The new Facebook Timeline profile updates will be happening in just a few days. If you have not already changed your Page’s appearance, now is the time!

Updating your Facebook page to the new Timeline format is more than a click of a button.

Instead of just letting Facebook alter your page by default, we recommend you take a few minutes to think about your branding and how you want your page to look. Remember, your business is using Facebook to communicate with customers and fans–present and future!

The biggest change about the timeline style is the cover photo. Dimensions for the cover photo are 851 pixels x 319 pixels. Smaller images will be stretched to fit, so we recommend you start with the correct size so you get what you really want in a cover photo.

I know a lot of people are using beautiful photos for their cover image, but before you put up a photo of a fantastic sunset or the view from your office, think about this space. You don’t necessarily have to have a giant logo in that spot, but it is in essence a large billboard of free advertising space. Keep in mind this is a chance for you to have some branding. You can change the cover photo as often as you like, so one option is to have a logo that you “dress up” for the season, similar to the Google icon.

Other items could be a map to your store, a key image about your industry or company, a composite of photos about your business, a shot of your store front, photos from when you first opened or your founder…the possibilities are limitless!

However, Facebook rules state that your cover image is not allowed to have:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Another change with the Timeline layout is that people will now be able to message you privately. Individuals have long been able to do this, but this is new for Pages.

Moving, editing, deleting and pinning items with the new Timeline layout

You may want to “Pin” a story or item to the top of your Page–to do that, hover over the story and click on the pencil icon. This will allow you to edit it, pin it, or hide the story. For example, you might not want to show that you updated your photo 5 times in the last 10 minutes, so you could delete all those notices–handy!

The other icon that shows up when you hover over a story is the star. If you click on the star it will make the story a “highlight” which means it will make it wider, filling both columns.

Play around with the new Timeline. It will be a little different looking, but the most important thing is to be responsible for your business page. Make it look the way you want. If you don’t have time, contact Internet Advertising That Works and we can help you with your cover photo, profile picture or arranging your page.