Cover Image | srtOnlineMedia.com

Archive for cover image

Facebook Single Column Timeline Design Rolls Out

December 20, 2012 / Mari Smith / No comments

As reported by TheNextWeb, among others, back on October 31st, 2012, Facebook began testing a new Timeline layout with a single column of posts.

And now, the new design just rolled out on my personal profile. Awesome!! No more eyeball ping-pong bouncing back and forth to read content. Presumably, Facebook is still conducting tests on certain profiles. But, my guess is this new format is imminent for many more users. I doubt it’ll take as long to switch from the old layout to the Timeline layout as that was a major overhaul. (Read comments on this new layout on my Facebook post here).

I’ve marked up a screenshot below with an overview of all the most prominent changes. If you know of any additional ones, please do share in the comments below! To view the image full size, just click on it.

Organize and hide profile sections

I rather like that you can now organize various sections of your profile as you wish. That is, except for About, Friends and Photos – they have to stay in place in that order. I was surprised to see many sections resurrected that I’d long forgotten about… like Books and Notes. Fortunately, it’s easy to hide sections that you don’t want displayed.

Tweak your cover image

It’s possible many lovely custom designed cover images will need to be altered slightly now given a) your name is now in white OVER the cover image, and b) your profile picture sits slightly lower. The overall dimensions of the cover image remain the same: 851px wide by 315px tall. However, the cut out for the profile photo is now 17px from the left edge and 64px from the bottom. (Previously, it was 23px from the left and 104px from the bottom; fan pages remain as those dimensions… for now!).

Followers

As reported by Mashable, among others, on December 5th, Facebook announced that it would be changing the label of “Subscribers” to “Followers.” Just makes more sense, really. A Follower can see your personal profile posts in their news feed that you publish to PUBLIC. (FYI, anyone can see any public content on your profile anyway. Following someone just means you’re more likely to see their posts in your news feed). Basically the same as a fan (Like) on your fan page. Except, ahem, it’s not 100% of your Followers or Fans (or Friends) who see your posts in their news feed. That’s where promoted posts come in. We’ll leave that for another blog post.

Highlights?

I am stumped by the new “Highlight” feature. Previously, starring a post would make it appear “double wide” across both columns. Now, the post just gets a little bookmark flag in the top right corner and nothing else seems to happen. My guess is there is a section coming called Highlights where all your starred posts would appear for quick access. Thoughts?

New single column Facebook Timeline layout – click to enlarge

Fan pages next?

I predict that before long, fan pages (Business Timelines) will also get the new single-column layout.

Got Facebook questions? Come join my community of over 482,000 Friends, Fans and ~~subscribers~~ Followers! Just click the ~~Subscribe~~ Follow and Like buttons below to connect with me on Facebook!

Search please!

I don’t know about you, but my most wished-for feature now is a rock solid SEARCH… and not necessarily for Facebook sitewide (though that’ll be nice when it comes), but I’m talking about the ability to search for content on my fan page and others’ fan pages. You know, like a good search feature on every blog on the web?? Just sayin!

Do you have the new single-column Facebook Timeline layout yet? (Personal profile). Whether you have the new design or not, what are your thoughts on the features (as illustrated in the screenshot above)? Please share below:

Category: cover image, facebook, Facebook Improvements, facebook personal profile, facebook search, Facebook Timeline, Facebook Tips, highlight post, mari smith, single column facebook timeline layout, timeline design, timeline layout /

Win A Facebook Marketing Makeover: New Facebook Contest

May 10, 2012 / Mari Smith / No comments

To celebrate the release of my newest Facebook marketing book - Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, Second Edition - coauthored with Chris Treadaway, I just launched a fun contest on my Facebook fan page! The grand prize is a “Facebook Marketing Makeover” worth $1,000.

Complying with Facebook’s Contest Rules

As you may know, Facebook has strict rules around running contests on fan pages. The Promotions Guidelines have changed over the years and have, in fact, become more simplified. The main thing to know is that you must use a third party app when administering any type of promotion (contest, drawing, competition, or sweepstakes) on your fan page. Fortunately, there are several excellent Facebook contest apps to choose from – two of my favorites are Strutta and Wildfire. For a list of other apps plus more on the rules, see my popular guest post here on SocialMediaExaminer.com

How do you know if your promotion needs to abide by Facebook’s terms? ANY time you are selecting one or more winners, your promotion falls into the category to which Facebook’s rules apply. If, however, you’re doing a giveaway such as a free ebook or coupon code and EVERYONE gets one, then that’s just fine and you can promote that on your wall or a tab.

My first Facebook Contest – “The Great Facebook Timeline Cover Image Contest!”

I’ve been active on Facebook for exactly five years now. And, this is my FIRST ever contest – how exciting! Like millions of other business owners out there, I had great ideas for contests over the years but always got stopped at four things: 1) selecting the right app with the right elements, 2) creating the right look and feel and all the brand assets, 3) crafting a compelling contest with a great prize, and 4) ensuring the entry requirements are simple, and easily understood. Plus, as I’m sure you know, it’s never a case of “if you build it, they will come.” We need to get out there and let people know about the contest!

