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THE CMOS GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

Tarah Feinberg, Head of Live Media Studio Ashmi Elizabeth Dang, Engagement Planner Gabriela Lazzaro, Engagement Planner Lexi Scholes, Audience Manager Nirmal Nijjar, Senior Media Manager Sabeen H. Ahmad, Audience Manager Kashem Miah, Audience Manager Casey Savio, Audience Manager Doug Platts, Senior Director, Natural Search

FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR MARKETERS: BRANDS MUST BE PUBLISHERS NOW MORE THAN EVER
Facebooks launch of Timeline for brands requires marketers to prioritize content strategy and engaging experiences more than ever. Gone are the days when accumulating "Likes" is an acceptable key performance indicator. Now companies must carefully develop editorial and engagement plans in order to use Facebook to build connected brands or close relationships with audiences formed by being useful, usable, desirable, visible, and engaging. This document contains key takeaways, updates, and several recommended next steps for marketers regarding Facebook Timeline for brands. iCrossing's Live Media Studio will be testing the new features in order to update our best practices documentation and optimize effectiveness for our clients.

KEY TAKEAWAYS: HOW THE CHANGES AFFECTS MARKETERS

As of March 30, all Facebook Pages will migrate to the Timeline format providing brands with the ability to creatively personalize their Pages and greatly expand engagement through a diverse set of post types. With the update, Facebook has evolved into a full-scale, social marketing platform with a greater focus on three key areas: 1. Expression: A Pages visual branding and narrative 2. Reach: New ways to ensure greater, more meaningful engagement on the web and on mobile through Pinned Posts, Friend Activity, Starred Content, Milestones and Backdating, Offers, and Open Graph applications 3. Response: Expanded Admin and new Message features These changes are most reflected in the ability to brand the Page and curate posts on the highly visual Timeline, which is an extremely powerful story-telling and strategic tool for marketers. It offers a richer, more diverse collection of content around experiences, events, and topics that brands can capitalize on in highly engaging ways.

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MARCH 2012

THE NEW TIMELINE FOR BRANDS

+ Better defines the brand through a much more visual layout (See: Red Bull) + Connects with consumers on a deeper level by bringing a brands history, meaningful stories and key milestones to life in Timeline (See: The New York Times and Coca-Cola) + Builds better consumer relationships with the ability to receive and respond to direct messages and monitor post-level activity through the updated Admin Panel, creating the opportunity for greater one-to-one and overall responsive messaging + Allows consumers to more prominently see how their Friends are engaging with the brand in three ways: 1. 2. 3. The number of Friends who have Liked the Page A view of Status Updates a Friend has written about the brand, regardless of whether theyve Liked it or tagged it in the post As rollout expands, a view of Friends interactions with branded apps utilizing Facebook Open Graph (e.g. Spotify)

+ Adds a new post type called Offers, allowing brands to feature direct marketing promotions and deals on their Page (free) and as ads, which can be claimed and shared by Fans and their Friends + Makes real-time earned and paid media connections that multiply reach and engagement through "Reach Generator," including Facebooks updated Sponsored Stories and new premium ad units iCrossing encourages brands to populate their Timelines and test different views and settings prior to publishing. All Facebook Brand Pages will move to Timeline on March 30, 2012.

QUICKSTART GUIDE: 10 KEY NEW FEATURES OF TIMELINE FOR BRANDS

1.

Cover Photo (850 x 315 px). One of the most exciting new features of Timeline for Brands is the addition of Cover Photo, the first image a visitor will see when arriving to the Page. Cover Photo is where creativity begins. It should be thought of as a visual status update as it sets the tone and theme for the Brand Page. Use this space as a cue of whats to come and update it regularly to keep the community fresh and inviting.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

2.

Profile Picture (180 x 180 to 32 x 32). The logo in the Profile Picture is the visual representation of a brands voice across Facebook (i.e. News Feed, ads, and off-platform social plugins) in a 32 x 32 thumbnail. The iCrossing Live Media Studio recommends use of the brands logo, which rarely, if ever, is changed, ensuring consistency and brand recognition.

3.

