Following a brief received by executives two weeks ago about the social network’s plan to bring Timeline to brands, Facebook has now officially made the new feature available. On Wednesday morning Facebook made the announcement that Timeline was now live for all organizations using pages.
So what are the added features of Timeline for organizations and why should they incorporate it? As with personal profiles, Timeline has the added benefit of providing additional styling and aesthetic appeal to a page as well as the added bonus of multiple publicly-known storylines and angles to draw from, all of which add an extra dimension for users. The cover photo can be especially powerful for its ability to display logos, products or personalities and the timeline itself showcases a brand’s unique history, story and identity.
According to Timeline product manager Sam Lessin, the feature was designed to give brands the opportunity to tell their stories that create and express their identities just as an individual would. “œOrganizations have identities too,“ he said earlier this week.
More than any other facet of the new design, the timeline itself is especially effective at conveying those identities. Brands can upload images of their company history to convey its success, challenges and adaptations over the decades or call out specific milestones like a first sale, major acquisition or debut of a hit product.
Facebook is also introducing some handy new admin capabilities that will now be redesignated to the brand’s page which can be hidden or expanded at any time without having to navigate to a separate page. Other admin changes include the collection of notifications and insights located in one place, a more useful activity log and the ability to sticky selected pieces of content for seven days. Administrators can also respond directly to private messages without added hassles.
When you visit a brand page in Timeline layout, the experience becomes more personal. A prominently displayed section on the landing page shows how many of your friends like the brand, as well as your friends‘ public mentions of related topics.
Facebook also introduced offers and new placements for premium advertising and Sponsored Stories with Premium ads and Sponsored Stories now appearing in two new places: on the Facebook log-out Page and mobile News Feed. Sponsored Stories for mobile News Feed increase the visibility of stories related to a business or organization to help Pages share their fans‘ activities.
Gokul Rajaram, Facebook‘s product director for ads said that “œThe goal is to make Pages more engaging and more social.”
Page administrators have until March 30 to curate their new profiles when the revamp goes live for everyone.
View some examples of Timeline for brands in the gallery below:
Sources: Digital Trends, Mashable