Facebook contest app, Strutta

I’ve had a great relationship with the good peeps at Strutta for several years. So, now that I finally decided to launch my first Facebook contest, I teamed up with Strutta and they have provided spectacular customer support and guidance! Each step of the way, in short order, CEO Ben Pickering and his dynamite team worked with my team to create a striking campaign. My team and I have learned a LOT along the way and I’ll be publishing a follow up post with results and recommendations for running your own successful Facebook promotion.

Meantime, my first contest is underway now and entry is real simple: users upload a Timeline cover image from their personal profile, but ideally from their fan page. Anyone can vote for their favorite entry. I will be selecting the winner from the top ten entries with the most votes.

The grand prize is a free ticket to my next online training course: Facebook Money Mastery which starts on June 5th plus a personal social media critique – we’re calling the combo package a Facebook Marketing Makeover and it’s worth $1,000! Three runner up prizes include personalized signed copies of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day – Second Edition.

Go submit your entry now – and good luck!

Important notes for entrants:

I needed to add in the following points after the contest was live – it’s amazing what happens when you launch something and think it’s crystal clear… then things come up that need to be addressed. It’s all good though, like I say, I’ll be sharing a follow up post with my blog readers on all the do’s and dont’s on how to create a killer Facebook contest!

Your cover image *must* comply with Facebook’s guidelines: No contact information, no calls to action, and no arrows pointing to Facebook features such as the Like button. If you submit an entry that does not comply with Facebook’s terms, we may contact you privately and suggest that you revise your cover image and re-submit. (This one just makes sense; several of my fans brought it up on a wall post so I added this line in. Obviously, I cannot select a winning cover image that clearly breaks Facebook’s cover image rules!)
You *can* submit cover images from your profile and/or fan page. We are looking for cover images that are creative, striking, different, unusual, clever, or bold, and/or that creatively workaround Facebook’s terms but still comply.
If your cover image has been designed to incorporate the profile picture as well, you can take a screenshot of the combined cover image + profile image and then upload that combo image as your entry. (This was another point that a fan brought up. Some cover images have been cleverly designed with a seamless combo image where the cover image by itself doesn’t quite make sense, e.g. Fanta‘s fan page.)
When selecting an image to enter, the contest app gives you the option to choose a photo from your Facebook album. The way Facebook works is you can only choose from your personal profile photo albums. To select an image you’ve previously uploaded to your fan page, you’ll need to submit by uploading from your computer. (I had to add this one in, because the way the Strutta photo contest is set up by default, users can select photos from their photo albums… BUT that means their personal profile photos load up from which to select images, not their fan page albums. To submit a fan page cover image, users need to upload from their computer.)

NEWSFLASH! My last Facebook marketing webinar back in January was a huge hit with over 15,000 registrants. It’s time for an update with all the myriad changes on Facebook in the past four months! I’m offering another free Facebook marketing webinar coming up on May 15 at noon PST – 10 ESSENTIAL Facebook Money-Making ‘Techie’ Tips. PLUS, it includes my latest 20-page special report 5 Fantastic Ways To Build A NEW Facebook Marketing Channel … with 250,000 Subscribers! Just pop your name and email below if you’d like instant access to the report and I’ll save you a seat on the webinar (if you can’t join us live, I’ll send you the replay anyway!)

Category: chris treadaway, cover image, facebook contest, facebook contest rules, Facebook Fan Pages, facebook for business, facebook marketing, Facebook Marketing: An Hour a Day, facebook money mastery, facebook promotions, facebook promotions guidelines, Facebook Timeline, Facebook Tips, mari smith, photo contest /

Facebook Groups Get A New Design — With Cover Image

February 23, 2012 / Mari Smith / No comments

The din of excitement about Facebook Timeline for Pages might be drowning out any news about a new look for Facebook Groups! InsideFacebook.com first announced this change on February 2nd, showing this group with the new design. But, I didn’t see or hear much more about it. Until now!

It seems Facebook has been testing this feature for the past couple of weeks. And now, all Groups just got the new upgrade!

One of my Facebook fans from Slovakia posted on my wall that his group had the new design on February 16th. See screenshot below – click to view full size:

Facebook Groups - New Design With Cover Image

Group Admins can choose from a large cover image or leave the default member photo montage.

Member Photo Montage

The default view for the top of Groups is a showcase of members with a nifty interactive photo strip. The member images are transparent but when you hover over the photo strip, full color is restored and you can see the members’ names as you hover over individual photos. Click on any photo to go to that person’s Timeline. (Note that doing so opens in the same window; to open in a new window/tab, right click on any member photo first).

The most recently active members are randomly displayed each time you visit your Groups. Members of my largest and most active group (860+ members), tested this out a fair bit and it’s clear that the most recently active members get “first dibs” on the photo strip.

From the screenshot above for the Electricity Room’s Group (taken last week), the photo montage is two rows of 16 photos. However, it seems now the default is a single row with 8 images, as shown below:

Group members and Admins will see this message when first visiting their Groups.

I suspect Facebook ran some tests with the 32 images and opted for 8 instead. Perhaps faster load time?

