Facebook Timeline for Brands is Here: 3 Reasons Not To Panic
If we were to gauge the state of the world by what a few technology columnists and just a handful of our Facebook friends and Twitter followers were saying, one would probably think that the apocalypse is here. That, shortly, a devastating series of plagues will be touching down on this world that we inhabit, and will be bringing complete destruction to everything that we have grown to know and love. Nothing will be the same.
Actually, you probably wouldn’t even think that if you’d been reading articles from some of the more prominent tech blogs. Overwhelmingly, journalists seem to think that the new Facebook brand pages will be beneficial. Like here. And here. Oh, and a timeline of social commerce. Whazzing!
On a serious note, Timeline for brand pages shouldn’t be feared by any businesses. Despite the new changes, Timeline is slated to be a hugely beneficial addition for every brand. Here are just a few reasons why businesses shouldn’t be freaking out over Facebook’s new Timeline pages.
1. Timelines Will Actually Be Improving Engagement Rates of (Smaller) Pages
Obviously, the aesthetic appeal to behind the Timeline is questionable. And, when Facebook Timeline was initially released for users, they found it scary. ‘That’s my life on there!’ they thought.
But for brands, it only stands as an even greater opportunity to increase engagement and interaction among its Facebook Fans. By granting businesses the opportunity to reflect on important milestones, highlight key events, and generally have more appealing, attractive pages, brand Timelines will be creating a more storybook-like approach for brands.
And the results, as many have pointed out, are very encouraging. One researcher, Simply Measured, found that engagement on posts after Timeline was introduced increased by 46% on average. Additionally, pages with less than 1 million fans received increases of over 60% in Facebook’s ‘people talking about this’ metric.
2. There’s Help Available
But because Timeline has already, sort of, been out for some time now for brands, fortunately, there are plenty of resources for those that are just becoming acclimated with this whole ‘Timeline’ thing. These should have you covered. If you’re still lost… well.
Further, Facebook’s own analytics have been revamped with the latest update, giving page owners much greater perspective on how individuals are interacting with their posts, and what they can do to help improve their own engagement rates.
3. Brands Now Control What They Want Users to See
Previously, Facebook pages would have simply been a stream of thought and consciousness. Rarely did they ever reflect on milestones or significant achievements, and brands weren’t really able to control the messages that they wanted to present to their viewers.
But with Timeline, they can, and many already have been. Taco Bell, for example, guides users through their Timeline by inviting them to view (and comment, like and share) all of their ‘1sts’, mostly focusing on new products.
By granting page owners the ability to reflect on milestones, significant events in a company’s history and, perhaps most importantly, the ability to pin events to the top of their pages, page owners can now be the guiding hand that Facebook brand pages never originally gave them the capability to be.
Now, just breathe. Facebook brand timelines are here to stay. But they aren’t here to destroy your business, or scare you into doing something that you don’t necessarily want to do. They are here to stay because Facebook and the brands that are present on that platform know that they work.
What’s your favorite feature about Timeline?