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Yesterday, Facebook’s Timeline format took over, turning all brand pages into the Timeline format. This change is mandatory on Facebook and the format is definitely a new, exciting way for brands and followers to interact.

The Timeline format will be a great way to encourage fans to add user-generated content, which ultimately will increase user engagement. Furthermore, brands can talk directly to consumers, so it’s a great opportunity for businesses to show off their brands in a humanized manner, with a personal touch. In order to find the most benefit out of this new Timeline format, you must understand its structure, as it can be an extremely useful marketing tool.

Here are just a few important factors to note about the Timeline to get your business prepared!

1. The Newly Constructed Wall
With the Timeline format, you will notice a more visually appealing style that allows brands to act like publishers. So, all the content a brand shares on the page should encourage followers to add and share their own content.

For mobile marketing in particular, this visual style will be hugely important. It follows in the footsteps of sites like Instagram and Pinterest, which found success though visual images. So, Facebook’s upgraded wall entices followers to share videos and photos. And any of this content that highlights a user engagement with the brand can go viral immediately, with the click of the Share button.

Additionally, the Timeline format has a Wikipedia factor to it. Important milestones or events regarding the brand will now be highlighted so that followers become more informed about the brand and have more of an incentive to share their favorite aspects of the brand.

2. The Bold Landing Page
With the Timeline, brands can post a prominent image on the façade of the Timeline to give fans a clear, distinct image that connects them to that brand. Businesses should choose a photo that embodies the heart of your brand, and clearly shows off your specific product or service.

This cover photo will be the banner image, and the profile picture will show up on the lower left side of the page. It’s important to write quality copy to present your brand in an exciting way to potential fans. And the more visual you can make your page, the more it will stand out and will gain more views!

3. New And Improved Tools
The Timeline format comes with new analytics tools, which will be a huge help in monitoring for page admins and brands. One unique tool is that any fan can directly message the brand. This is important because in the case of a consumer complaint, the consumer can send the complaint in a message to the brand, instead of posting it on the brand’s wall. This also adds more of a personal connection consumers can have with brands, as they can be heard by the brand as a real, individual person, and not just a customer.

Once you understand the format of the new Facebook Timeline, use it to your advantage and your consumer engagement will quickly increase!