Can you capture the meaning of this image?
After weeks of experimentation, I finally settled on a design for our timeline cover. Some of our Facebook fans loved the design, yet others mentioned that they do not “get it”. I thought I’d take this opportunity to share my thoughts about engagement through Facebook pages, and at the same time, offer a rational for the design choice.
When Facebook first released timeline for pages, they suggested that the cover photo should represent our businesses so when people land on our pages, they know what we offer. Many businesses have taken this advice to heart, and come up with very creative ways to communicate their offerings.
Why didn’t I take this approach? You see, one thing most people forget, and even Facebook seems to have forgotten, is that 90% of people who visit a page do not come back to it after they have “liked” it! Will the new cover photo entice people to change their ways and visit more? Only time will tell, but I am willing to bet that this will not be the case.
Given the above mentioned undeniable fact, I feel it is more important to encourage people, in the few seconds that we have their attention, to read the content the post on our pages . Why, because the content that we share is what our page visitors will see in their news feeds.
You may say that the cover page can be used to appeal to people’s emotions, and get them to click “like” while they are drunk with the ecstasy of the feelings that the image has invoked on them. Although this very popular strategy maybe effective, I would argue that it brings no long term value. Why? Because that momentary emotion is what it is, momentary. What creates a long lasting relationship between a page and it’s fans is the content.
This is why, personally, I am not interested in manipulating people’s emotions to “like” my page, I want them to do so because they find the content on my page thought-provoking, interesting, and educational. This is precisely why the approach I took for designing the landing tab (the old design) for the Captive Touch page was again unconventional (image below).
Instead of raving about how great our services are, I told people what they could find on our page that could be of value to them. I did not make this decision based on my gut feelings, I relied on the statistics mentioned above, and the results of a poll I administered on Facebook asking my friends a simple questions: “What do you want to see on a welcome tab when you visit a fan page?”. The answer turned out to be overwhelmingly: “A paragraph telling me why I should like the page.”
Now, with the new timeline cover, and Facebook’s new rules, there is not much room for words, nor is it pleasing to the eyes to include lots of text in the image. So, the best way I thought to receive the kinds of “likes” I am after would be to use an image of a business professional (my target market) who looks down at the page and then looks up with excitement! I am interested in invoking curiosity about the contents of my page. I want people to see what they can learn from the content posted on my page, to evaluate my thoughts and approach, and to like me for what I say, not for what I do.
So, what do you think? Do you think my rational for the design of the cover page reasonable, or do you think I am not moving in the right direction? What unique approach have you taken for your timeline?
