Facebook Timeline Image Sizes

Short and sweet, no bull, just the dimensions for all the Timeline for Business pages images you’re going to need if you’re doing your own Timeline makeover. Enjoy!

Cover Photo for Timeline

This is the big image (also known as the cover photo)
Width: 851px
Height: 315px

Application Icons for Timeline View

If your picture exceeds these limits, your icon will be re-sized and converted.
Width: 107px
Height: 70px
Maximum file size: 5MB

Profile Picture for Timeline Pages

Recently updated sizes for timeline. The new width and height are 180×180 pixels which will be automatically scaled down to following:
Width: 32px
Height: 32px
It’s extremely important to choose a picture that can be scaled down as the profile pictures that are displayed on timeline posts are really small. Best practice is to choose the logo.

Facebook Application Favicon Size

This is the tiny icon that is being displayed on the left hand side of your news feed, where the applications that you use are.
Width: 16px
Height: 16px

Facebook Page Applications (Formerly Facebook Tabs)

The usable area of a brands Facebook page
Width: 779px (Update: The CSS of Facebook has some errors, so we’re not actually sure what the final width will be. So far it seems to be 810 px)
Height: Unlimited

Facebook Milestone Picture Size

This is the size you use for milestone pictures such as company’s foundation date. This is also the size for starred (highlighted) posts. The image in the post will be scaled down accordingly, if it exceeds the limits.
Width: 843 pixels
Height: 403 pixels

Thumbnail

The image that is displayed next to the link when you click like or share something.
Width: 90px
Height: 90px

Uploaded images

This is the maximum size of the image you can upload.
Width: 2048px
Height: 2048px

Pinned post picture size

This is the size of the picture of your pinned post. It will not be scaled down, Facebook will take the center of the image and cut it out accordingly.
Width: 403px
Height: 403px

Pictures displayed in Facebook

This is the maximum size of the image as shown in slide show or album.
Width: 960px
Height: 720px

 

Have fun re-doing your Timeline!

 

 

Social Media ROI Study

Social media marketing is maturing. Research results are beginning to reflect the shift, as well. For instance, the 2011 Social Marketing Benchmark Report from MarketingSherpa found that the overall average social media ROI reported by CMOs who are measuring it is a whopping 95 percent. What’s more, nearly one-third (30 percent) of those in the survey reported a ROI of at least 150 percent!

That’s a dramatic shift from MarketingSherpa’s first benchmarking report in 2009. Back then, soft objectives such as building customer awareness were key, and marketers said they were having a tough time demonstrating any ROI from social media, at all.

Plenty has changed in just a few short years. For its latest report, MarketingSherpa polled 3,342 consumer and B2B marketers, giving us valuable insights about how they are using social media to engage audience, build brand, generate leads and drive sales. In other key findings, the data showed that:

Developing social media strategy and proving ROI remain top challenges. When survey participants were asked which were the most frustrating challenges to social marketing effectiveness, the top five responses were: developing an effective and methodical social marketing strategy (55 percent), achieving or increasing measurable ROI from social marketing programs (54 percent), converting social media members, follower, etc. into paying customers (45 percent), achieving or increasing measurable lead generation from social marketing (37 percent) and increasing website traffic through social media integration (36 percent).

For those who are measuring it, social media is showing positive ROI. Based on the survey results, The overall average ROI reported by CMOs who are measuring it is 95 percent. One-quarter said they have achieved 100 percent ROI. Higher percentages were reported, too. Twelve percent said they have achieved 200 percent ROI; two percent reported 1,000 percent ROI.

We have one real estate client who reports two known buyers who came to her via Social Media, and if she had to calculate an estimated ROI from those two home buyers versus what she’s paid for her Social Media presence, it might range in the 5000 percentile, or higher.

Unfortunately, many are still looking for that “quick fix.” MarketingSherpa did a nice job cross-tabulating response data to show that marketers who are new to social media tend to focus on “fast and easy” tactics (social sharing button on email/websites, e.g.) rather than on those that show a much higher level of effectiveness (blog relations, SEO, e.g.). More advanced social media marketers work from a strategic plan and know that often the most difficult and time-consuming tactics are worth the extra effort because they are the most effective.

We have taken that pain-staking time element out of the mix for our clients who utilize our hands-off Social Media Marketing package. For those clients who value their time more than a few dollars to have someone else managing all of their Social Networking, the services we offer is a priceless commodity to them.

Social CRM is gaining momentum. Only six percent of those polled have fully implemented social customer relationship management (CRM), but more than half (56 percent) said their plan in either partially implemented or in the planning stage.

Social media allows us to reach consumers in new ways, and what’s more, a number of innovative tools enable us to track responses to campaigns more easily than ever before. With the right tools, marketers can gain valuable insights to make campaigns ever more relevant, even as they demonstrate real ROI and enhance accountability in the boardroom.

Check out this video:

If you are not utilizing our complete Social Media Package to its fullest potential, talk to us about how we can increase your ROI. We’re here to help! We’re also launching (4th quarter 2011) a complete marketing package that will not only include our complete Social Media Package, but SEO and Complete Business Marketing that will give local businesses more exposure across the Internet than even possible with Pay Per Click.  Details coming soon on that.

2 Words Confusing Most Business Owners

These days, the words “Social Media” seems to be somewhat intimidating to most business owners.  It is relatively new technology (comparatively speaking) wherein they do not have full control over what’s happening and where everything leads, not to mention, it’s very hard to determine which specific social media outlet is responsible for generating leads for the business.

Most business owners understand how a website works, and they appreciate they can have an online store that can take customer orders, sell their products, and allow their customers to get in touch with them or get to know their products or services better.  With a website, communication is one way, everything is under their control.

