How to-master-timeline-and-ads

How to Master
Facebook Timeline
and Ads

WHITE
PAPER

Introduction 3

New Reach Generator Product 4

New Facebook Ad Units 6

Timeline Is Here 8

Tie It All Together 13

Conclusion 15

www.buddymedia.com © 2012 Buddy Media Inc. Proprietary and Confidential 2

Introduction
At the first-ever Facebook Marketing Conference,
Facebook relaunched its advertising platform to
put the Facebook Page at the center of your paid,
owned and earned media strategies.
While you likely have read about the new products, you’re probably wondering: “What now?” What
should you be doing to capitalize on the new functionalities and possibilities now present in the
Facebook ecosystem? And what does this all mean for the way you approach an overall marketing
strategy on Facebook?

Here are the four biggest topics you need to know in light of the Facebook Marketing Conference:

• New Reach Generator product: This gives brands the option to pay Facebook for
guaranteed News Feed distribution of up to 75 percent of their fans.

• New ad units: The content you post on your Page is the ad unit. This means you will no
longer create separate ad copy on Facebook.

• Timeline is here: All Facebook Pages will move to Timeline by March 31, 2012.

• Tie it all together: Optimize your content strategy with our insights and best practices.

We’ll discuss each of these in depth so that you can immediately begin evaluating and utilizing the
power provided by these new product releases.


New Reach Generator Product
Use the Facebook Reach Generator to Significantly
Increase Your Reach
According to Facebook, content that brands post to Facebook Pages reaches only about
16 percent of their fans. This is often a pain point for many brands, which is why Facebook
launched a new ad product for guaranteed distribution.

Reach Generator lets you pay to guarantee that your Posts reach up to 75 percent of your fans
each month. What will this mean for you? Reach Generator can more than double your average
reach. In turn, engagement will more than double, thus exposing your Posts to your fans'
friends, who will engage and expose others. The result is an incredible viral lift for your brand.

Invest in Content to Engage Your Fans
The lines between paid, owned and earned media are now gone. You’ve already invested in your
fans—now invest in the content that engages them. Reach Generator gets you the distribution
you desire. Though you’re explicitly paying for distribution only, you’re inherently paying for
significantly more engagement. This engagement is Facebook gold. Your EdgeRank score will
skyrocket, giving you more stories to buy against using socially enabled ads.

All ads in Facebook will begin as content initially posted to a Page. You will no longer need to
create separate Facebook ad copy, because the content you publish to Facebook and the data
associated with it is the front end of the ad system. Continue to create great content, just as
you have in the past, and then use engagement metrics to distribute the most engaging content
further. Users can now engage with that content anywhere on Facebook, whether it’s on your
Page or in ads. Facebook said it best: “Ads are more effective when they start from Page Posts.”


Your ads are your
content. In this
example, Ben & Jerry’s
took a highly engaging
Post and turned it
into an ad.


New Facebook Ad Units
Understand the Options Within Facebook Ads
There are two general categories of Facebook ads:

• Premium Ads. Today, these ads are purchased directly from Facebook. Brands will now be
able to turn any Post made to their Page into a premium ad. Instead of appearing only on the
Facebook homepage, as they did in the past, premium ads will now appear in four places:
the News Feed, the right-hand navigation menu, the mobile News Feed and the log-out
screen. The idea behind these ads is to put relevant content in front of an audience while also
leveraging a user’s social connections to give the ad social context.

• Marketplace Ads. These ads appear on the right-hand navigation menu of the Facebook
experience. Marketplace ads are bought directly through the Facebook self-serve portal,
or through third-party API technology such as Buddy Media. These familiar ads provide
opportunities to target by location, interests, time and demographic information.

The graphic shows
the different
opportunities for
advertisements within
the Facebook ecosystem.
New opportunities
include mobile and the
log-out screen.


Marketplace ads,
which display on
the right-hand side
of the News Feed
and Timeline, can be
targeted toward users
in any number
of ways.

Let Your Fans Choose Your Ad Creative for You
You need to monitor your engagement data in real time to make the right decisions about what
content to amplify and when. This is not an easy shift and might require a change in strategy within
your organization. However, we’re moving away from the age in which you simply create one version
of an ad and then distribute it. Now, people can voice their opinion with ‘Likes,’ Comments,
‘Shares’ and clicks. Be prepared to buy distribution for the content that becomes most engaging
to the right audience.


Timeline Is Here
Create Great Content for Your Page with Timeline
Pages have been given even more prominence by Facebook, and now include a homepage with a
canvas to tell your brand’s story. Your fans can check out the latest content and campaigns at the top
of the Page, as well as easily explore the history of your company.

You now also have large, above-the-fold real estate on all of your landing tabs, campaign content and
applications. Facebook is at your whim; program it any way you want.

The use of the
new aesthetic
functionality of
Timeline immediately
conveys the desired
brand image
for Subway.


Old Spice uses a
bright, bold cover
photo to grab the
attention of users,
making a product
such as deodorant
very exciting.

Cover Photo and Apps
All of your Pages now have a slick new cover photo. There are also four large images for your tabs,
front and center, directly beneath the cover photo. These are all orderable, with the exception of
photos, which must remain in the left-hand spot. Your logo displays to the bottom left of the cover
photo, and lastly, an info section appears to the left of your tabs.

