It seems like just the other day I was giving instructions on how to make a great Facebook Page Profile Image. Well that was short lived advice because Facebook is now changing Facebook Business Pages and, among other changes, they will include a Timeline and cover photo, much like the recent changes to our Personal Profiles.

Before you had a profile photo on your Facebook Page that was 180 pixels wide and could be five times as long. Now that will go back to being a 180 pixel square. Then you will add a “cover” image to the top of the page that is  851 pixels wide and 315 pixels tall. This will push your content down on the page but I believe it offers a better branding opportunity that the old style Pages did. Here is my new Page Cover:

 It is against Facebook’s terms of service for you to have the Cover be a call to action or to put addresses or phone numbers that should instead be in the about section.  And you can’t use it to cajole people into Liking your page.

In addition to adding the Cover photo the Business Pages will also change to use the Timeline structure. There is a significant change coming with the Timeline enabling you to make certain Status Updates “sticky” — this allows you to attach an important update to appear at the top of Timeline for a full week. They say you are  “pinning” it to the top of the Timeline. To pin an update, post it to Timeline, then select the pencil icon in the upper-right corner of your post, followed by “Pin to top” in the drop-down menu.

Much like a WordPress “sticky post”, this Pin it feature is helpful if you have a particular notice that you want front and center for visitors to see.

You have until the end of March to make the changes before they will be foisted upon us all. What do you think about it?

Last week, I gave you tips on starting your Facebook Page and putting up a great profile photo. So now that you have a Facebook Page what in the world are you going to do with it?

1. Have your blog posts show up your Facebook Page
I am assuming that you have a blog. You do, don’t you?  You always want your best content on your blog. But you also want it to be linked to on your Facebook Page. Write your blog posts and then use the Facebook App, RSS Graffiti, to have your posts show up on your Page. That way, even if you don’t do anything else, you will have content on your Facebook Page. To set-up RSS Graffiti, sign into Facebook. Then go to the RSS Graffiti Facebook Page. From here, you have to authorize it and then add a feed. If you have a WordPress website, the url for the feed will be:  http://yoursitename.com/feed. You should find your new posts showing up there.

2. Be Findable
Make sure your hyper-linked web address is the first line of the About Box under your Page profile. Don’t make people have to select “More” to find it, because they won’t.  Simply find the About Box and click to  “Edit”. Then type: Find us at: “your website url” beginning with http://. You can then say something about your business.

3. Get Some Conversation Going
I have to admit that I have not been the most diligent about having fresh content on my Facebook Page. This week I am turning over a new leaf. I know that a Facebook Page will get visited more when there are people interacting with it. Asking questions is a good way to get this going. Yesterday, I started a new thing on my page and asked people if they had a question about their website, to send it in with their URL, and I along with other people will give them feedback. I was pleased that this morning when I went to the site, people had indeed taken me up on the offer. I am looking forward to taking a look at their issues and giving my two cents. [Read more...]

If you don’t have a Facebook business page and you have a business, what are you waiting for? Please don’t be one of those people who post their business updates to their personal page and aren’t personal.  If you need to get started, here is a PDF from Facebook called, Building Your Presence with Facebook Pages that should give you some guidance.

If you do have a page, maybe it’s time to show it some love. First off, make sure you have filled out everything you can in order to tell people about your business.  Go to your page and click on the “edit info” link on the very top. You will see “basic information,” click that to start editing.  Many people who find their way to your page may not know your business so be thorough and don’t forget the obvious things.

Another thing that is important, if you’d like people to find you, is to claim your name. When you first start a page you will be given a URL that includes http://facebook.com and a bunch of numbers. You can change this. At one time you had to have 25 “likes” to do this, but Facebook will let you do it once without having the 25 fans first. While you are in the “Edit” page mode, look to the left and select “Resources.” Then on the right, one of the selections will be “Select a user name”. Choose that, and select a name. It should be a short version of your business name if it is available. My biz name,  newtricks was not available, so I chose:  newtrickswebdesign. [Read more...]

The other night I was at a party and some friends were complaining about some Facebook apps that post things on yours and your friend’s Facebook sites without your exact permission. It is enough to drive a person crazy. But not to worry. You can take care of it through your privacy settings so that you don’t annoy everyone.

Log-in to your Facebook account and go to your profile. There is a blue bar at the top of the page. Your profile photo and name is on the right hand side of the bar and to the left of that you will see the word home. Click “Home” to get a drop-down menu and select “Privacy Settings”.

One of the selections on the page is called “Apps and Websites” If you select the option to “Edit Settings” you can control what gets shared by your games and apps.

Find the option, “Apps You Use” and select “Edit Settings”. This will show all of the apps you have installed over your years of being on Facebook. [Read more...]

If you are a Facebook power-user, you will certainly want to jump on this. Now you can use a new Social Backup service, from SOS Online Backup, to backup all of your Facebook data. If you’re like most Facebook users, you have updated, uploaded, and shared important media and content. Should anything happen to the security of your Facebook account, you will want to have a backup.

The new app, from SOS Online Backup, allows you to back up your data right from Facebook. The backup is free up to 5GB, and you can choose to backup all or just some of your data to include wall posts, messages, information about your friends, and your photo albums.

It is perfect for users who are primarily concerned about the availability of uploaded photos that may no longer exist on their desktops. You can also use SOS Social Backup to restore your profile from a previous version, which is useful in the event your account is compromised and then recovered, as well as see what your profile looked like during a backup point.

Users of SOS Social Backup can also convert friends information into .vcf Outlook contact files. There is one catch to this. Your friends have to have selected the privacy setting on their e-mail information that allows their friends to download their contact information. This was a feature Facebook added this summer, but people are unlikely to even know about this setting, much less have selected it. So too bad if you want to add your friends to your contact list. Facebook has us over a barrel, but is making it seem like it is up to your friends.

According to SOS Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Ken Shaw, backup services for Gmail and Twitter will be available from SOS Social Backup soon.