a new cover photo
• You have an expansive 851x315px to make a splash.
• Select a profile picture
• This image becomes the avatar for your brand on your own page, within the news feed
and on sponsored stories.
• Logos are recommended, and will scale from 180x180px to 32x32px.
• Arrange your apps (and tabs)
• What do you want to feature on your page’s nav bar?
• Are your apps updated to reflect the new tab width?
• Do you have icons that reflect the new 111x74px format?
• Comb through your activity log
• Preview what your page will look like with the Timeline format.
• What stories do you want to pin at the top of your page? Which stories do you want to
star as important?
• What stories do you want to hide on your timeline?
• Map out your milestones
• What are the key dates for your brand? Each milestone can have a photo at 843x403px.
• You can update and edit as time goes by.
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

11. New paid options
Reach Generator and Premium are blurring
the line between paid and earned content,
making your Facebook page “mission
control” for all engagement.
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

12. Reach Generator
Turn your content into ads.
• What they promise:
• Guaranteed reach of 75% of your fans each month,
50% of fans each day.
• What it does
• Turns your brand’s posts into sponsored stories on
the right side of their page or within their news feed.
• Doubles the volume of engagement (likes,
comments, shares).
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

13. Premium
Turn your content into ads.
• What they promise:
• For a minimum required spend, you
get 5-10x more engagement for
placements in the right-hand side
and Facebook newsfeed.
• What it does:
• Turns your brand’s content into ads:
• Right-hand side of homepage
with sponsored stories
• News feed stories in a user’s
home page
• News feed on mobile
• Log-out experience: a highly
visual ad that users see when
they (you guessed it) log out of
Facebook
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

14. Premium
Turns your page content into ads. Every post has the potential to become an ad.
As a result, your ads are as compelling as your content.
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

15. Premium
Facebook will automatically truncate your premium post to fit into their new
character limits. Here’s what this means for the different ad options:
• Photos: Facebook will feature the first 90 characters of the photo caption you choose to promote
and will include a photo thumbnail that is 168x128 (4:3 aspect ratio)
• Video: Facebook will feature the first 90 characters of the video caption and include a thumbnail of
your video that is 185x104 (16:9 aspect ratio)
• Question: Facebook will feature up to four answers, or the first three plus a “see more” link
• Status: Facebook will feature the first 150 characters of your promoted status update
• Event: Facebook will feature the first 90 characters of your post and will include a 70x70 event
thumbnail and up to about 5 lines of text from the event description
• Link: Facebook will feature the first 90 characters of your link description and a 75x75 thumbnail
Source: Facebook
SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

16. Brought to you by the Periscope Community Team
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SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012

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SOCIAL STUDIES: FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS March 2012