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As you may know already, Facebook is now offering Timeline for Facebook Pages.Can this be good for better branding your page??

The real question at the time was, why wasn't Timeline offered for Facebook Pages? Well, if you haven't noticed already, there's an announcement on the top of your page that they are now going to make the permanent changes by the end of this month (March 30th, 2012).

Here's my personal input on having the Timeline offered for Facebook Pages which will be listed below of the pros and cons about the new Facebook Page layout.

I won't write really long articles as usual and try to keep them brief. So below is the pros and cons of having the new Facebook Timeline feature for pages, and how this can be beneficial for businesses.

Advantages

Facebook Cover Photo - add visually stunning images to appeal and attract new users while amusing your current ones.

Timeline - It can get really annoying when posting things on your page. Sometimes I just hate the fact that I have to keep scrolling down to view all updates on one of my interests/likes. Utilizing a 2 column feature while having dates to jump to really organizes things and covers more grounds.

Private Messaging - I wouldn't say this is directly related to Facebook Timeline addition, but more of a new feature. This feature basically lets users directly from Facebook Pages message privately with each other.

Disadvantages

The biggest thing most will notice is the landing tabs application. This pretty much is gone now and may kill marketing significantly. I can't imagine what the creators feel about this, since I 'm assuming they were using this to their advantage to earn revenue.  Now I can't say from certain, but sources have said that, the non-fan welcome page that was previewed before liking the page only produced 10% of page app traffic. The 90% were mainly from published ads or links which didn't really require the benefits of having the landing tabs.

Before I conclude this article, I want to point out that having a great cover photo to market your page can be a great asset. However, there are some guidelines and rules upon what you put on the cover photo. Some of the things they won't allow is your cover photo saying something such as, "like us!" "buy from here" "big sale 25% off!" any form of asking users to download from your site, or contact information such as a phone number or website address.

One of the biggest talks lately has been Pinterest. It has been talked about recently over and over again, why? It's the fastest growing social community site in history. The addiction to Pinterest is just overwhelming. It's easy to use and it's more friendly than using Tumblr. Some of the late gamers jumping on now are businesses. What they don't realize is that it caters towards online stores! Really easy and intuitive. It's also a bonus for SEO which is why some of the key players in the marketing industry have utilized this powerful growing social site before it's too late.

Everyday ModSession searches for the next popular social media site, yes...this is it everyone. It can't really get any easier than this for now. I'm sure it will only continue to improve as Pinterest tries to keep up with the popular demand.

Currently, the only way to join Pinterest is to be on a waiting list. Typically, it takes about 1-2 weeks to get accepted from what I remember. However, once accepted, you will be able to send invites to other friends so they don't have to painfully wait to get their Pin-the-board fix.

For businesses, learn to accomplish the best SEO on Pinterest as well as your general interaction with your other social media networks. Treat Pinterest the same as you would with Twitter, Facebook, G+ or Tumblr and you will gain the followers you need in no time.

So everyday I talk about Google+ and how it's great, the next big social networking site, taking over the world...

The responses I get from people? "FAIL."

Ok, sure I hear them, and I'll even let it slide that for regular end users who have tried or heard about Google+ will believe that it's another failed product. Facebook was able to create a community by bringing in end users such as yourself by first originating a small niche through college students. Eventually it evolved by establishing a network of friends, family, business people to connect with each other, this is how a typical social networking site usually works you could say. Now, Google+ the way I see it, the hype will work backwards....what do I mean by that? Because Google is dubbed the king of search engines, businesses will be the ones who will create the network for the end users. This is such a great opportunity for businesses to jump on the bandwagon and create a Google+ Page. I don't mean a profile, I'm referring to an actual page (much like Facebook's fan page).  The first advantage and probably the biggest right now is that Google+ can be found on search results. I personally experimented a few pages myself and the results are there. I don't want to bore too much about this article explaining in specific details so I'll just list out why it will help.

So this has been known for some time now that Facebook Timline will eventually convert. However, in the next few weeks, Facebook has announced that it will be a mandatory change. I managed to try it out about a month or so ago and have gotten used to it already. I don't have an imagination of a kid like I used to, so I figure I search to see if anyone has already designed some creative cover photos. You can definitely find some unique ones as I just combined my main profile picture to the cover photo to look like one full picture. I also photoshopped some other social network sites I have and small info about my other sites (I basically spammed myself on the cover photo - hint good way to promote yourself/biz *cough*).

