Facebook Timeline – A revolution for brand pages

After having launched the Timeline feature for personal pages, Facebook recently announced that brand pages on Facebook will follow suit. All brand pages will automatically convert to the timeline layout by the 30^th of March, but they have also been given the option to convert as and when they feel like before the end of this month. This time period has given brands a good opportunity to research and experiment with the new timeline scheme. It could be a big game changer for brands on Facebook as this, quite visibly, is a radical change in the layout for brand pages. A big disadvantages, many brands would agree, is that the Facebook Timeline is compulsory for all brand pages from the 30^th of March.

On the other hand, a few brands have already embraced the new Facebook Timeline feature, meaning greater interaction with fans and more controlled branding on pages. Here are some of examples –

• Coca-Cola
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• Coldplay
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• Starbucks
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There are a number of key changes regarding the Facebook Timeline, which will prove to be beneficial to the brands. Here are a few of them –

• Aesthetics – One of the biggest changes, quite literally, will be the cover photo for the brand. Facebook Timeline now allows brands to have a huge horizontal cover photo instead of a tiny vertical one earlier. This gives them an opportunity make an impact the instant anyone lands on their Facebook page.
• Brand History – Timeline allows brands to highlight their history in chronological form, giving their page a more personalized feel.
• ‘Pinning’ posts – Once the Timeline is implemented, brands have an option to ‘pin’ their important posts to the top of their page for greater visibility.
• Personal Messaging – Brands will now be able to send private messages to their fans. They do not necessarily need to answer of communicate with their fans publicly on their brand page, instead they can send a more personalized message directly to the concerned fan.

The Facebook Timeline is bound to revolutionalise they way we have been seeing brand pages on Facebook. It has given brands a huge opportunity to better enhance consumer interaction with their brands. Brands that constantly create engaging content for their consumers and share important milestones with them will stay ahead in the race to grab a consumer’s attention.

So how have you or your brand devised of a strategy for your page on Facebook? Share your views.

Facebook Gets 500 Million Users

Even after all the criticism and skepticism over its pattern of altering privacy controls, Facebook has passed a remarkable milestone of 500 million users.

It is a big day for Zuckerberg and he finally comes out of his nest to be interviewed by Diane Sawyer on ABC News. Zuckerberg, who avoids such high profile public appearances would probably have to answer about the 500 million users mark, the facebook movie and even about the privacy issues that they had earlier this year.

On the occasion, Facebook is launching the Facebook Stories . The individuals can share their experiences with facebook through the ‘facebook Stories’ app.

Zuckerberg says, “I could have never imagined all of the ways people would use Facebook when we were getting started 6 years ago. I want to thank you for being part of making Facebook what it is today and for spreading it around the world.” But he is all confident and ready to see the 1 billion users mark. With this galloping pace of facebook’s growth, 1 billion is not far behind.