4 New Timeline Features Brands Should be Using

The highly publicized shift from Wall to Timeline is officially published for all brand pages as of March 30, 2012, but the new appearance isn’t the only major change that will affect brands and marketers. Here are a few Timeline features that brands should get familiar with:

1. Admin Panel
Take some time to explore the in-depth features of the newly improved admin panel. Much of the old Facebook insights are still included, but the revamped version is much easier on the eyes, and includes additional insightful aspects such as:

• You can now view the date that a new fan “Likes” your page. Get creative and personal with this new feature by highlighting and/or thanking the new fan for liking your page.
• The ability to see which month your page was most engaging. Take some time to explore this feature as it can be very telling about what content worked and what did not.
• A more streamline demo report. Places, languages, ages, and the gender of your fans are broken down into an easy-to-read graph.

Take some time to play around with the new user-friendly features – you can even export the data into a PDF to analyze a clean report with your team!

2. Pinned Post

Many social media specialists are positioning the “pinned post” feature as the alternative to the loss of the landing page, but this option is not simply a replacement for your “Like Us” app. Think of “pinned posts” as a rotating billboard for current news, campaigns, or any aspect of your brand that you want to highlight. Remember that this new feature only stays at the top for 7 days, so rotate the post when you have other prominent content to share with community.

3. Front and Center Recommendations

Facebook recommendations are now taking a more visible place on your page. Although this isn’t a new feature, it was once housed on the far right hand side, hidden in the clutter of ads. The new location creates an even stronger impact when users visit your page. Brainstorm ways to take full advantage of this aspect, maybe incentivize customers to recommend your page if they’ve had a positive experience.

4. Fan Messaging  

The new Facebook proves to mimic personal pages even further with the introduction of Facebook messaging for brands. This is a prime place to direct users to take a question, concern, or inquiry to a private place. Users who post on your page are already a bit muted in terms of visibility – so offering to take the conversation to messaging is a perfect way to focus on a fan, one to one.

It’s time to start taking advantage of the many new aspects of Timeline. Take some time to really dig into the admin panel, highlight a new “Liker,” use pinned posts as new place to bring attention to your new campaign, or give a fan your full attention via messaging. The new Facebook features can only enhance your page presence and captivate your audience even further.

The floor’s all yours: How have you taken advantage of the new Facebook features? Visit /excelamktg for further customized social media marketing ideas, innovative campaigns, current social media trends, and insider tips for small business success.

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