15 Great Examples for those last minute Facebook Timeline Brand Page adopters
Posted by AKZMeDesigns in 
Ready or not in a few short days (3/30) all FB Brand Pages will get the new timeline. I’ve talked to and read many page owners question what to do with the infamous Cover Photo. 899×350 area of space (I oversized a bit to ensure it fits) that you can’t use for advertising information such as website, phone # or email and you can not use for call to action (CTA) such as like my page, sign up, etc.
So what is a small business page owner to do? We’ve perused Facebook and a collected 15 great examples of ways to use the cover photo in the new time line. Some examples require little to no graphic design so you can implement in a pinch, and all easy to implement for any size business.
Use your Logo
You’ve probably got a perfectly good logo that is already on all of your advertising material and widely recognized by your customers. So, why not use it for your cover photo. Just make sure you use a high quality file so it doesn’t look blurry and distorted.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Literary-Giftings
Tell something about your business
Just because the guidelines say no CTA or advertising, doesn’t mean you can’t use the cover photo simply state what you do. List your products, tag line, or even a great quote.
https://www.facebook.com/ChurchillBrook
https://www.facebook.com/launchwhileworking
https://www.facebook.com/InTouchPromotions
Show who your are and how you do it
Nothing build a personal connection, like giving visitors and inside look. Use your cover photo to give visitors a sneak peak behind the scenes. Something more than they would see on your average polished advertisement, like photos of staff or members, the office, even thee area where you’re business is located
https://www.facebook.com/YFSMagazine
https://www.facebook.com/blueridgewireless
https://www.facebook.com/SportsCenter
Show your product
What a better place than on you cover photo than to showcase the best of what you have to offer
https://www.facebook.com/redlobster
https://www.facebook.com/Tropicana
https://www.facebook.com/FitnessmomWinecountry
Make your profile picture your call to action
Here’s a great way to squeeze in a little advertising. Combine some of the other techniques we discussed for you cover photo and use your profile picture to sneak in your website or email.
https://www.facebook.com/AKZMeDesign
https://www.facebook.com/StrongerTeam
Show yourself
This is a great use of the new time line especially for sole-proprietorships. Use your cover photo or profile pic to help put a face behind the name. When you are your business, help build that brand recognition by adding your own picture to your time line.
http://www.facebook.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Christines-Country-Cornercom
Do nothing!!!!!
I know this sounds crazy, but don’t stress if you don’t have time create an amazing cover photo in the next 9 days. This is probably the best gift from Facebook, whether there’s a cover photo or not your page won’t look incomplete or have a blaring under construction sign. The background will remain a nice Facebook gray with your profile pic until you get around to posting something (but don’t leave it that way for long 
). Whew one less stress for this week, Thanks Facebook!
https://www.facebook.com/MusingsOfLMichelle
Still need a little help with your facebook Cover Photo? Or are you looking for a custom designed Cover Photo and Profile image? Contact AKZMe Designs today for a FREE consultation and quote. contact@akzmedesigns.com
Monday Q&A- 12/5/11
If you missed our online Q&A session on Facebook this week, here’s a recap of some of the great questions and answers
Q: For a small business is a website enough? Does the small business need to have a fb page, twitter, Google+, etc. accounts? Is that an overkill?
A: In today’s social media heavy world, having just a website is not enough. A good website gives all the information and product you have to offer,and effective use of social media helps to drive visitors to that site.
Q: Should flash be used for websites? If not, please explain why and what other method could be used to make the website pop and appealing.
A: I definitely think its best to stay away from flash because it is not viewable on most mobile devices, if you choose flash make sure you set up a m. mobile site. A m. site will redirect users on mobile devices to a simple site where they can still view your information
Q: Quick question, should websites have multiple fonts?
A:You can and should have multiple fonts, it is and to the design of the site, but I suggest no more than 2 or 3 fonts. Also use them consistently throughout the site one font for titles, another for text, etc.
Do you have questions about starting or improving your website, online strategy, etc.; post them next week for our Monday Q&A session, https://www.facebook.com/AKZMeDesigns.
4 Reasons Google+ Brand Pages Will Be Better Than Facebook’s
From: Mashable.com by Zeny Huang122
Zeny Huang is an Emerging Media Strategist at JWT New York where she helps brands connect with fans in innovative and meaningful ways using social media. You can follow her on Twitter @Zenidala.
Converting Facebook’s 750 million active users to Google+ will be a long, difficult battle for the search giant. But converting brands to Google+ will be much easier if Google+ is able to solve advertisers’ biggest problems with Facebook — such as post-click engagement tracking, paid search inefficiencies and limited customization.
Advertisers drive paid media to their Facebook Pages because they want to be where their audience is, but there’s a major flaw in this strategy. Advertisers can’t track post-click engagement of non-Facebook ads driving to Facebook, and that’s a huge disadvantage in qualifying traffic and uncovering valuable user insights. Without such information, we can only guess whether media dollars are being well spent.
In a month or two, Google+ will launch its highly anticipated brand pages. Here are four reasons why marketers are right to be excited and why Google+ brand pages will provide a better branded experience than Facebook.
1. Better Search Opportunites
A major challenge with driving paid search ads to a Facebook page is that the Facebook.com domain generates a lower click-through rate (CTR), most likely due to people finding the domain irrelevant to their query. The low CTR makes for a low quality score in Google’s auction-model, which typically increases cost per click for paid search ads driving to Facebook versus a unique brand domain. The loss in cost efficiency of driving to a Facebook page has been an ongoing struggle for advertisers, particularly on Google, which has over 60% of the search market.
It would be crazy for search giant Google not to have search benefits for Google+ brand pages, whether it is a “certified check mark” callout (like on Twitter), a colored box around the listing, or possibly page-rank priority. Search benefits would likely be the strongest reason for brands to adopt a Google+ brand page. The only flaw in this theory is that giving brand pages’ extra benefits in search could raise the specter of anti-trust action and legal challenges.
2. More Customization
Facebook ad types are limited to just ads, sometimes with a video or poll, allowing for few branding or creative opportunities. Looking at the design of Google+ personal pages, I predict the two skyscraper-sized white spaces on each side of the profile will be opportunities for custom skinning of your brand page and for display or rich media ads.
Google+ users are probably cursing me for suggesting the placement of ads on the currently clean design of Google+, but I am speaking specifically about allowing brands to advertise and skin their own pages as seen on branded YouTube channels such as Old Spice and Miracle Whip. These are great examples of how Google+ brand pages can deliver stronger brand experiences and help brands raise awareness of special promotions, as well as letting them drive qualified traffic to pages outside of Google+.
I would not be surprised if advertising opportunities were immediately available after the launch of Google+ brand pages, since Google is fully prepared to support it with its Google Display Network, AdWords and DoubleClick advertising products.
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