Facebook’s New Brand Timeline Page

At today’s Leap Day Facebook Marketing Conference, Facebook announced its new “Timeline” for Brands. Lots of buzz around the Timeline, so let’s get to the major changes and what it means to you and your brand. Coca-Cola was a part of the beta group – so let’s look at their page as an example.

One of the most important take-aways here was an expected one: Fan-gated landing pages and redirects to custom tabs are gone (or will be gone on March 30). The timeline page will be the first experience for everyone.

“Cover Photo”: Your first brand experience, and users will certainly take notice. You can change this photo at any time and the cover photo cannot be promotional in any way. Some other thoughts to note:

1. No purchase info, contact info, or call to action.
2. No Hyperlinks to other websites,- No misleading promotional materials or promises. i.e. no lying
3. No Facebook actions. You can not use this photo to encourage visitors to like your page

Profile Picture is now layered above the cover photo and is an ideal location for a brand’s logo. No major changes here.

App Buttons: They look like photos, but they are essentially links to your custom apps/tabs from your old Facebook page.  You can reorder these in whatever order you see fit, just keep in mind that the new design will only display the first three apps. Choose wisely.

Posts Appear within the timeline section and just like the old wall, the timeline displays the most recent post first. Brands do have a new tool at their disposal however, and those are called Pins.  Pinning a post will cause it to stick to the very top on the timeline for a period of 7 days. This is an ideal way for a brand to showcase a particular photo or promotion. Good visibility.

Starring (not shown in the Coca-Cola photo) will double the width of a post across the page.  Brands should reserve this tool for some of the best posts.

Personal Interaction with Brand. Fans are now essentially able to direct a personal message to the brand/page admin instead of simply posting to the wall. This gives the brand yet another personal, more private way to engage with a fan or community member.

What Should I do Now?

1. Take some time to experiment with the Timeline layout, there is no substitute for simply learning and doing it.
2. Choose a brand appropriate, non-salesy image for your cover photo
3. Start prioritizing your most important apps (if you have them)- The Top 3 will be highlighted..
4. Create your timeline. If you have a company with a long history of events, start creating and highlighting “milestones” now. It may provide you with opportunities to highlight important historical events for your fans.

NOTE:
We’ve included a few examples below of some other newly created Timeline Pages to get you thinking…

https://www.facebook.com/allengerritsen
https://www.facebook.com/redbull
https://www.facebook.com/vitrue

Social: Is it a conversation or broadcast medium?

This week’s article on social media in AdAge Digital (The Brutal Truth About Social Media) sparked much water-cooler conversation here at Acsys, prompting at least one person to ask whether social is, in fact, a broadcast medium.

I say of course it is. It puts the power of “push” into the hands of all. While yes, a lot of us pay a tremendous amount of lip service to building a dialogue, the fact remains that years upon years of conditioning by traditional media have conditioned the masses into passive consumers of whatever the marketing world feels the masses need to know.

Building community is not a new term, and is not exclusive to the recent proliferation of social media. From the beginning digital has talked about the power of community and how this new medium would result in the formation of active user forums and community groups, all tied to specific digital landmarks.

So far, it seems as if efforts to do this have fallen short of the mark. Is there a brand or organization in the country with practices and policies that have been dictated by a vocal, vibrant online user community? Or that has changed practices due to such an active online user community? If so, there’s been very little buzz about it. (I’m referring specifically to brand-created communities, not responses to crises or changes in brand or organizational policy due to said response to crises.) There are extremely active user communities out there, yes, but they serve more to bring people with similar interests together and widen their horizons than they do to create a dialogue with a particular brand.

My brand loyalties have nothing to do with the strength of those brands’ online communities – or lack thereof, which is often the case. They have to do with traditional advertising that I’ve been subjected to over the last several decades, and practical use on my part. For example, I love Nike from a branding and messaging standpoint, as well as the work their foundation does to help young women in third world countries. But I buy KSwiss running shoes religiously because I’ve never found a pair of Nikes that was comfortable enough to run in, and my KSwiss are so comfy I could practically sleep in them. I have no interaction with KSwiss outside of buying their shoes; but I follow the Nike foundation and the work they’re doing.

The point is that no medium, no form of media, is ever going to be a panacea to all marketers’ woes. If social media opens a dialogue and gets people talking – amongst themselves, not necessarily with a particular brand – then those broadcast messages have succeeded. Social is not about building community with a brand, it’s about building community amongst the consumers.

