As it has provided a platform where you can listen, ask, answer, innovate and sell, Facebook has chanced the way you connect and communicate with your customers. However, because the social networks go beyond simple communication, the marketing trends nowadays indicate that consumers are mostly interested in how companies can relate to them. Generally speaking, relating to customers is a two-fold process that entails user association with the brand’s experiences in the right environment. And this is exactly how business owners should view the Facebook Timeline changes. Let’s explore the effects of Timeline in today’s online marketing arena!
The new facade
Facebook’s new face should be perceived as providing numerous options for the company’s self-expression. In other words, presenting the business’s history via the mileage system is great opportunity to humanize the brand by associating it with friendly faces, rather than an anonymous corporation as it is currently perceived by the general public.
Essentially, when a company posts behind-the-scenes photos and offers exclusive promotions and updates to its customers, it encourages them to interact and feel that they can relate to that corporation. Therefore, if marketers manage to create an interesting story around the company over time, this will prove very useful in stimulating conversation around their achievements.
Overall, the marketers’ toughest job is to select the most appropriate cover photo that best suits the business and visible tabs. Choosing the cover photo is a very sensitive task for companies as this is the first thing the users will see. In short, it must be representative and in accordance with the ideas promoted by the business. Unlike the old Facebook interface, the new display only allows three or four above the tab applications. Consequentially, companies are advised to constantly modify the tabs so that they reflect their current popular objects and projects.
Landing page
As you probably knew, the new Timeline does not permit you to set a default landing page anymore. However, many voices in the SEO field claim that the new facade is especially designed for business purposes. For instance, the possibility to add top messages in the Timeline is feature most companies can benefit from. Because they are among the first thing the audience make visual contact with, marketers predict that the role of Facebook ads for businesses will become more important in the future. In other words, the default landing page will be replaced with a more efficient method of controlling the users’ experience. This new approach implies that users will be directly sent to the applications or pages associated with the company’s marketing campaign.
Private messages
Perhaps the biggest perk brought by Facebook Timeline is the possibility to send and receive private messages from users which cannot be turned off with privacy settings. From the marketer’s perspective, this inevitably means a great opportunity to incorporate more customer inquiries. However, filling the wall with boring content does not mean you are interacting with your customers and will be perceived negatively by users. As a consequence, marketers should consider the one-on-one approach: reach out to the customers and answer their individual questions as much as time permits you.
