The Facebook timeline and with it the Facebook cover was one of the most talked about features of 2011. The Facebook cover remained a topic of conversation in 2012, but just because it's over a year old (well, for most of us!) don't let age put you off the Facebook cover as a consideration in your marketing arsenal.
Outlined below are five reasons why you might want to change your Facebook cover in 2013 and with it some thoughts for your consideration.
When one is strongly engaged in the performance of a service or production of a product there is a tendency, and perhaps even a desire, to want to believe in your own myth.
The myth being that an attractive graphic promoting your product or service is enough to initiate custom and continued use of your services. However, the reality is for the most part, Facebook profiles for brands (when restricting the conversation to conversion) are only any good for promotion.
Facebook profiles are much better used in making consumers aware of your offering and one way of ensuring that your consumers absorb your message or remember you is to provoke an emotional response. An emotional, provoked response rather than logical communication is much longer lasting and ensures that consumers think of you when they could use your services at a later date.
As such, a lack of congruence is more likely to prove a response and keep your brand in their mind rather than a congruent Facebook cover.
Lloyds TSB Bank, a UK Bank, back in the early 'noughties' launched a TV promotion that consisted of just a dog running across the screen. For weeks the mainstream media and people were guessing which brand launched the advert as it wasn't immediately clear. The lack of congruence got people talking.
GoDaddy has been very effective in provoking response to its blog posts by posting completely unrelated images alongside its blog posts.
You could do the same with your Facebook cover, perhaps with a cover maker app such as Make a Cover.
I've you've ever studied up on game theory, then you'll already be familiar with the phrase "monkey see, monkey do" however to refresh your memory it's effectively copying the strategies of the competition to ensure that they don't get an advantage on you, in particular when you are already ahead.
As an application, if your competitor changes their Facebook cover in a particular way – why not copy the "strategy" to split test the effect?
Remember – you'll need to keep in mind Facebook's rules over what you can and cannot do with your Facebook cover.
Most technology businesses operate within the concept of progressive improvement, it's not financial or economically feasible to gain perfection first time with an initial concept or plan. Indeed, even Nintendo's Mario has been refined many times over during the last two decades.
Whilst a Facebook cover is hardly as technically as advanced as a supercar or LED television, as a public facing page it is likely an important part of your brand.
Whether it's for a good reason, or a bad one – sometimes 'the boss' just places a job on your task list.
Often Social Media, and in turn Facebook pages for business are often misunderstood by those in charge. As such it may be an idea to affirm what the bosses objectives are before you start work on a new Facebook cover. It's important to set realistic expectations before you let your creative juices flow.
Is your boss thinking about a capacity-orientated objective or a results orientated objective? In laymen's terms – is the objective to increase the amount of likes of the fan page or to increase conversion?
The objective that your boss has in mind should strongly influence the Facebook cover design.
Brands are like mammals – you either evolve or you die.
Product managers don't really need to be told about the importance of positioning products and service correctly as well harmoniously within the market place with the intended target market in mind. However, graphic designers often can get carried away to such an extent with their creative designs such that the message is lost.
What are the objectives of the new message, how will this be accomplished with your Facebook cover?
Actually for me the coolest cover was to remove the cover. Looking like you are not too into Facebook will be helpful later on when Facebook joins the ranks of past fads like MySpace and AOL Keywords.