About (150 characters). Promotional copy in the About section is used to entice the target audience to engage with the Page. Additional characters are truncated with a "read more" link.

4.

Apps Thumbnails (111 x 74). Facebook Tabs are now apps, and left navigation is replaced with four thumbnail images and a drop-down arrow representing additional apps associated with the Page. The Photos app is fixed to the first position, leaving three configurable spaces in the default view.

5.

'Were here Stat. For brands that have created physical locations in Facebook Places, a new metric is displayed showing the number of people that have checked-in to a brand-related location.

6.

Pinned Posts. A new post strategy allows brands to curate content as a sticky post, and pin it to the top left spot in its Timeline for up to seven days, a prime position for above-the-fold exposure and greater engagement.

7.

Friends. Bringing the success of Sponsored Stories right into Timeline, the Friends box offers each visitor a unique view of all Friends who have Liked the Page.

8.

Friend Activity. An extension of the box above, different types of activities are displayed in this space: + + + A status update mentioning the brand, regardless of whether it is @tagged or not A was here story for a check-in to a retail location Engagement via an Open Graph application such as listening to a song on Spotify (friends listened) and watching a VEVO video (friends watched)

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

9.

Starred Posts. As a way of drawing attention to content below the fold, highlight a post with a star and it expands across both columns of Timeline.

10. Backdating & Milestones. Through this feature, posts can tell a story in Timeline going as far back as 1000 A.D. Milestones are used for key events and achievements, and Change Date can place content on a precise day, month and year.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

A DEEPER LOOK AT TIMELINE FOR BRANDS

With a greater focus on visuals in Timeline, there are many ways for brands to customize content, build audiences and engagement, and connect with influencers on Facebook. The following are some key updates iCrossings Live Media Studio suggests that brands pay particular attention to.

Cover Photo
Through Cover Photo, brands can define who they are, what is important to them, and the message they are looking to share with consumers. Unlike the logo in the Profile Picture, Cover Photo should be regularly updated with newer images and preferably in creative ways, as it is an excellent opportunity for brands to engage their audience. It should be noted that per Facebooks Terms of Service, this section may not feature: + Contact information + Calls-to-action + Price or purchase information + References to Facebook features such as "Like" or "Share" (no arrows pointing to buttons) Below are some examples of unique ways brands are using Cover Photo:

AT&T features a rotating mosaic of consumers photos.

The New York Times humanizes their brand, showcasing staff and headquarters.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

Page Apps
With the launch of Timeline, there is now a maximum allowance of 12 apps per Page. With only three non-native apps appearing above the fold, brands must strategically consider which ones to highlight in these spaces. A new feature of Timeline allows brands with retail shops to include the Maps app, which displays nearby locations based on IP address, and when available, mobile GPS.

Public Insights
Under Timeline, all Facebook users clicking the "Likes" app now have the ability to see high-level Page Insights, which previously were available only to Page Administrators. These include: + People talking about this (featured as a highlight) + Aggregate total Likes (featured as a highlight) + Most popular week + Most popular city + Most popular age group Timeline also displays monthly activity posts that include "people who Like this" and "people talking about this" insights. This content cannot be hidden. + New Likes per week (graphically represented) + Weekly number of people talking about the Page (graphically represented) + Friends who Like the Page (featuring avatars)

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Pinned Posts
Page Administrators can now curate engaging posts or prioritize messaging by "pinning" content to the first position of the left column on Timeline. By pinning a particular post with the small orange flag, you make the pin visible in two locations: 1. At the top of Timeline for up to seven days, always preceding any new content that is posted afterwards 2. In its chronological place in the Timeline If a brand seeks to keep a post pinned for longer than seven days, it can be re-pinned for an additional seven after the initial week expires. Only one post can be pinned at a time, although it can be changed at the brands discretion. Pinned posts are a great opportunity for brands to highlight important content and keep priority messages or communications alive for maximum visibility and engagement.

Starred and Hidden Stories

On the new Timeline, it is now possible for brands to feature important and well-received stories by adding a star, thus expanding the post from a single side on Timeline to span across both columns. This feature will help consumers quickly see what the brand finds important or interesting and drive activity down the Page. Unlike Pinned Posts, brands can star multiple stories throughout Timeline. Additionally, Page Administrators can now hide or delete stories on the Timeline that arent as engaging or relevant.

