Many individual users groaned when the Timeline function was first unrolled, which led to posts that had long been forgotten being rehashed into public view by all their friends. The format quickly spread from just profiles and soon became part of the fan page template as well, which has led to a shift in the way people view these pages and the content posted. For any business that is seeking to attract new visitors, Facebook’s new Timeline gives you and your fans access to more of your content upfront. Let’s discover some of the many ways that the Timeline feature can help you attract new business.

App Expansion

One of the new features rolled out with the introduction of the Timeline feature was the extension of available apps that any fan page can include. In the upper right-hand corner of the fan page, you will see (by default) empty boxes that can be used to link to promotions, events or other information about your products and services. These app boxes are very versatile and can be customized with images, text or other interactive features, giving your fan page its very own look. Unfortunately, complete customization was lost in this update, so you will have to adhere to the main framework of the new Facebook fan page.

Increased Visibility

Prior to this update, many of a fan page’s older posts would drop out of view and end up being lost in the dustbins of fan page history. While these posts were still accessible, they were not clearly visible and did not have an easy-to-navigate interface that quickly displayed prior posts. Facebook’s Timeline feature now allows virtually all of a fan page’s posts to be easily accessible, giving each link and post a greater chance of being seen by your fans. Each post and link is an opportunity, and with the new Timeline features, each post is given additional clout when it comes to how many people can see it easily.

Stat Monitoring

In the newly revised control panel, each fan page admin will be able to quickly view the basic stats for the page (number of visits, number of clicks) as well as be able to observe the number of people who have read or seen each individual post. These social analytics allow admins to effectively respond and determine which campaigns are working and which are not. Admins can then proceed to duplicate successful efforts and build a credible advertising approach that encompasses aesthetics, content and profit.

Post Highlighting

Was there a successful post made some time ago that you would like to revive or duplicate? No worries! The new fan pages with Timeline feature post highlighting ability, which allows you to dictate that a certain post be revived and posted at the top of the page. This can be used to re-list promotions, announce an upcoming event once again, or even let your users know about technical glitches or site outages (Tip: Pingler’s Website Status Checker can be used to quickly determine the operational status of your business’ site).