Now, given the fact Facebook clearly has the technology to create this cool header with a montage of members that is fully interactive, I’m wondering if this could be a preview of coming attractions in other areas of Facebook? Like Events? Fan Pages?

Hmm! HOW EXCITING!! Listen up fan page owners: could you imagine the power of having a dynamic display of your fans at the top of your page? Your fans would keep coming back to ensure their face/avatar was displayed at the top. Of course, I would like to see the option to have both a branded banner (narrow is fine!) and a dynamic display of fans.

Large Cover Image!

Guess what? Just like personal Timelines, Group admins can now select from a large “cover” image instead of the member photo montage.

The cover image dimensions are ~~802 pixels wide by 200 pixels high~~ UPDATE: as of March 30, the new banner dimensions are 801 x 250 px (slightly smaller than the personal and page Timeline cover images which are 851 x 315). ~~However, note that the Group cover image tucks behind the group’s opaque “info bar,” so I recommend leaving a strip at the bottom 30 pixels high without any writing.~~

Facebook Group - Admins can add a large Cover Image

There is one oddity to be aware of: in some groups, members can upload their own cover image which displaces the current one or replaces the member photo montage. I’m certain this is simply a bug with some groups, vs. a feature setting. I hunted high and low for such a setting, but it doesn’t exist. I’ll keep you posted on what my members and I discover.

Meantime, do you have this new group layout on your Facebook groups yet? Do you like it? Have you chosen to go with a banner or leave the dynamic member photo strip in place?

And, with the upcoming announcement of Timeline for Pages, what features do you hope to see? Let me know in the comments below!

Send me a tweet now to let me know you read this post! Click the button below

Tweet to @MariSmith

Subscribe to my Timeline public updates here:

Want to boost your Facebook marketing? Come join me and more than 1,300 business owners, professionals, and fellow marketers from around the world on this groundbreaking new 8-part Facebook training course, EXTREME FANBASE GROWTH™: 21 Insanely Effective Ways To Expand Your Facebook Impact. All modules are recorded; the course launched this week but you can quickly catch up! We also have a very active Facebook peer-support group too – awesome for networking.

Category: cover image, electricity room, extreme fanbase growth, facebook changes, facebook fan page, facebook for business, Facebook Groups, Facebook Timeline, Facebook Tips, fan page, mari smith, timeline for pages /

Coca-Cola Testing Facebook Timeline Brand Page?

February 17, 2012 / Mari Smith / No comments

Facebook’s Timeline design for Pages is coming very soon! As mentioned in this post, rumor has it that Facebook will be announcing Timeline for Pages at the first ever Facebook Marketing Conference on February 29th in NYC. (The conference is invite-only, but save the date as the event will be livestreamed! Details here.)

Mockup - Coca-Cola Facebook Timeline Brand Page (as featured on Mashable.com)

The buzz is building about the imminent announcement of this much-awaited feature. Well, I should say, some businesses and brands are eagerly awaiting this overhaul to fan pages! Many of us are waiting with bated breath to see how the new Timeline design will affect a) custom landing tabs, and b) apps. Not to mention the split-wall, and whether fan engagement and EdgeRank will be impacted.

I’m certain the new page design will have the attractive large cover image. And it’s likely that apps will be displayed in ‘boxes’ at the top right of the Timeline design, similar to the personal Timelines. I certainly hope that we can still drive visitors and fans to custom landing tabs/areas.

As for when the rollout will happen, my guess is that major brands and large businesses will get the new design first, and after that it could take two to three months before all pages have access to the new Timeline format. But, who knows? Facebook doesn’t seem to be revealing much yet! Given there are over 845 Million user profiles vs. 20 Million fan pages with more than 30 fans, the Timeline rollout for Pages could happen much, much quicker than it is for profiles!

Image credit: Coca-Cola Facebook Timeline Brand Page by Ryan Kennedy, as featured on Mashable.com.

Does Coca-Cola have access to its Timeline Page now?

Meanwhile, check out this cool discovery — it appears that Coca-Cola is testing its new Timeline Brand Page! As you can see from the screenshot below, discovered in the News Feed today (February 16th when this post was written) by one of my fans:

“Coca-Cola added an update to 1951 to their timeline.”

Coca-Cola Testing a Timeline for Pages Update!

1951?? Yes, as AdAge pointed out, with the new Timeline for Pages, brands will be able to go back in time to the date the company was founded to add all manner of updates. Now that’s cool! I’m personally not so keen to go back in time to add my own baby photos, first word, first kiss, first drink yada yada. Lol! All of that is just TMI, IMHO! But for business? Hmm, let’s get the creativity going!

Special thanks to my Facebook friend, Jamie Dolan for the screenshot and headsup on Coca-Cola’s Timeline test!

By the way, what’s interesting is – despite the serious amount of engagement on this post within 4 minutes – Coca-Cola deleted the post shortly after. Perhaps it wasn’t meant to go live? The 37 shares also got nixed when Coca-Cola deleted the original post.

So, it does indeed seem that Facebook Timeline Brand Pages are right around the corner! Sooner than February 29th. Check out this great post by my friends over at SimplyZesty for ideas on how to get prepared now for your own business Timeline.