After much speculation and anticipation, Facebook officially announced February 29th at the Facebook Marketing Conference held in New York that current fan/ brand pages as we know it will soon change to the Timeline layout. Business page admins have been notified of this radical change via a dropdown message within all Facebook accounts. The good news is that all brand pages now have the unique ability to “preview” the new Timeline layout through March 30th prior to “publishing” the final Timeline appearance.

Keep in mind, all brand pages will automatically switch to the Timeline layout on March 30th, whether you manually published or not. EYStudios is here to ensure you are not only prepared but that your Timeline design makes an impactful impression on your customers and fans. Contact your Account Manager to ensure your Timeline is fully customized prior to the roll over March 30th.

I’ve outlined below each of the three (3) core branding elements present in the new Timeline layout.


1. Cover Photo:

This 851 x 315 graphic area drastically changes the way brands engage customers and build their fan base. The cover photo should capture the essence of your brand’s identity without serving as a means of direct promotion. Your new cover photo will now serve as the first branded element customers encounter when visiting your Timeline; therefore, it’s paramount this graphic is unique to your brand and/or services.

Facebook has established a clear business page cover photo policy outlining specific restrictions. Below you will find the full list:


• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section
• References to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

2. Profile Picture:

Profile pictures will now display as 180 x 180 on your Timeline and scale down to a 32 x 32 thumbnail when posting on Facebook. Due to the new scaled down size, businesses no longer have the luxury of utilizing profile pictures as another means of promotion. You’ll notice the profile picture location has slightly changed as well, now appearing over the cover photo’s far left corner. While there are no current Profile Picture content restrictions, remember the purpose of your profile picture is to clearly represent your brand or company via your logo at minimum.

3. App Tab Images or “Views and Apps”:

The new Timeline layout repositions custom app tabs from the left column to a more prominent location directly below the cover photo. Business pages have the ability to determine the order of up to (3) custom tabs with except to the default “Photos” app image. “Photos” will always appear in the first “Views and Apps” slot as set by Facebook. Due to the new layout, it’s more imperative than ever that your custom app images drive customers to existing “Home”, “Welcome”, or “Store” landing pages. Custom landing pages remain as the primary outlet for businesses to deliver a tailored brand experience that engages customers through call-to-actions such as “Join our Newsletter” or “Shop our Store” graphics. The opportunities for landing page customization are endless, especially now that landing pages can be up to 810 px wide. We’d be glad to offer custom landing page design recommendations for your brand. Please contact us here.

In addition to familiarizing yourself with the new Timeline aesthetic layout, be sure to also pay close attention to how Timeline will ultimately alter your current Facebook strategy. Timeline is centered on building more of a connection with your customers and fans through rich, visual content as well as through telling your brand story by sharing “Milestone” moments. Milestones can be manually entered to your Timeline according to date, year, title and picture. We recommend businesses focus more on sharing content and your authentic brand story and less on conversations and heavy selling initiatives in order to fully optimize your Timeline brand page.

Speaking of sharing rich and visual content, businesses can now promote their best stories or posts by hovering over a post and selecting the star icon to “highlight” the post. When a post is highlighted, it will change from appearing in the left or right column to now a full width post that will undoubtedly enhance the post’s visibility. You can also “Pin” a post to the top of your Timeline for up to seven (7) days by hovering over the post and selecting the pencil icon. Running an exclusive promotion on your site? Pin the story to your Timeline to ensure each time a customer lands on your page, the first post seen is your pinned promotion above all existing posts.

Get your fully customized Facebook Business Timeline before the switch today! Our team of experts will help you through the entire process of adjusting your brand presence to the new layout. Check out recent Business Timeline designs here and here!









P.S. Get the Pinterest 'Pin it' and 'Follow' Buttons for your store. Also, be sure to read my recent Pinterest blog posts "What is Pinterest and How to Set up a Brand Profile” and "How to Optimize Pinterest for your Business” to stay ahead of the competition.