We all knew it was coming, we just weren’t sure when.  Now we know: Facebook is changing the format for it’s Business Pages and the change is happening at the end of this month.

Similar to the new personal profiles, the Facebook Business page timeline format will look radically different when a visitor arrives at your page.  Facebook is giving you until March 30th to play around, tweak and design your new Business Page without actually publishing it.  But after March 30, it will go live and your Facebook Business Page will need to be converted to the new Timeline format. Here’s what you need to know to get the most out of the Facebook changes to the Business Page:

Cover photo
Now you will be able to upload a full-width image to the top of your Facebook Business Page. The cover photo is similar to the Timeline layout for personal profiles and needs to be 851 x 315 pixels. You want to choose an image that is representative of your brand and there is great opportunity for branding and imagery that wasn’t available before. You are able to change the image as often as you like, but you should also take note of Facebook’s policies regarding cover photos.

The following information may not be included in your cover photo:
-Price or purchase information such as “30% off”
-Contact information about your company.  That includes website address, email, phone numbers, etc.  All this information must now be included in the “About” section of your Facebook Business Page.
-You cannot make a reference to Liking the page or Sharing the page
-Cover photos may not contain a call-to-action such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”.

Once you set your cover photo, you can set your profile picture. This image will be shown next to each of your updates on your wall posts and also in the user’s news feeds.  It’s a good idea to use a logo for your profile picture.  Choose a picture that fits 180 x 180 pixels.  Make sure the picture’s image quality looks good when it’s in thumbnail format (32 x 32 pixels).

For Facebook’s full policies and restriction regarding cover photos, visit
www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php

Thumbnail Apps
Facebook’s new design for the Business Page features things like photos, likes and apps at the top of your page under your cover photo. You can have a total number of 12 apps that can be shown here, but only three of which you can control for the first row.  All 12 apps can be viewed when page visitors click the dropdown arrow.

You can also customize your images that get shown for each app.  Manage these in the toolbar using ‘Manage’>>’Edit Page’ dropdown via the ‘Admin Panel’ (at the top right of the business page). This feature should be more effective than the old layout because you can use larger and more eye catching images.

Private Messaging
A brand new feature on Facebook now allows users to send private messages to you at your Facebook Business Page. This makes it easier for business owners to have private conversations with their fans and customers without having to make it public on the Facebook wall. You can manage your communication settings under your Admin Panel, choosing ‘Manage’>>’Edit Page’>>’Manage Permissions’.

Pining and Posting:

Facebook is also offering a great new feature that allows you to add a ‘virtual post it’ to your timeline.  You can pin/anchor a specific story to the top of your timeline for up to 7 days.  The great thing about this feature is you can highlight certain posts like content, call-to-action for marketing or other promotions or events you want to highlight.

As you can see, the new Facebook Business Page has a lot of new features and will take some getting used to.  Use the next couple of weeks to play around with and get to know your business page before it’s published.