Are You Ready to Face Timeline?

Facebook will force their new layout, Timeline, to  business pages by the end of March. Why is this important for your personal brand? Timeline will give you the chance to be more creative with your profile. There will be new features that will give you more control over your profile, your posts, and your fans. Switching to the new layout will give your personal brand an edge but there are some things that you need to prepare to make your new profile work for you.

Here are some of the new features that you have to look out for:

Cover photo – the cover photo is an important part of your profile. It’s a huge space where you can place creative shots or choose graphics that says a lot about your personal brand. Timeline for personal profile pages was released months ago and since then a lot of people have displayed how you can be creative with your cover photo.

Your cover photo is the first thing that your visitors will see on your profile. Make them stay long enough by being creative: attract them with your cover photo. Make sure that you use an image size of 851 by 315 pixels to ensure great photo quality. Also consider your profile photo: it’s not going to display like it displays on the old layout. Your profile photo will only fit in a small box at the bottom left of your cover photo.

It’s also important to note that on a mobile phone your timeline cover will not show.  Mobile users will only be able to see your profile picture.  When you’re placing important information in your timeline cover, keep this in mind. Anything placed there will not be visible to your mobile phone user.

Timeline cover photos also have strict guidelines:
No calls to action
No “like this” or “like this” arrows
No mention of a “sale”
And No contact information

“About” section – the “About” section is where you display your achievements, contact details, and other items about you that you want others to know. Take the time to fill this space with important details about you. If you already have this, maybe it’s time to review and rewrite your information. Facebook added this feature to make it easier for people to get to know you. If they stay long enough on your profile, they will go to your “About” page, and when they do, you want to make sure that they find the details they need from you that showcase you in your best light.

Admin panel, activity log, and other features – Facebook will also add features to help you be more in control of profile activities. For example, you will be able to manage comments that you get, and get analytics. You can also enable the Track Friend Activity feature, which allows your visitors to see how their other friends are talking about you.

Make sure that before you go and switch to the new layout, you are ready to adjust to the new features. Before you switch, try out the new features and see how it works for you. You can do trials with your cover photo and other new additions before you launch your new profile.

As a personal brand, everything that you do and everything you show others makes an impression With the new Timeline, you can start building a community of both professionals and consumers. You are making it easier for yourself to attract and build relationships with others. Through this, you can build your brand’s reputation. People judge a brand by how they maintain their profiles. If you take the time to adjust to the new page layout, you can make it work to your advantage.