Friend Activity
The new Timeline features social mentions and Friend activity in a completely different format than in previous iterations of Facebook. Consumers are now able to quickly see their Friends activities and opinions in relation to the brand in a column at the top right hand side and scattered throughout Timeline. Here consumers can see which of their friends already Like the Page and stories their friends have created about the brand. The stories pulled here are based on mentions of and links to brand across online properties and will be unique to every user. An important point to note: Brands do not need to be @tagged to be included in this stream. Consequently, brands need to consider some critical implications. Because stories here are pulled by the simple mention of a brand, the content of a Friends post may contain positive or negative sentiments.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

Paid Media and Marketing

Facebooks new changes emphasize an opportunity for brands to tell stories while also amplifying their reach for greater ROI. There are a number of ways to utilize Facebook in this way: Reach Generator: A service that gives marketers the opportunity to increase reach through premium placement of posts as premium ads in four locations across Facebook (on the web and on mobile), increasing the number of Fans who see branded content. Facebook guarantees that brands utilizing the premium ad platform will reach 50 percent of its Fans weekly and an estimated 75 percent each month. Brands should highly consider purchasing this offering for a quarterly investment of twenty-to-forty cents per Page Fan. Reach Generator allows brand placement in the following four areas: + On the right hand side of the homepage (1) + Sponsored distribution in the Facebook News Feed on web (2) and mobile (3) + On the Facebook logout screen (4) a new offering where display ads are visible on the logout screen Offers: This new post type allows brands, for the first time to feature one-click access to promotional deals on Timeline. Consumers and their friends will be able to instantly redeem and share these promotions on Facebook. Offers, in combination with the ability to pin or star posts, are an opportunity to connect a campaign or promotion with the audience in an exciting new way. As expected, Offers will be visible as social shares on Facebook and other sites as well. Creating an Offer is free for Page owners, just like any other post. Brands, however, can pay to boost the unit into a Sponsored Story through the Admin Panel ad tool, or a premium unit as described above.

Admin Panel
Timelines new administrative features will have significant positive implications, particularly for customer service issue resolution. By clicking the Admin Panel at the top of Timeline, audience managers immediately get a snapshot of Page notifications, messages and Insights. It provides a clearer dashboard to manage the Page, communications with Fans, and also to evaluate key metrics and performance.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

The following are key changes to note: + Messages. A key new feature of Facebook is the ability for anyone to directly message the brand, and for the audience manager to privately respond to the individual. Audience managers can also easily keep track of conversations that have occurred within the social space. + Manage. With this option, Page administrators will be able to edit brand page content, see banned users, and get a snapshot of the Page activity with the option: "Use Activity Log." + Build Audience. Replacing the "Create a Facebook Ad" link that Facebook page administrators often came across, Timeline now has a "Build Audience" tab on the Admin Panel, which allows for the quick creation of a non-premium ad unit. Taking into consideration the greater emphasis the platform now places on paid media, audience managers can quickly create Sponsored Stories based on content that is highly-engaging at that moment. Brands now have a greater opportunity to leverage earned and bought media in real-time. + Referrals. A new component in the Insights Dashboard is the ability to view mobile traffic referrals. Considering Facebooks 200 million+ mobile users, access to this data which includes mobile demographics and the types of handheld devices used to reach the site will benefit brands looking for detailed analytics. Line graphs of mobile traffic sources will include referrals from: Feed and Timeline via clicks directly from a users Feed, as well as his or her Timeline Notifications via requests sent on mobile web, iOS and Android Bookmarks clicks to a brands Facebook app via Bookmarks. Facebook members will instantly see Bookmarks once logged into the app (note that Bookmarks will sync across mobile and desktop so that the most frequently used apps are easily accessible on the site) Search indicates the number of clicks to a brands app via direct search Unknown redirected referrals to a brands app + Admin Levels. Beginning in April, Facebook will rollout five levels of Page Admin access (more information is pending).

