Facebook changes: Cover photos and threaded conversations

There have been two recent changes to Facebook Pages that can improve your Page and help you promote your business and engage your fans and visitors.

Firstly, Facebook have announced changes to their policy on use of text in cover photos - the large images that are displayed on the top of Facebook Pages. Although ignored regularly by many business and brands, the rules previously banned the inclusion of contact information, calls to action, prices of goods and services and Facebook actions eg encouragement to Like the Page.

All these restrictions have now been removed and the policy is now as follows:

“All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20 percent text.”

This is great news as the cover image can now be used to promote your goods and services. For example, a cover photo of a product could now include its price plus a link to your website for more information or purchase. Just make sure that your image doesn’t include more than 20% text. Incidentally, this 20% limit also applies to images used in Facebook Ads. I’ll provide further Facebook cover photo tips on this blog in a future article.

The second change is something new; the introduction of threaded conversations on Facebook Pages. Visitors and Page Admins now have the option to ‘reply to posts’ on the Page. Until you switch the new feature on all comments are in a uniform style so it can be hard to follow the conversation. Once threaded conversations are enabled a reply to a comment is indented, indicating it’s a reply and not a new comment. To encourage conversation I strongly suggest you switch on the new feature. Facebook are prompting a number of Page Admins to switch the feature on but if you haven’t received the prompt follow these instructions:

1. Go to top of Admin Panel
2. Select Edit Page
3. Select Manage Permissions
4. Select the Replies check box at the bottom of your Page.

There are more changes coming soon to Facebook; a new style News Feed - some users already have this - and the introduction of hashtags which will have massive benefits for brands and business. I’ll be covering these changes and how you and your business can benefit in future posts.

In the meantime, if you have any questions on Facebook just select the ‘Ask a Question’ flyout on the right.

This entry was posted in Social Media Latest and tagged cover photo, facebook, news, threaded conversation by Jonathan Pollinger+. Bookmark the permalink.