Today Facebook gave marketers one more thing to think about… the revision of Facebook Business Pages into the Timeline format.  While this change was forecasted by many in the social media industry I have to wonder if Facebook thought about the ramifications of their actions.

Strike 1: Billboard without Ads!

Is giving companies a large billboard/cover image that cannot have calls to action or business information the best bang for the average company’s shrinking marketing bucks?  While big brands like Coca-Cola and Fanta have made beautiful visual interpretations of their brand can the average company do the same?  From the example above you can clearly see that Media A.S.E. needs the service of a graphic designer to fill in the white space that the Facebook Registration buttons fill when a user isn’t logged in to Facebook (we’re working on it… it hasn’t even been 24 hours yet!)

Strike 2: What About My Custom Designed Landing Tab?

Today I watched a webinar by the CEO of Shortstack that explained how to navigate the changes for Facebook Page Admins.  While I sat in my office taking notes about the new Cover Image size (851×315 pixels) and that Tabs are now called Apps, Jim dropped a bomb on me… no more default landing tabs for Pages!  This is the second blow to small businesses.  Many companies use ‘App builders’ like Shortstack to create default landing tabs that non-fans see when they go to a page for the first time.  This was a great way to express your marketing message to Facebook users that are unfamiliar with the services or products your company offers.  While you can still create these Apps users will no longer get a quick overview of your current marketing initiatives… especially since you can’t broadcast it in the 851×315 pixel billboard!

Base Hit: App Cover

All is not lost afterall!  Facebook has given marketers one area for calls to action, the App Cover.

 This is where you can put your photoshop skills (111×74 pixels) to work and draw users eyes to your custom designed Apps.  This means you need to get creative with your imagery or your copy.  This functionality is not available on the standard Apps that come with your page (Pictures, Events, Notes, etc.).

While I’m not a huge fan of baseball or spending additional marketing dollars without the ability to promote a marketing message, I am reserving my right to not have an opinion on the Facebook Page Timeline at this time.  It may be the next best thing since sliced bread or even Facebook but for right now I’ll just work on refining my marketing messages to 111×74 pixels.

Users can now add details about places pages right in the information section!

I tried out the system and saved my changes (which I later deleted when I couldn’t determine where they appeared on the page).

I will continue to update this post when I find out more relevant information.

Conclusion

I do not think allowing users to change relevant information on a Places Page in Facebook is a “good” idea.  This leaves businesses open to a wide range of potential spam and misinformation.  While Facebook reported that 3 of my friends added details to places it did not tell me what places they edited.  I am going to investigate this further by having some associates use this feature so we can diagnose the outcome of their changes.

What are your thoughts?