Facebook’s New Timeline Pages

About Facebook New Timeline Pages

You may have heard that Facebook has released a new fancy Timeline layout for pages. Perhaps you’ve even seen a few!

Much like the current Timeline layout for your personal Facebook profile, the new Timeline for Pages allows you to display a large cover photo at the top of the page. You can make yours live at any time, but on March 30 every page will be unceremoniously switched over the new Timeline, like it or not. I went ahead and switched because I was curious. You can see my page here. (And I’d love it if you’d “like” it!!)

Here are some things you may want to know!

Cover Photo

The cover photo is the first thing people will see when they view your site, so you want to choose wisely. Some may choose a photo, and others may want to design a graphic image. Either way, the optimal size is 850 x 315 pixels. 

Need some inspiration? See Mashable’s 20 Facebook Page Cover Photos to Inspire Your Brand.

I looked through all of those and decided that I definitely need my photo in my cover image, as my logo is already my Profile Picture. I chose to use one of the photos from the Ulta Blogger Beauty Event at New York Fashion Week.

Facebook timeline page cover photo

The key with photos is to make sure they have a high enough resolution and are large enough to be nice and clear. There’s nothing more underwhelming than a blurry cover photo.

If you decide to use a graphic image, you will want to size it exactly 850 x 315 pixels so it fits properly.

Restrictions

It is important to note that you are not allowed to use an image containing contact info, pricing or purchasing info, requests to share or like your page, or calls to action.

The point is to brand yourself and to make your page attractive and engaging.

With the new Facebook Timeline, you can no longer have a unique landing page. You can still have tabs, but none of them can be the default.

I almost spent a couple hundred dollars last month having a custom landing page designed. I cannot tell you how happy I am that I procrastinated!!!

I’m not a huge fan of the new layout as a whole — mainly because I find it loading very slowly, which annoys the living daylights out of me when I go to update my page!!! But there are some cool new features that might make up for it eventually, when I get used to them all.

Cool New Features

Pin To Top

If you have an important update you want everyone to see, you can use the new Pin to Top feature to keep it at the top of your update column for up to 7 days. That’s pretty nifty! (Click on the pencil to edit the post, and the option to Pin to Top is right there. You can also hide a post there if you don’t want viewers seeing it.)

About

One thing I really like is the new About section. It’s definitely an improvement. You can edit your About settings to determine what shows on the About tab.

Facebook Timeline Page About Section

Tabs

I still need to work on my tabs, which are now application boxes across the top of the page under the cover photo, but those are pretty nifty too. You can create images for these apps instead of simply using the default app or page images. You can also rearrange the order of the tabs so the most important ones are seen.

Starred Posts

Another cool feature? Starred posts. You can star a post and it makes it full screen, and guarantee that everyone who comes to your page sees it. See, like with my cheesesteak post. I like that feature too!

starred posts on the new facebook timeline

Admin Panel

I haven’t done much with my admin panel, but it’s definitely easier to find your insights and stats if you watch those things. I don’t watch mine (nearly as well as I should, I’m sure!) so I just hide my Admin Panel. I like that they gave me that option.

Activity Log

This helps you manage your page easily and see all your posts, even if they are hidden. You can change the date on certain posts and add important milestones to your timeline. To get to the Activity Log, click on the Manage tab for a drop-down menu.

So. Have you switched your Facebook Page to the new Timeline yet? How do you like it??

 

Join The Conversation

20 Responses

  1. I kind of have a love-hate relationship with it lol. I love the cover image being bigger but I don’t like how it doesn’t seem as seamless as the older version.

    I love your cover photo! Very nice! =)

  2. I love the new timeline! It organizes all of the past statuses nicely. I’ve been having too much fun adding all my past trips and any pictures I have (of my digital camera days, that is.) I also like that it doesn’t list everything that I’ve written on other FB walls. The only thing that I don’t understand is the feature “Friends except acquaintances”. I guess that means that I need to make friend lists, which sounds time-consuming. I don’t appreciate the new “Friends” feature because if a friend “likes” or comments on a status or picture of mine, all their friends can see it, too!

  3. Love your cover photo 🙂 You would think you knew you would want this for your FB page so looked in that direction!!!

    I am having trouble pinning to the top. When I click the pencil and the edit post, I am not seeing the pin to the top option – ? Any ideas? 🙂

  4. thanks for posting this. i’m the administrator for our church’s facebook page and haven’t converted it yet. i haven’t even crossed over to timeline on my personal page. ha! the tip for the cover photo size is very helpful, especially for the church page. and i love your cover photo!

  5. I switched my Facebook Page to timeline last week. Ironically, I have not switched my personal profile yet and I won’t until they make me. I’m not a big fan of Timeline. 🙂

    1. I also had a quick question. Is anyone else having trouble changing the image for the tabs? I have been trying for 2 days now and every time I upload the image (Pinterest logo) it gives me some weird random image. Its driving me batty!

  6. Thanks Jo-Lynne! I needed a little run through on this timeline update. I updated my personal page but I have done it for my blog/business yet. And I’m in desperate need of headshots too I just realized.

  7. Great tips here! I converted all of my pages (except one) to Timeline. It’s a lot of work for us admins to make all of these changes: finding the right photo, adding unique pictures to the apps, going through and making sure we have this and that highlighted. I did realize I have zero high res pictures, which is handy. Great, great post!

    1. Yeah, I’m not happy with the PSMM header image yet. I need a higher quality photo. I tried making a collage, and I could not make it work so I gave up. I wanted to represent as many members as possible. So that needs more attention. It is a lot of work, you’re right!!

  8. Hi
    I never used facebook before it the timeline feature came in so I’m a bit behind on all things facebook. There are a couple of things that really confuse me so if anyone could help me out that would be great –

    1. I understand the concept of “liking” something but I can’t seem to do it! When I went onto the new facebook page mentioned above I pressed the “like” button that was visible. FB said I had to login to continue (which I did). Having logged in the “like” button disappeared. Nothing has shown up on my own page. How do I know if I was successful?

    2. When I have tried to “like” an individual blog post in the past, absolutely nothing happens other than the little thumb gets a the number “1” underneath it. Nothing appears on my facebook page. Is there a setting that I need to adjust or something?

    If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be great! Apologies for being so behind the times!

  9. So jealous of your cover photo! I don’t know that I have one that will work. But, we are doing family photos next month, so maybe I’ll get one out of those.

    I have neglected my FB page for a long time. I need to spend some time cleaning it up and making it look nice I guess.

  10. Thanks so much for this post! I have been dreading changing my blog FB account to timeline but I knew I had to make the change soon before it was done for me on the 30th! 🙂 This was super helpful & I was able to create a decent cover photo using Picnik & get my page switched over. Would love any feedback from those more seasoned than I! 🙂 https://www.facebook.com/Pinfluence

  11. I’ve been researching on how to ‘rearrange’ the tabs! I’ve finally figured out how to add images, I just added some pngs to get them on there, not quite done creating my ‘look’ but anyway, does anyone know how to rearrange the tabs???

    Thanks!
    Cherie

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