Any business looking to create a better connection and have more influence with their audience on Facebook will be pleased with what they find in the new Timeline for Pages. Allowing us as business owners to better share what we offer to potential customers is exactly what we need and what this new look offers. And when coupled with the right marketing strategy, Facebook can drive a tremendous amount of traffic to your website ultimately leading to more business for you. For many businesses, Facebook Pages IS the leading referrer of traffic to their website and that is marketing potential that can’t be ignored.

You can choose to publish Timeline now on your Page, getting a head start on navigating and using its new features or you can wait for Facebook to automatically change it for you on March 30, 2012. If you are feeling less than excited about the thought of learning something new, set a goal to get used to working with these 5 key features first. You will soon see how this new look and feel allows you to better showcase your business and interact with your audience than the previous layout.

#1 Upload Your Big Cover Image

You can now add a huge image at the top of your Timeline called a Cover Image. This is separate from your Facebook Page Profile picture and is a great way for your audience to learn more about your business. A good rule of thumb for businesses that don’t have an established identity online like some of the bigger more recognizable brands is to consider that your audience is just now finding out about your business. Now choose an image that paints a picture for them.

     Ideas for Your Cover Image

• Your products
• Customers interacting with your products
• You displaying your services
• Customers receiving your services

Important to know: There are rules for what can’t be on your cover image. For instance, you can’t have price information or discounts. You also can’t put ‘Like’ or ‘Share’ references or have any contact information. Contact info goes in the ‘About’ section, which is now displayed more prominently.

# 2 Star It

You’ll notice there is now a star in the top right corner of posts. When clicked, it expands the post to full size.

Ideas for What to Star

• Positive comments shared by your audience about your business
• Posts made by your page or audience that you feel others would benefit from

# 3 Pin it

You can also now pin posts shared by your page, moving it to the top of your timeline. It will stay up there for 7 days so if you have something you want your audience to see first and foremost, click the little pencil icon then choose ‘pin to top.’

Ideas for What to Pin

• A business related event you want everyone to attend
• Specials and promotions you are having
• New faces (new hires) your customers can expect to see or hear from

 Important to know: Your audience cannot pin posts. Only posts made by your page can be pinned.

#4 Create Milestones

Milestones is definitely a feature you’ll want to take advantage of. You can now highlight any import business events and achievements by clicking the Milestone icon in the sharing tool at the top of your Page’s Timeline. This allows you to mark the date, location, details and choose a photo for your Milestone. Your Milestone will then place itself in the appropriate spot on your Timeline according to the date it occurred. Creating Milestones are a great way for you to build your business reputation online.

Ideas for Milestones

• When your business was founded
• Anniversaries
• New product or service launches
• Any recognition or awards your business has received

#5  Private Messaging

The option to Message privately is perhaps the best new feature for Facebook pages Timeline. Your audience can now message your business privately rather than posting on your Timeline publicly. This is a great opportunity to address any specific questions or concerns a customer may have and to develop a better relationship with a potential customer by addressing them one on one.

Important to know: This feature can be turned on or off. If you choose to have this feature on, you’ll want to manage your messages just as you would any posts on your Timeline by your audience. Make it a priority to keep up with this new form of audience communication.

Connect with Perfect Wave Marketing on our Timeline.

Recently, I was a guest speaker for an online workshop whose attendees were students about to graduate with a yoga teacher certification. After graduation they could work for a yoga studio, travel around the world being guest yoga teachers or start their own yoga studio. Even if they decide to work for an existing yoga studio, they will still need to know how they can reach their clients in today’s competitive social marketing environment.

I put together 5 best practice rules for them to apply to their strategy. These rules can be used by any business owner out there about to start their social media marketing journey. Having a clear strategy with goals will keep you on track from the beginning. When you know whats working to help you reach the goals you established from jump,  you can put more effort into the direction that is bringing you results.

1. Establish Goals

Before starting your social media marketing, ask yourself this:

What do you hope to accomplish by creating a social network account for your business?

Are you hoping to increase business identity?

Increase customer knowledge about your products?

Introduce a new online store?

2. Pick the right person for the job

The perfect person to spear head your social media marketing efforts is crucial. This person could already be working for you (or maybe you are a business of one, so this person is you). Remember, any successful marketing strategy involves marketing expertise, time and commitment…so make sure you can allot this person the necessary hours and education to get the job done right. With a successful strategy, there is no limit to the amount of new customer relationships you will build and sales you will make.

3. Provide Fresh Content

Tell me something I don’t know…like what’s new at your business and in your own words. Posts of promotions are great but not when it is just that. What can you tell me about your products and services so that I feel educated about making a purchase? What can you tell me about the people (you) I may potentially be doing business with?

4. Talk With Not At

Whether it’s on Facebook or YouTube, respond to your followers that take the time to interact with you. After all, the more people commenting and interacting with your business online, the further your reach. And it is, in my opinion, the golden rule of how businesses should socially interact with their followers.

5. Track, Track, Track

There are great methods out there of tracking and measuring your social media marketing efforts. Find the ones that are right for you and then stay current on their advances. New social media tools come up often and it is important to remember that once they are up, they will evolve. Just because one set of rules exist today on a social network, doesn’t mean that they will exist tomorrow. If you dive into social media to market your business, take the time to stay on top of what is current (or hire the right person for the job) so that you will always be using the best social tools out there!