How to use Facebook’s Timeline Feature to Engage Citizens

Now that the Facebook Timeline is in place you may be wondering just how organizations, non-profits and local entities can engage with citizens through this new layout.  We’ve put together a few helpful hints for maneuvering in this new landscape:

Using Images to Represent Your Cause or Highlight A Campaign

Cover Image: Your new cover image is big and bold, stretching across the top of your page. Many organizations have taken this opportunity to use this space to display an image representative to their cause or use it to highlight a new campaign. This cover image looks best formatted at 851x315 pixels. You should note that this area cannot contain an actual advertisement or contact information, since it is purely visual. 

Profile Picture:  You will find this section to be pretty much the same except that it appears at the bottom left of your cover photo. This image looks best at 180x180 pixels.

Engage With Users and Set Your Profile Apart  

What you may have referred to as “apps” before are now Tabs. Appearing underneath your cover image will likely include Photos, Notes, Likes, Events and Videos. You can change the order in which these appear. Just look on the right of your Tabs for an arrow button that expands the tab view, then hover over the Tab you’re moving and click on the edit pencil. “Switch position with” will appear and all you need to do is click on the Tab you wish to switch with. You can have up to 12 Tabs. When the edit pencil appears as mentioned, click on it and look for the drop-down for “Edit Settings” The edit settings box from there will let you add a custom tab name, image, or remove the app.

The Tabs section is one of the best ways to engage with users and set your profile apart from all the others. As one example, the U.S. Army has chosen to display eight tabs including a “Heritage” Tab that currently features Asian Americans in the Army, Month of the Military Child, and their Nation Gives Thanks tab.

New Location for “Welcome Tab”

Where there used to be a “Designated Landing Page” there is now custom tab most likely called “Welcome.” Before the Timeline format, the City of Marietta, Georgia had a custom landing page asking users to “Like” their page and sign-up for e-mail updates, and subscribe to emergency alerts or news from City Hall. These opportunities still exist, they are just are just in a new spot.

Pin Your Most Important Content for 7 Days

“Pinning” is a buzzword these days as Pinterest is becoming more popular than ever. You can now “pin” a post to the top of your page and it will remain there for 7 days.

Faster Monitoring 

Were you using Facebook Insights before the Timeline format? If you monitored a Facebook page previously, you needed to wait more than a day to receive feedback on metrics. With the recent update, you’ll have the information between 5-10 minutes! This TechCrunch article goes into the details you need to use this actionable data to influence your next post and reach out more effectively to your community.