What To Pin To The Top Of Your Facebook Timeline

One of the smartest features of timeline for brands is the ability to pin posts to the page. The feature is so helpful that it might seem like a no-brainer to decide what to pin. But the catch is, you can only pin one thing at a time. Whatever you most recently pinned shows up at the top of the page, and the rest goes into a hybrid of chronological order with some prioritization of the most engaging posts (of course, things you hide or delete don't show up). Here's a list of things you might want to pin to the top of your timeline page on Facebook. What People Need To Know What do people encountering your brand for the very first time need to know? Capture it all in a video, and then put in introductory text. Alternatively, create an image or infographic and include in writing the information you want to get across. Remember that status updates can now go as long as 60,000 characters -- the equivalent of 240 typed pages -- so you have plenty of room to say whatever you need people to know. If your page represents a national or multinational brand, the about section doesn't necessarily include your office locations, so you might want to include this in the "need to know" post. You probably don't want to regurgitate what you already have written in the about section, however. Frequently Asked Questions You could write this as a status update if your information is 60,000 characters or less (If your FAQ is longer than that, we strongly suggest you get to know the delete key on your computer!). Or, write a FAQ using the native notes application on Facebook, or try using any of the document-sharing applications that connect to the social network. That includes Dropbox, Scribd, Docs.com and OfficeDrop, as of this writing. Wall Moderation Policy The more fans your page has, the more it makes sense to post guidelines explaining how you moderate your wall. This could be a section within a FAQ, or vice versa, depending on your priorities. Again, you could write this as a status update, or use a third-party application to get the job done. Your Latest Sale Or Promotion Whatever your biggest promotion is right now, a post about it should should be front and center on your page for the duration of the offer. Include graphics that go as large as the allotted space -- 404 pixels square when pinned, versus 843 by 403 pixels when highlighted. Who Won The Contest Usually we see more advertising about contests and sweepstakes that are under way, and not enough about who won. Pinning posts about the winners shows people your promotions are legit. Of course, you still want to pin posts about contests and sweepstakes that are under way. But remember to also feature the winners afterward. Urgent Information Are your servers down? Did you run out of your most popular product? Has an act of nature interrupted your normal business activity? Is some form of public relations crisis hitting your wall? Whenever an emergency hits, deal with it in a pinned post. Even something that's not dire, but rather is a change of pace, might necessitate a pin: Holiday hours, for instance. Pinning Versus Highlighting You might learn through trial and error what kinds of things to pin versus highlight. Let's clarify: Pinning moves a post to the top of the top of the left column on the wall. Highlighting stretches a post across both columns of the wall, effectively doubling its width. You can't simultaneously pin and highlight the same post at the same time. To highlight a post, click the star icon that appears when you move your mouse to the upper right-hand corner of any post. To pin a post, click the pencil icon that shows up when you mouse to the upper right-hand corner. Here are some things you might want to pin, but that would work better as highlighted posts if you don't expand the scope. Highlight a photo of your billboard. But a link to a photo album showing all of your advertisements might make a better pin. Highlight a video clip of your latest commercial. Linking to a complete channel of your videos on YouTube could make sense for a pin. Highlight the best customer testimonial you ever received. A complete list of testimonials might make a better pin; or Highlight the customer or employee of the month. A list of employee contacts or a portfolio of work for customers might make a good pin. Whenever you put up a new pin, consider going back to the previously pinned item and highlighting it, which again, stretches the post across two columns. Readers, please share your experiences with the pinning feature on pages. What have you pinned so far?

Social Pro Daily

What To Pin To The Top Of Your Facebook Timeline

Here's a list of things you might want to pin to the top of your timeline page on Facebook.

Jackie Cohen

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Jackie Cohen