Facebook: What You May Not Do In a Brand’s Timeline Cover Photo.

March 2, 2012 by Anderson Curry in Branding & Marketing, Featured with 6 Comments

With the launch of Timeline for Brands, businesses now have an even better way to show off their brand. Facebook does have a few rules as to what can and can’t be done with the cover photos.

Facebook brand page cover photos should be creative,and visually connect consumes to your business. Pictures of customers using your product, a favorite item off your menu, or something artistic can make a powerful statement.

On February 29th, 2012 Facebook changed its Guidelines For Brand Pages to be more in line with selling by engaging, adding value, and connecting with customers. With that in mind, here are what Facebook considers violations when it come to Brands Timeline cover photos.

Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

All cover images are public, which means anyone visiting your Page will be able to see the image you choose. Covers must not be false, deceptive or misleading, and must not infringe on third parties’ intellectual property. You may not encourage or incentivize people to upload your cover image to their personal timelines.

This is a departure from what brand pages were allowed to do before the release of Timeline for Brands, and a violation could have your page removed without notice. You might want to make a note that the pages for major brands are following requirements to the letter. Check out the Pages guidelines for more information.

So what do you think, drop me a note below on your thoughts.

About Anderson Curry

+Anderson Curry is publisher of Digital Life CEO and Managing Partner at ECS Media Interactive, an Internet marketing agency. Anderson has more than 20 years experience in the technology and marketing industries. He regularly writes and speaks on brand development, social media, technology, and the emergence of the new digital CEO.

Twitter

Facebook

Google+

More Posts (37)

Tagged Facebook, Timeline

6 comments 4 people listening

Comment help
Get Livefyre

Sort: Newest | Oldest

baxie404 8 pts

I think the new timeline has thrown a lot of people off because you are forced to be more organic now. You can't force a marketing or "like me now!" message on people the way you used to be able to.

share flag

spam
offensive
disagree
off topic

acurry 6 pts moderator

baxie404 That's a great point.. The new timeline feature is forcing us to come up with other creative ways to get fans to want to like and stay connected with us. Thanks for sharing

My latest conversation: Hubspot

Nakeva the sad thing is Facebook does not talk about this or make it more obvious that the rules have changed. Thank you for your comment.

Nakeva 44 pts

I'm glad to see that someone took the time to read the guidelines for the cover photo. Not many will do this and risk losing access to their Facebook page.

My latest conversation: wpid-Carmines-Chicken-Scarpariello_droidography_byNakeva.jpg | Nakeva Network

AriesGDIM 6 pts

Nakeva That would have been me Nakeva. I appreciate the share and have made the change... now for my personal wall... :-)

AriesGDIM I almost made the same mistake. Instead I opted for basic image until I could create something new. Love the way you and Anise do your cover photos!