The good news about Facebook Timeline that Facebook forgot to tell you
By Martin Brossman
Facebook Timeline has some real gold, both on the personal Profile and the business Page, even though almost no one is happy with the way Facebook rolled out Timeline. The Facebook gang still has a lot to learn in working with more mature customers, but we know they’re smart and Timeline really shows some brilliance. They just missed the opportunity to educate people on the real goal of this promising new feature they created.
Timeline Enlivens Business Pages
Timeline is extraordinary for any business over 5 years old and even for those less than 5 years old. First, you can set the start date of your business when it actually began, not just when you joined Facebook!
You can build the history of the business over time and profoundly increase the interesting content on your business page. Web developers have been looking for years for ways to leverage the competitive advantage of a business that has been around longer than other businesses, and it is not easy to do on a website. Facebook makes it possible to build out your past, and that makes the entire page come alive in a whole new way.
Take Your Time for Best Results
Now you want to make sure you do it in a way over time that works with your existing content and does not overwhelm the news feed of your fans. You may also want to protect your past photos with visual watermarks since the digital watermarks are stripped off by Facebook. When we build timelines out for clients we make sure they have a clear visual watermark, right story with each image, and see that it gets released with the other content so it is welcomed by the fans.
The place to begin is where you are going to say was the “birth” of your business. You get to pick the milestones and highlight other events. To see an example of fleshed out timelines, check out the Manchester United Facebook Page Timeline: http://www.facebook.com/manchesterunited and a YouTube video about it as well:
http://youtu.be/neKIey7qP0s
We have seen up to 300% increase in engagement by integrating Timeline entries with good regular content. Let us hear how you are creatively using Facebook Timeline!
For businesses that want Timeline History set-up and managed for them we offer this as a service:
http://pronetworkingo.wpengine.com/facebook-business-training/facebook-timeline-for-business/