Now, there has been rumors that Facebook will lose a lot of users because of this change, and how they have this whole 'mandatory' will make a huge impact. I understand that users are upset, but for a significant amount of people to quit Facebook? I highly doubt it. People will adapt, forgive and forget. Unless......Google+ somehow snagged Facebook users (like how Facebook did with MySpace ) Who knows!

So here's my personal take on some pro's and con's with Facebook's Timeline.

It's 2012, and you own a business and wonder why your competitors are doing a lot better. Well, there can be numerous factors such as, location, quality, service, price, reputation, etc. So let's say you feel you are still perplexed in why they're doing better after comparing and deciding that you and 'Joe' (we'll call the competitor Joe) are very much alike. The next question you can ask yourself is, does Joe get the word out better? If so, how does he do it? Ask yourself this, do you have a Facebook page, Twitter account, LinkedIn or maybe even Google+? If you say yes, you're off to a good start, but we'll get to that part later. If you said, "no" or "not really,"  then that could be the very reason why you may be a victim who is falling behind like the rest of the other businesses who don't utilize and take advantage of Social Media.

Social Media has been around for some time now, I owned my first online store more than 10 years ago when Friendster, Xanga, and AIM chats were the norm (ok and I suppose MySpace too). Resources were a little limited as it is today. Although there wasn't as much social media networking as there is today, the key was constantly circulating content or updating your online store and/or business presence. This meant, that I had to somehow spread the word through web forums, Friendster, or MySpace to promote my business. To the make the story short, I used these sources to keep the buzz going. Let's fast forward to today..we now have Facebook, Twitter, Digg, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Google+ and more. From 10 years ago with such limited resources, I was able to have an online store that generated tremendous amount of sales (of course there was other factors, less competition, less resources in building sites, etc). The difference now is that there is more opportunities to spread the word by using Social Media.

We look back and see that nothing has changed, the same methods are applied. However, the difference you see now is there is more websites thus, more competition. Whether your business is online or at a retail location, you can still achieve a strong presence by using the power of Social Media. The businesses you see today that are doing well, most likely use every means possible to connect to their customers with Social Media.

The question you will then ask is, "Why is Social Media so effective?"

I'll simplify for you guys:

• Some of these Social Media sites get tagged in search engines
• If there's more than 500 Million people on Facebook with the average user being on it more than 50min a day, why AREN'T you on Facebook
• Good posts can create good buzz which leads to end users spreading the information to THEIR network.
• It's a great tool to use to interact with customers. (customer service, promotions/discounts, contests, social buzz)
• Having Social Media channels for your business is the trend now, the younger generation is creating a strong influence for people and the current older generation
• Smartphones (in my personal opinion) really skyrocketed social media attention, easier access means more social media networking = lots of social media juice
• Google+ Page, GREAT business tool to have (save for another time) I mean c'mon it's GOOGLE. It's not a failed product if they haven't shut it down yet.
• Twitter - Microblogging so easy! just "tweet" about anything, just don't spam your profile like you're selling your soul.
• Greatest thing of all? They either will or can connect and link within each other creating a very strong powerful force. It's easy to sign in and share within each network

Okay, so you are starting to get the point and you're considering.... this is where the "I do have those, but it doesn't do anything, this is wasting my time" people come in. The key is constantly creating some form of buzz. I don't mean slapping on an rss feed to your Twitter/Facebook account and spamming your wall with the latest products. I'm talking about actually trying to hype your products, your business, and trying to "SOCIALIZE" with your followers. Now I know this is going to be difficult for some or many who have never tried Social Media as a business tool, but it is one business strategy that should NOT be overlooked. It's time consuming, yes, but have you thought that the other businesses who take initiative do? They really take advantage of it, because businesses who don't, well like I said, fall behind and easily become a has been. So if you're one of those businesses that wait around, and decided later down the road, it will be that much harder for you to climb up that mountain.

Closing thoughts:

I really enjoy talking to my clients or friends about business, SMM, IM, Marketing because I teach them a lot while they give me feedback on how they do as a business. Until next time, feel free to check back on my blog for more articles I write about random rants on what I think about what I do.