How to set up a Facebook Timeline page

Facebook timeline for pages is now here! Wondering how to set up a Facebook Timeline page?  This simple setup guide will help you make the most of this new template. Don’t be discouraged and don’t ignore these changes! Instead, capitalize on the new design and use the changes to your benefit. Here’s how:

Choose a cover photo.

Ideal dimensions: 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall is the ideal image dimensions to fit on timeline. Anything outside of these dimensions will be stretched or shrunk to fit, so it’s best to crop your photo to these dimensions before you load it into timeline for the best quality.

You need to really think about what you want your cover photo to be because this will be the main component of your page. Also, Facebook has some specific guidelines about what can and can’t be included in your photo (for example, it cannot contain any contact information). View the complete list of regulations here:https://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=276329115767498

Choose a Profile picture

Dimensions: Square image, at least 160 pixels wide. Click here for more details on the Profile picture.

You will still have a profile picture that will be displayed to the left of your updates on the Facebook NewsFeed. You can keep this as the same, or you can move it to your cover photo and add your logo as your profile picture. I’ve always preferred my clients to have profile pictures that are friendly and include faces if at all possible to put a more relatable human face to the brand, but you can certainly put your logo there if you prefer.

Organize Your Apps

You can still use apps in the new Facebook Timeline section, but now they are displayed a little differently. They will be included in the top boxes below your cover photo. There are four boxes total, and you can swap their positions so that the top three apps you want to display are there. The first box is always photos and cannot be removed or changed. This is a great spot to put apps such as a donation widget for your nonprofit, an RSS feed of your blog posts, a contact tab, or pull in your posts from other social networks like Pinterest, Twitter, or Google+. You can add more than three apps, they will just be below the fold and the user will need to click the more button to see them. The maximum amount of apps you can add to your page is 12.

You can no longer use a tab or app as a landing page, and any apps that had different content for fans and nonfans will no longer active.

For custom developed apps, the specifications and features have also changed. For example, the app can now be wider (810 pixels) and the favicon can now be 111×74 pixels.

Choose what stories show on your Timeline

Before you make your Timeline public, you should go through past posts and do some pruning. This is my favorite feature of the Facebook Timeline design. You can choose what you feature on your Timeline page and it doesn’t just have to be your latest post like before. Since the time decay in the NewsFeed for Facebook posts is very short, the most important stories or most relevant information about your business is not always found at the top of your page.

Highlight – Click on the star next to the post and it will make it wider, to cover the entire width of the Timeline.

Pin to the top – Click on the pencil and the first option will be to pin the post to the top of your page. This only lasts for 7 days however, which is a strange feature in my opinion.

Hide – Click on the pencil and one of the options will be to hide the post so that it’s not shown on the Timeline

Delete – Click on the pencil and one of the options will be to delete the post completely from the Timeline (This cannot be reversed).

Some ways to use this feature:

• Pin your most recent deals or coupons for your Facebook fans to the top of your page.
• Pin your latest blog post to the top. Pin your favorite quote.
• Pin upcoming events to the top of your page.
• Hide posts that are good curated content to keep people engaged in the Newsfeed, but are not original content or do not lead back to your website.
• Highlight compliments from customers so that they are more prominent on the page.

Create Milestones

Another neat feature is the ability to add Milestones. You may have already used this feature on your personal Timeline, though it’s a more general feature on the Timeline for pages. You can add photos, tag people who were involved, provide details, and add a specific location. Milestones is located in the section where you post to your page, on the far right next to Ask a Question.

Create Milestones for:

• When your business or organization was established
• When new locations were opened up
• When leadership changed
• When new products were released
• When you reached a certain number of orders/customers/revenue, etc.
• When you established important partnerships
• When you received any awards or recognition

Review the Admin Panel

The admin panel will show up at the top of your Timeline page when you visit it, but will not be visible to any of your fans. If you click the Hide option at the top right, you can hide the admin panel and view your page similar to how your fans view it. The admin panel shows your recent notifications, insights, recent likes, and messages.

In the next month Facebook will also be rolling out 5 different levels of Admin permissions. So if you have multiple people managing your site but don’t want them to be able to change vital components, you will be able to set their permission levels.

The biggest change here is the messages section. Your fans can now send you private messages through this feature, which will make customer service through your Facebook page a breeze! There are a lot of awesome opportunities that this feature opens up. Of course you may not have the resources to manage this feature, so you do have the option to disable it.

NOTE: Pages cannot initiate messages with fans, they can only respond, and they can send a maximum of 2 messages to a customer for every one message that customer sends them.

Facebook Timeline FAQ

Where’s the “Like” button?

The Like button will be to the left of the button that says “Message”, directly underneath the cover photo. If it isn’t there, that means you already Like the page.

How do I unlike a page that has Timeline? (How to unlike a page on facebook timeline)

Directly underneath the Timeline cover photo to the right, there is a gear wheel button with a drop down arrow. Click the drop down arrow and it will give you the option to unlike the page.

How can I change my page name?

Facebook has now added a feature where you can request to change your page name. Before, you couldn’t change it once you hit 100 fans. It is a request though, and is not guaranteed. You can access the request form here: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact_us.php?id=262629790471076 Your page name should be the name of your business.

Where did the Event section go? How can I create an event as my page?

The event section is an app, which you will need to add in the app section if you have not already. Once you add it, click on the event app and you will be directed to a page where it will give you the option to create an event as your page.

What are some of the best timeline pages?

I give some examples of good Timeline pages here and here.

Have any questions? Ask away!

Facebook Page Timeline Setup Tutorial

Day One - Highlight

Day Two - Private Messages

Day Three - Facebook Timeline Milestones

Day Four - Facebook Timeline Apps

Day Five - Facebook Cover Tutorial

Day Six - Profile Image

Day Seven - Moderate

Day Eight - About Section

Day Nine - Like Box

Day Ten - Review

Day 11 - Launch!

According to Facebook, these page changes must be done by March 30th. If you don’t have the time to devote to updating your business page, email me, and I will set it up for you for $150.

Brittany Botti