Facebook also released a set of guidelines for your cover photos. Be sure to check them out here:
https://www.facebook.com/help?faq=%20276329115767498.

The biggest restrictions include no price or purchase information; no contact information; no
references to user calls to action, particularly in regards to Facebook functionality; and no stolen, false
or deceptive intellectual property.

Lastly, make sure you create assets that utilize the different-sized canvasses on your Timeline:

• Cover Photo: 851 x 315 pixels

• Logo: 180 x 180 pixels

• Tab Image: 111 x 74 pixels


New Timeline Page Functionality
The functionality of brands’ Timelines is very similar to that of personal profiles, with a few extra
options. Tabs now have even more space in which they can display on the Page (810 pixels in
width), so plan to adjust your design according to the new dimensions. Preview your tab before
publishing in both 520- and 810-pixel widths in order to see whether extensive updating is necessary.
ProfileBuddy™, powered by Buddy Media, gives you the ability to preview in both widths. Additionally,
the extra real estate gives you the ability to add even more content. A new third column of sapplets
within ProfileBuddy gives users the space and functionality to do more with tabs than ever before.

The ability to add a
third sapplet within
ProfileBuddy in the
Buddy Media social
marketing suite gives
brands extra flexibility
for their tabs.

The SXSW Coffee
Cash Cart tab on the
Buddy Media Page
uses a background
image to utilize the
extra space on the
810-pixel-width tabs.


Pinned Posts
Pinned Posts are a great way to highlight engaging content and drive traffic to any number of online
destinations. Though setting up a default landing tab is no longer an option, pinning a Post to the
left-hand side of your Timeline will keep a Post at the top of the Page for up to seven days. This is
a great way to guarantee that anyone who comes to your Page will see your most important and
engaging content. Devise a strategy for pinned Posts to ensure you are effectively using this
functionality to present users with the right content on a regular basis.

This Walmart
pinned Post
reflects a large,
high-quality image
of a featured dish
for its users.


Fill Your Timeline with Content
Tell the story of your company. You have the opportunity to put your entire company history in
photos, videos and text on your Timeline. Timeline allows you to star, hide and milestone all stories
on your Timeline. Make it visual and utilize the entire canvas. When you make the switch to Timeline,
all of your current content will come with you. Complement that by filling in the details that you
haven’t yet had a chance to highlight—in particular, those events and milestones that occurred before
Facebook even existed!

The Today Show
filled in much of
the show’s history
upon the launch
of its Timeline and
featured a primate
anchor on the show
from February
1953.


Tie It All Together
Tie It All Together—Build Your Fan Base
Brands that empower their connections to sell, share and engage on their behalf create
shareholder value. Now is the time to focus on your audience development and engagement
efforts using content, Timeline, News Feed and tabs. The Buddy Media social marketing suite helps
you do this with our Sapplet Library and powerful geotargeting, publishing, moderating and analytics
features in ConversationBuddy™.

American Girl
grows its fan base
through engaging
Posts and links to its
Facebook tabs.

Use Reach Generator to Get More Visibility, Traffic
and Page Engagement
Users have already opted in to receive updates from your brand by clicking the ‘Like’ button.
Reach Generator ensures that they see it. With all of this new engagement, users need compelling
experiences once they land on the Page. This is why tabs are now even more important. The new
distribution options and pinned Posts give you the means to share effectively and efficiently, and tabs
become a true home for content on Facebook, even more than before.


The Ford Mustang
tab on the Ford
Mustang Page provides
a great deal of content
and social activity
with which fans
can engage.

Buddy Media
empowers you to
take a Post created in
ConversationBuddy and
easily monitor its engagement
—then promote that story
using a Facebook
paid ad to amplify
engagement.

Add Facebook Paid Ads to Create More
Engagement—Then Amplify It
Publishing the right content at the right time is critical. Once you’ve done that, make sure everyone
can see it by amplifying with paid ads. Targeting that content to friends of fans and non-fans using
demographic and geographic information will help engage friends of your fans while driving more
connections in the process. It’s a virtuous cycle of continuous returns, in which any engagement,
whether on Pages or in ads, will surface through both.


Conclusion
The Old Versus the New
With the old method of owned, earned and paid distribution on Facebook, the number of people you
were able to reach with content was marred by the lack of fans who were actually able to see a Post
made by your brand (only 16 percent, according to Facebook).

With the new method, that number is significantly greater because of the potential of Reach
Generator. With Reach Generator, at least 75 percent of your fans can see a Post made by your
brand. The new model of distribution allows you to reach 3.5 times the number of people with
your content.

With these numbers in mind, it’s essential to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the new
Facebook announcements.

• Create great content with Timeline

• Amplify content with the new Facebook ad models

• Ensure distribution using Reach Generator

To see how Buddy Media can help you create, monitor and amplify your content,
register for a demo today!

Any comments?
Contact us at info@buddymedia.com, or follow us on:

facebook.com/buddymedia

twitter.com/buddymedia

buddymedia.com

linkedin.com/company/buddy-media

youtube.com/buddymedia

+Buddy Media


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