What PR pros need to know about Facebook Timeline for brands

By most accounts, brands will have three months before they have to adapt to the format, but you should start to see the rollout happen much quicker than that, with some early adopters taking advantage of the format immediately. Facebook premium ads are also expected on Wednesday, and leaked documents give some in-depth info on what that will mean for your brand.

The first thing that marketers should realize is that Timeline for brands will differ from Timeline for personal pages. Further, brands will need to rethink their Facebook strategy. And with any of the medium’s past iterations, there will be some growing pains.

That said, here are a few points that will help communicators ensure that they’re ready for the launch:

Plan first for the aesthetic changes

Obviously, the Timeline format is significantly different from the current format. The cover photo will serve as the brand’s showcase. After the original announcement was made, several thoughts began to circulate about what these pages might start to look like. Mashable published a gallery of how some brand pages might look once Timeline launches.