Social Media and Community Management (Notes from SMBCT)

(Dan Weingrod, Amanda Nelson (Radian6) Tyson Goodridge, Ed Sullivan (Radian6) Lauren Vargas (Aetna)

Every now and then, you need to be SOCIAL with Social Media and meet other Social Media practioners in real life. So, on the last day of the worldwide Social Media Week, about 40 of us assembled at the monthly Social Media Breakfast, Connecticut Chapter. (#SMBCT). Here is a quick recap of the event, and key takeaways for those who weren’t able to attend.

Dan Weingrod- host and moderator
Lauren Vargas, Community Management Strategist, Aetna
Amanda Nelson, Community Manager, Radian 6
Tyson Goodridge, Acsys

Effective Community Management (Amanda)
As a community manager at Radian6, Amanda brings “in the trenches” experience and the following recommendations.

1. Have a Content Strategy. What are your real goals? Who is your audience. What is the tone of your conversation?
2. Content Distribution: Have an editorial calendar. Share it in the right places and on the right network
3. Types of Content: Not just blog posts or texts, use images, videos, info-graphics and more (Pinterest anyone?)
4. Relationships: At the end of the day, your content is about building relationships and your community

Community Activation (Lauren)
As a community strategist at Aetna, Lauren is largely responsible for internal education and a bit of social media evangelism. Here are her suggestions for internal activation of social media and community managment.

1. Social Media Policy. When creating (or revisiting) a policy, don’t just cut and paste from other policies you see online. Make it your own, and make it map the company culture
2. Internal Process: Deeply embed this process within the company. Create a legal playbook, contigency plans and more. It took Aetna nine months to get their recently launchedtwitter handles up and running. It takes time…
3. Training: Training is fundamental to internal (and external success) Train everyone. There is no “personal” or “professional” in social media- they are intertwined. Always.

The Community Maturity Model (Tyson)
On the more strategic side of things, I shared a model introduced by two nationally recognized community management experts (Jim Storer and Rachel Happe) at the Community Roundtable.
Without getting too detailed, I’ll let the “Community Maturity Model” slide below speak for itself. It describes the evolution of an online community within a business of any size. On the right side of the
table, you’ll find companies like IBM and SAP, on the left side, new entrants to social media and community. It’s a terrific visual snapshot to refer to often.

Thanks again to Quinnipiac University for hosting this event, and for more video, images and tweetable recaps of the event head over to the following links
Decodig Inbound Marketing and Phil Decouteau
Radian6 Blog
Social Media Week/Radian6 and Jason Boies

Community Maturity Model developed by Rachel Happe and Jim Storer of The Community Roundtable

Why Tablet Design for Websites belongs at the Adult Table

Recent analysis from Juniper Research asserts that “Ultrabooks like Lenovo’s IdeaPad are rejuvenating the notebook class, offering the user experience of a tablet in a notebook form-factor”.

Net-net: The next generation of laptops and PC’s will be touch-centric and tablet-like.  So what we think of a “desktop” PC experience today is going to be pretty different in a few years for the masses.  I have been using a Dell version of this hybrid laptop and, while far from perfect, it is an early sign of things to come.  You can check it out here

As Apple works on integrating its iOS and Mountain Lion operating systems set for release later this summer, I can’t imagine that they will not soon be exploiting this opportunity in the laptop category.  Regardless, Lenovo, Dell and others are well aware of this threat and have a lot at stake to innovate and make sure they are not left in the dust as another piece of Apple roadkill.  So, expect to see intense innovation in this laptop/tablet hybrid category.

For projects with long horizon time frames (e.g. website builds delivered in 2013+), everyone involved in website development needs to put tablets, touch and mobile at the adult table  and not the kids table anymore.  We need to think first about creating touch friendly and optimized experiences.  Even Microsoft is thinking ahead, creating Windows 8 to be “touch-first”.

A famous quote from Wayne Gretzky perfectly depicts what is called for in this situation:  “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.” These words were good enough for none other than Steve Jobs to use when he was introducing a version of the iPhone:  “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it’s been.”

The desktop puck is quickly heading towards a tablet, touch and mobile-centric future.  It is undeniable and unstoppable.  Maybe your competitors are already thinking ahead and playing where the puck is headed?  Maybe your customers are too?  They only thing that is certain:  if you are sitting still, you will miss the puck. And if you do so, it will be increasingly costly and difficult to recover.  So get your skates on and mobilize!