Milestones
Similar to personal profiles, which begin on a persons date of birth, Timeline for Pages can begin on an organizations founding date. Brands also have the ability to fill out Timeline as far back as the year 1000 A.D. and to tell the brand story by backdating content for achievements and important events from the past. The iCrossing Live Media Studio recommends the heavy use of multimedia such as images and videos, which will expand the visual aesthetic of the page, drawing greater engagement and positively impacting EdgeRank.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

THE BROADER IMPLICATIONS OF FACEBOOK TIMELINE FOR BRANDS

Focusing a brands efforts on greater engagement, will affect search engine optimization via the ripple effect. Here are three areas how we believe SEO will be affected:

Brand Searches
With the increase in awareness around the history of a brand, we also expect an increase in brand history related searches. Discovering key milestones of a brand of interest will drive a content searcher either directly to Facebook for more information or to search engines to discover more about the topic.

Brands need to ensure they own this search space by creating relevant brand history hubs on their own sites, as well as having upto-date content on sites such as YouTube and Wikipedia. These types of queries should also be reviewed for any type of negative brand sentiment, which may require further brand management within the search results.

Social Signals
As new content appears on a brands main website, increased engagement on Facebook allows for the greater likelihood that this new content will be shared on audience Timelines. That sharing, in turn, will send stronger signals to search engines to rank this content higher for related search terms through these increased social signals (Likes, shares, etc.).

Query Freshness
When Google identifies a hot trending topic, it then prioritizes its search rankings based on what is deemed most relevant, fresh and popular at that time, rather than more traditional ranking signals. If a brand produces content around a trending topic (e.g. an event or breaking news), then increased sharing of that content via Facebook, will in turn increase its visibility in search engine results pages.

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THE CMO'S GUIDE TO THE NEW FACEBOOK

MARCH 2012

Influencers
iCrossing highly recommends brands make better use of Facebook to understand who their advocates are and to actively cultivate those relationships. For example, the new Facebook admin panel makes it possible for brands to identify influencers more directly and serve those influencers exclusive content, including cross-links. By having influencers cross-link to their sites, brands can gain further authority (whether via traditional links or social signals) within search engines, and can simultaneously improve brand visibility for relevant keywords and search terms.

NEXT STEPS: TESTING AND LEARNING

Creativity Tells The Story
The new Facebook Timeline allows brands an abundance of new opportunities to refresh their engagement strategy. Before diving into the new format, we offer brand managers a few next steps for a smooth transition. The actual Timeline stream should focus on content that is visually engaging, easy-to-consume, and highly-shareable. Here are a few ways to take advantage of the new visual changes: + Use the milestone feature to mark important events in your brands history + Emphasize your brands story with compelling images + Curate the Timeline with backdated stories to give it a time-capsule-like feel + Pin and star engaging content; promote product launches, contests, photos, offers and announcements

Fluid Content Calendar

According to Facebook, content from brand pages has an average organic reach of 16 percent of the total fan base. Therefore, cutting through the noise to get to someones news feed can be challenging with the launch of reach generator premium ads. Brands should regularly create highly-engaging content, while continuously testing and optimizing it. Consequently, brands must have a clear and fluid calendar that can be edited at a moments notice to incorporate content that is engaging and reaches their target audience.

Public Insights: Test and Learn

For brands, the new public Insights are important in several ways. First, they will make it more difficult for brands to appear successful through paid media campaigns and contests, as "Likes" will no longer be the sole visible measurement of engagement. Second, they are also a good way for brands to understand how their competitors are performing. Brands should use this opportunity to create benchmarks and continue testing new types of content to measure success against their competition. Additionally, the metrics will allow audience managers to identify content thats worth pinning, starring, or using as a sponsored story. Consequently, brands have the ability to maximize engagement, reach, and understand what content types get amplified in the news feed.

Final Thoughts
The iCrossing Live Media Studio will work with brands to evolve their content strategy and create a content calendar that emphasizes a test-and-learn approach to ensure immediate and prolonged success in the new Timeline format.

STAY CONNECTED
Find out more at www.icrossing.com Call us toll-free at 866.620.3780 Follow us on twitter @icrossing and @thecontentlab Become a fan at facebook.com/icrossing

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