I’ll be honest. When I first encountered the new Facebook Timeline layout, I hated it. I was never a MySpace user, so I wasn’t one of those who decried their apparent similarities. I simply didn’t see much improvement with the new design beyond bigger graphics and a more scrolling layout. One of which, the cover photo, is the focus of this post.
With Facebook’s rules and regulations regarding a page’s cover photo usage, it begs the question: how is the cover photo different from your standard run-of-the-mill web banner? In fact, how is it better? Answer: it isn’t, unless you know how to use the opportunity given.
The beauty of brands on Facebook is that you have a unique opportunity to interact directly with an audience and get real-time interaction and feedback. You can engage with them. Build brand awareness. Deliver customer service. Generate new business opportunities. Foster thought leadership. These and several other iterations of the same well-worn concepts on using Facebook for business. So what does the cover photo have to do with any of that?
Facebook and Facebook marketers would have you believe that your cover photo is now the “end-all-be-all” of your Facebook Timeline. Read through any number of articles regarding the change to Timeline or attend a webinar on Timeline best practices and you’re bound to be smacked over the head with a top-of-the-list reminder that your cover photo is IMPORTANT. And it is. But, it’s still a photo and the real best practice is to think about how the cover photo can be used to differentiate your brand in an innovative way on a social platform.
Slapping a photo of your company headquarters or some variation of your logo sized for the space allotment is one fill-in-the-blank approach, but it isn’t a very interesting one. And importantly, nothing about that photo selection references that this is your Facebook page and not just another corporate website. What about it is social after all?
Since all company pages just converted to Facebook Timeline last Friday, we’re still seeing how they’re adapting. We’re still looking for innovative uses. I’d recommend looking at VH1’s Facebook page where they’ve played on the “milestone” and “Timeline” piece of the new layout in their cover photo by displaying musical highlights throughout the years. I’d also recommend checking out the Verizon Wireless Facebook page where they’ve integrated fans’ photos taken with Verizon phones. Or, if you’re working in the B2B space like me, take a closer look at what SAP implied in their wordless and otherwise very simple cover photo. And finally, I had to include one particularly spot-on example from Brunner Ad Agency. Nicely done all.
Taking these examples into account, the one piece of advice I’d impart on those thinking about their own Facebook cover photos is to remember that Facebook is first and foremost about people. And people, it’s been said countless times, engage with other people, not faceless companies or brands.
Don’t be afraid to break away from your stock photography and do something creative and personable! Make your cover photo about your company or brand delivering on its promise to your target audience. Remind them why they care. Remind them- in that three-second span of time that it takes them to visit your Facebook page and see your new cover photo- why they should “like” you.
Social Outlier 