Social Matters

Preparing Your Brand Page for Facebooks Evolved News Feed & Timeline

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Rethinking Your Brands Visual Presence on Facebook

In March 2013, Facebook announced signicant changes to the way that content will be displayed to users in three of the core elements of the Facebook platform: 1. News Feed 2. Ad units 3. Timeline While these changes are primarily aimed at individual users and will roll out over the next several months, the Critical Mass social media strategy team has identied the impact these adjustments will have on Brand Pages and has outlined the implications and action plan for each element.

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NEWS FEED

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Whats Changing
Based on current user behavior, Facebook announced several signicant changes to the News Feed that will have a major impact on how brands consider and construct the content they share through pages, apps and ads:

Primacy of visual content Screen consistency between desktop and mobile Enhanced News feed ltering

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Primacy of Visuals
With News Feed content continuing to trend towards multimedia sharing, the real estate allocated to this type of content is being increased.
- The size of photos and videos will increase

signicantly
- Thumbnails from linked content will have a

cleaner look with more white space

- Image-driven apps will be given more prominence - Page likes will now display both the cover photo

and the prole image

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Examples - Photos/Videos

Before

After

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Examples - Thumbnails

Before

After

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Examples - Page Likes

Before

After

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Screen Consistency
Facebooks continuing evolution to a mobile-rst experience has seen the social network continue to adjust to the way users choose to access their prole and share content with each other. As of December, 2012,

608 million

users accessed the site

from their mobile devices. In recognition of this continuing trend, Facebook has unied the News Feed experience across all devices for the rst time.

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Screen Consistency Example

608 million

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App Integration
In line with the primacy of visual storytelling in the newsfeed, images shared through Graph Apps such as Instagram, Pinterest, Goodreads and Netix will be even more prominent.

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Example - Pinterest

Before

After

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Enhanced Filtering
Facebook has gone back and forth with News Feed ltering over the years. Users ultimately want to control what they see. For some, they see too much. Others dont see what they want or expect to see. Trying to nd the right level of control for users is a tricky undertaking. The latest attempt puts ltering in an obvious place on the News Feed and gives users a choice of options that could potentially relegate Brand Pages to a second tier within many peoples News Feeds.

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Example - Enhanced Filtering

News Feeds currently feature sorting mechanism that allows users to switch between the default top stories setting and most recent stories. The new News Feed will include the ability to navigate by friends, content type or following, which is where Brand Pages will be housed.

Before

After

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FACEBOOK ADS

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Whats Changing
Some of Facebooks ad units have received makeovers in line with the look of the updated News Feed, but it seems they are taking their time and testing dierent types as the News Feed rolls out over the next few months. As is shown in the following examples, some sponsored story units have a new visually-enhanced look, while marketplace ads that appear in the right rail have a cleaner look. One key change to note is the prominence of the hide button on the new ad units.

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Examples - Facebook Ads in the News Feed

Page-like sponsored story

Before

After

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Examples - Facebook Ads in the News Feed

Page-like sponsored story with recent post

Before

After

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Examples - Facebook Ads in the News Feed

Page-post photo ad

Before
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Examples - Facebook Ads in the right rail

Notice how the ad titles align with the rest of the copy, giving the ad images more prominence

Before

After

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Action Items for Brand Pages

Relevant, compelling content is still the key to success in social Use of the entire Facebook ecosystem (page, apps, ads) ensures reach and engagement Improve the visual quality and cadence of the visual content your brand is sharing Create and optimize images for use on desktop, tablet, smartphone and Facebook media Consider adding image-sharing apps to your social footprint (e.g. Pinterest, Instagram, Vine) Use short, direct, well-crafted copy to support images. Monitor Page Insights as the Newsfeed is adopted by all users to determine if Page reach and engagement drops due to ltering

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TIMELINE

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Whats Changing
Facebook introduced Timeline to personal proles in September 2011 and followed that with Timeline for Pages in February 2012. While rolled out much more quietly in the days following their News Feed announcement, Timeline is getting a new look in line with the other imagecentric changes. Even though this will roll out to personal proles rst, its safe to expect that Brand Pages will see this change come in the months ahead as Facebook likes to keep the experience consistent. The key changes in the personal Timeline that are most signicant are:

Two-column layout adjusted to 40:60 ratio from 50:50

- Personal posts will be in the expanded right
column

Other recent changes

In addition to the Timeline layout, additional changes to content structure and policies have recently been announced that will have a more immediate impact on Brand Page design and content strategy:

- What is being called the About section displays

down the reduced left column and mandatorily features About ,Friends and Photos. Other former tabs can be selected along with apps that you wish to display here

- Comments on posts will be threaded making it

easier to have a discussion in the comments

- Cover images can now contain calls to action,

though Facebook still maintains text must take up no more than 20% of the image

Tab icons have been removed

- Some brands use custom tab icons to add
additional visual interest to their page. A cleaner design will put more focus on the cover image and prole picture

- Possible inclusion of hashtags to allow for

aggregation/searching of posts similar to Twitter

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Examples - Timeline

Before

After

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Threaded Comments

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Action Items for Brand Pages

As there has been no word on how Timeline will be rolled out to Brand Pages, there is very little to be done proactively. Should there be plans to invest in new content or pages in the later part of 2013, consider the following: Prepare for changing dimensions of images in future single-column posts Prepare for need to resize older images in posts and milestones Prepare your Brand Page layout for the elimination of tab icons Experiment with integrating image-centric apps like Instagram and Pinterest Test using calls to action in the cover image and gauge response from page fans Adjust community management protocols to accommodate replies/threaded comments

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Critical Mass
About
Critical Mass, an Omnicom digital marketing agency, helps the world's leading companies use digital media to create extraordinary experiences experiences that bring together creative thinking, smart ideas and emerging technologies to drive our clients businesses. Consistently recognized as a leading interactive agency, Critical Mass operates globally from oces in Calgary, Toronto, Chicago, New York, Nashville, Los Angeles, London, Amsterdam and Costa Rica. www.criticalmass.com 27 / 29
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David Jones, VP Social Media @DoctorJones

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@LindsayRenwick Nikki Lloyd, Community Manager @Nikki_Lloyd

Further Reading
http://www.insidefacebook.com/2013/03/07/how-ads-look-in-the-new-news-feed-layout/ https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/2013/03/13/making-apps-a-bigger-part-of-timeline/ http://newsroom.fb.com/News/584/Improvements-to-Timeline http://techcrunch.com/2013/03/13/facebook-timeline-redesign/ http://www.ragan.com/Main/Articles/Infographic_Photo_posts_get_120_more_engagement_on_46290.aspx# http://www.buddymedia.com/newsroom/2012/09/salesforce-buddy-media-facebook-timeline-best-practices-wall-posts/

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