Facebook’s new “Timeline”  feature is undeniably a craze that has taken the social media giant’s website by storm since its launch in March. There was some controversy about Timeline taking over the face of Facebook but now that the new look is front and center, let’s see how it is affecting the user experience and why it is important to understand this new feature as an online marketer. Here are some of the surprising things one should know about Facebook Timeline when it comes to social media marketing:

1. One new and enticing feature of Facebook Timeline is the cover photo. It’s a new feature that helps highlight your page, represent your brand, and gives curiosity to the viewer by applying Murphy’s Law to web design. Cover photo has a size of 851 x 315 pixels and can be very complicated because of its terms and conditions. To avoid risking your entire Facebook Timeline account, be sure to research the terms and conditions that Facebook has set out regarding what you can or cannot post here.

2. With Facebook Timeline, you can now customize your Facebook applications. By customizing your Facebook applications, you can create all of the call-to-actions and personalized icons you want. Your Facebook Timeline will appear more personal and organized according to your brand or personality, helping you stand out among competitors.

3. “Highlighting” and “pinning” are a few of the new most commonly used features available in Facebook Timeline. By “highlighting” and “pinning”, your key moments, important dates, cool pictures and links are emphasized throughout your social media campaign. Unlike the old Facebook, this format in Timeline gives you a unique and more strategic way of emphasizing your important moments or things you want to stand out.

4. As a Timeline user, you should become familiar with the Admin panel of your account. “New likes”, insights, personal messages and activity logs are just some of the great new features that help you observe your fans as well as the activity of your page.

5. With Facebook Timeline, Ads are even more important than before. Although it has to be approached differently, its importance gives highlight to the very use of Timeline. You can directly post your Ads to any of your chosen applications where a specific call-to-action is available. Also, with the help of your current fans, engagement may be more important than likes.

6. Another cool feature of Facebook Timeline is being able to enjoy your favorite songs and music along with your friends. Once you switch to Facebook Timeline, you are given ample time, probably seven days, wherein you can personalize and organize your profile in such a way that you want others to see it. Within this span of time, your Timeline will be invisible, giving you a chance to make another change that you want for your Timeline.

Although it might have caused some controversy at first, Facebook Timeline has certainly shaken things up in the social media world. Whether you are a fan or not; it is important to be aware of how Facebook’s Timeline can work for you and your page as an online marketer. Unlike the old Facebook format, with Timeline you are able to personalize your account and create a fresh, dynamic new Facebook profile, exactly the way you imagined it to be. Sometimes, change is good. Especially when it makes you appear more creative and more up to date. As a marketer, we all know that this is an essential aspect of success. So keep an open mind when it comes to managing your Timeline.

Blogging, the new hot topic in social media can take a lot more time and effort behind the scenes than the average person might think. This is especially if you have aspirations of building your own blog for businesses purposes.

Business bloggers confront different obstacles as opposed to other leisurely bloggers. For instance if you are creating a professional blog, it is obviously going to be used for professional purposes and will be geared toward engaging specific objectives and outcomes.

Business blogs are more often utilized to be marketing building tools and once they become publicly recognized it becomes an open exhibit for all to see your thriving company. Tia Peterson’s article, “8 Things to Do Before Starting a Business Blog,” provides 8 great tips on how to get started building your own business blog.

So let’s dive into these quick tips from Peterson:

1. Figure out WHY you are blogging
• You must ask yourself what goals you are trying to achieve, and set standards in place to let you know when these goals have been met.

2. Figure out your target reader
• Do you have anyone specific in mind that you want to read your blogs? If so you must take time to learn their online habits, the information that they care about and also what will get them talking.

3. Determine your blog marketing strategy
• It is important to figure out how you plan on reaching out to your target audience. You must remember that digital conversations are already in progress, so your options are to join in or simply to start your own, all of which should be included in your marketing plan.

4. Assign ownership to your blog
• There is nothing worse than confusion. To prevent this from occurring it is pertinent that you establish who will be writing the content, managing the community and who will be promoting your blog. Appointing these tasks to individuals should eliminate any confusion.

5. Create an editorial calendar
• It is a great idea to determine what you will be publishing and also when you are going to publish it. According to Peterson, “an editorial calendar is comprised of frequency as well as the actual post topics and outlines.”

6. Set up promotional tools
• A blog needs to have the means of traveling and for people to easily get in and out, in other words by sharing. With social media quickly expanding it is key now more than ever that you set up your social media channels and social bookmarking. You can do this by linking your blog to existing social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

7. Create a takeaway
• Create a carrot giving visitors a reason to subscribe to your business blog. RSS traffic can be very reliable and provide a steady flow of traffic to your blog. This, however, is only as long as you treat your subscribers with care, by maintaining a constant connection with them through your blog. (Reaching out to your subscribers is a sure way to show you care.)

8. Meet with design and development teams
• Business blogs should be professionally designed and developed by a company. Once you have the rest of the 7 tips finished then you should be on your way to meeting with experienced teams or professionals. They can assist in putting you on the right track towards gaining correct user experience for your new business blog.

So let’s re-cap, business blogs should be: timely, exceptionally well written, extensions of a brand and cost-effective. You should set goals for your professional blog’s desired return on investments and be able to keep track of this. Although your business blog may initially cost you some time and money, it should all be worth it in the end so good luck!

Source: http://weblogbetter.com/2010/09/29/8-things-to-do-before-starting-a-business-blog/