Everything You Need to Know About Facebook’s Cover Photo Policy

You may have missed it because the changes were rolled out so quietly, so in case you did, here’s the “scoop,” effective early March: Facebook updated its cover photo policy, and if you’re a small business owner looking to expand your sales and marketing promotions on the social media site, you’ll want to pay close attention to what’s new.

Facebook has always been fairly strict about what brands can and cannot do on their respective pages. The site restricts promotional campaigns, limits communications between brands and individual Facebook users, and lately has even been accused of narrowing the “reach” of posts published by brands’ on their pages to boost usage of its paid advertising platform.

The cover photo changes, however, is a step in the right direction for brands wanting to deepen their engagement on the world’s largest and most active social network. Here’s the new-and-improved cover photo policy, per Facebook’s own guidelines:

All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading, or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

Prior to the change, Facebook placed additional restrictions on cover photo text and graphics. For example, brands previously could not include a Call to Action (CTA) of any kind on the photo, e.g., 20% Off, Buy Now, Call Now, or even contact information such as your company’s website, toll-free number of email address. Now, companies can add virtually any text they wish to their cover photo, as long as they keep the amount of text to no more than 20% of the entire graphic. Given that studies have shown that photos tend to generate more engagement (i.e., Likes, Shares, and Comments) than videos, text, and links, you could potentially increase your cover photo’s reach by experimenting with customized marketing campaigns and CTAs.

Here are some examples of what you can do to boost the value of your page’s cover photo and drive more leads and likes:

• If you haven’t already, add a link to your company’s website as well as contact information such as an email address or phone number. 
  
• If you’re running a particular promotion, create a landing page specific to that promotion and use campaign tracking tokens so that you can better analyze the traffic generated by your social media efforts. (A campaign tracking token is information inserted in your URL to indicate where the lead is coming from and what campaign it’s targeting. Many email marketing programs make it easy to create these with just one click, or you can use Google’s free URL builder.) Use link shorteners such as bit.ly or Google’s own goo.gl to create clean, clutter-free links for your cover photo.
• Include clear CTAs in your cover photos, whether you’re offering free downloads of an industry white paper or heavy discounts on winter coats in June. Don’t just add the link — be specific in what you want your visitor to do: Download, Buy Now, Click Here, Call Now, etc. Just remember to stick to the 20%-maximum role on text placement in the cover photo.
• Keep in mind that your cover photo will now show up on users’ News Feeds, so make sure that it looks clean, attractive, and reflects your brand well. Here’s an example of how a brand’s cover photo will look when on the News Feed:

Have you changed your company’s Facebook cover photo as a result of the changes? If you have, has it made a difference in your engagement efforts with your fans? Please share in the comments below!

How Storytelling Can Boost Your Digital Marketing

People love stories, and they especially love stories that they can relate to. Today’s customers want to connect with the people behind the brand, not just hear a pitch about the products. Storytelling is all about sharing your brand through an interesting and memorable narrative. Storytelling takes content marketing to the next level by inspiring an emotional reaction in the audience. Making that personal connection with your clients through storytelling in your marketing campaign can be a great way to stay ahead of the competition and generate more customer loyalty. Every business has a story to tell; here are a few ideas to get you started:

Be Authentic: Honesty and transparency are key in brand storytelling. Your stories need to be based in the reality of your brand, products, and industry. Stick to the three primary steps of brand-building: consistency, persistence, and restraint. It’s not a good idea to embellish your stories just to earn the interest of your audience. That kind of attention is short-lived and it is not a sustainable approach to marketing.

Give it Feeling: Emotion is at the heart of every good story, and putting emotion into a story about a business is not so hard. The emotion is there for you to uncover. Think about your company’s history, your employees, your products. Your passion about your brand makes your stories entertaining while also informative.

Show a Little Personality: Customers don’t just want to connect with a brand, they want to connect with the people behind the brand. Your story should share something unfamiliar about your business to connect on a personal level with your audience. Don’t be afraid to get creative and let your personality shine though!

Learn from Your Favorites: Think about some of your own favorite stories and what makes them great. Memorable stories have characters people care about, along with a problem or issue that ebbs and flows. Remember that all stories have a beginning, middle, and end. Don’t leave your audience confused by not offering a neatly wrapped conclusion.

Storytelling is a great element in your campaign to create a trustworthy brand and promote customer engagement. Do you have any additional tips for brand storytelling? We’d love to have you share them!

Authenticity in Social Media

People want to do business with someone they know, and it’s no different across your social media channels. Authenticity in social media is all about presenting your business as real, honest, transparent, and accountable. The bottom line is trust. Fans and followers need to trust your brand to build a relationship. People connect to see the human side of the brand, and to feel like the brand cares about them. Your customers have real opinions and want real engagement. Simply put: if you fake it, they’ll know.

It’s easy to see why authenticity in social media is important for business, but how can you put this into practice?

• Make it personal. Identity matters online, so don’t hide behind a faceless social media presence. At the very least, use the plural first person “we are” rather than “this organization is”. Let your audience know you’re human – show some personality and have fun! Showing the personal and “real” side of your business and its employees is a great way to build trust with your customers.
• Be honest and accountable. Acknowledge and respond to customer comments and questions (good or bad). If you make a mistake, admit it. There is nothing wrong with showing your human side, and the ability to admit a wrong is always more respectable than hiding the truth. Focus on letting your audience know the positive ways you are addressing a concern or rectifying a mistake.
• Connect with customers. Bring your audience into the conversation. Ask questions about likes and dislikes; spark discussion with interesting topics related to your industry. Most importantly, listen to your customers and tailor your approach accordingly.
• Don’t over-sell. Remember, social media is about engagement and building relationships. Don’t spam your audience with constant self promotion and marketing noise.

An honest and trustworthy brand is a popular brand. Of course, being authentic in social media doesn’t mean you should say anything and everything that pops into your head. Always think before you speak and recognize the fine line between being real and being too real.