The 2011 Social Media Marketing Industry Report has some good news for small business marketers. Small business owners are seeing the greatest results from social media marketing. Michael Stelzner authored the third-annual industry study in which he surveyed 3342 marketers, 47% of whom were either self-employed or small business owners. This group reports some amazing results from social media marketing.

Here’s a quick summary of their primary findings:

  • Marketers place high value on social media: A significant 90% of marketers indicate that social media is important for their business.
  • Measurement and integration are top areas marketers want to master: One third of all social media marketers want to know how to monitor and measure the return on investment (ROI) of social media and integrate their social media activities.
  • Social media marketing takes a lot of time: The majority of marketers (58%) are using social media for 6 hours or more each week, and more than a third (34%) invest 11 or more hours weekly.
  • Video marketing on the rise: A significant 77% of marketers plan on increasing their use of YouTube and video marketing, making it the top area marketers will invest in for 2011.
  • Marketers seek to learn more about Facebook and blogging: 70% of marketers want to learn more about Facebook and 69% want to learn more about blogging.
  • The top benefits of social media marketing: The number-one advantage of social media marketing (by a long shot) is generating more business exposure, as indicated by 88% of marketers. Increased traffic (72%) and improved search rankings (62%) were also major advantages.
  • The top social media tools: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs were the top four social media tools used by marketers, in that order. Facebook has eclipsed Twitter to take the top spot since their 2010 study.
  • Social media outsourcing underutilized: Only 28% of businesses are outsourcing some portion of their social media marketing.

I would encourage you to read this full report. You can download it here (no opt in or registration required).

All the hype around social media tends to discourage a lot of business owners.  They set up a Facebook Fan Page, then wait for new customers to pour in, just as the hype promises.  But when it does not happen right away, then they forget about their Facebook pages.  Same goes for Twitter.

Here are the best practices we at Hudson Enterprises always implement in any social media effort.

1. Social Media Takes Time. Social media, like other marketing practices, needs to be done right.  Planning, implementing, measuring, controlling and then revisiting every step of the process is essential in making it work.  A Twitter account will not make your customers flock to your website or store a few hours after you start tweeting.  You have to take time and get involved with your social media efforts before you will see the fruits of your labor.  You have to become “The expert” in your niche first. But trust us when we say, it really is worth it!

2. Get the “FREE” Mindset Out of Your Mind. One of the draws of social media is that people think it’s free.  I hate to pop your bubble, but it isn’t Free.

You may not have to spend any money to join Twitter or create a free-account blog, but you will have to somehow spend time and money making this endeavor fruitful.  You, a member of your staff, or someone else would have to be responsible for the blog posts, or to keep an eye on your Twitter account.  Remember that it’s useless to have a blog that has outdated entries, or a social media profile where inquiries, conversations and complaints are left unanswered. I see it all the time. A website saying, “Visit my blog for the latest updates…”  Then I go to the blog and the latest update occurred 4 months ago! Or I get someone who follows me on Twitter, and when I look to see who they are, they have 3 tweets, the last being 6 months ago. They just decided to activate some auto-follow software to help them build up their following (for free).

3. It’s NOT All About Numbers. Many large corporate Facebook Pages have millions of followers.  While it’s great to get that many people to Like you, you should not measure your success by the numbers.  As a small business, you will probably not get past a few hundred or a few dozen followers or Likers.  Instead, measure your success by the quality of interaction you give your customers who took the time to look you up and follow you or Like you.  From the Social Media Marketing Industry Report (mentioned above) finding showed that 72% of marketers who have been using social media for more than 3 years report it had helped them close business. More than half who spend 11 or more hours per week find the same results. The self-employed and small business owners with 2 or more employees most achieved this benefit (48%).

We have several clients we manage with less than 100 followers (or Likes) but yet, have several clients and sales out of those small numbers. Quality, not Quantity!

4. Take It From the Experts. Take a look at what big brands are doing and try to see which feature, interaction, and promotions are being done by these companies for their own social media efforts. Social media is a dynamic area where new things are always happening.  Business owners should be on top of these changes so they can take advantage of them as soon as they become available or as soon as these changes start to take place.

5. Don’t Hesitate to Ask For Help. Between running your business, meeting with clients, and getting new customers into your business, keep in mind there is only so much you can do.  Most businesses pass up on the opportunities presented by social media because they feel they are just too busy to interact with customers or to go along with the newest trends, like Facebook and Twitter. Most businesses cannot effectively manage a real Social Media presence, and run their business effectively too. There just aren’t enough hours in the day to do both, and to do them well.

Don’t try to be a hero, get help when you need it.  You can hire an employee to do your social media marketing, or get a consultant or a company to help you. We actually offer these services, so contact us at our website HudsonEnterprises.com if interested.

6. Catch Up With The Times. If you’re still using a cell phone that is 2 to 3 years old… time to upgrade. If you’re not using a Smart Phone (not just a phone with a web browser), time to upgrade. If you’re not using Text Messaging and SMS, time to upgrade.

Listen, you may consider yourself “Old School”, and think you can still run your business the way you did before anyone had cell phones. But if this is your way of thinking, you’re sadly mistaken.

Most of your clients are already using their cell phones to do a lot of things. Not only do they expect you to be there too, many will choose not to work with you if you aren’t. Many potential customers and clients will look for your mobile website. Don’t have one? You better get one!

Mobile Marketing is the wave of the future (at least for the next year or two, until something else comes along to uproot it as the place to be), so you’d better be there. If you’re not, get started!

Have a QR Code on your business card? What’s that you ask? “What is a QR Code?”  If you have to ask, you’re behind the learning curve. You’d better get a QR code for your website, blog, Facebook page, etc., and start putting them EVERYWHERE!  (More on QR Codes in my next post.)

I will be the among the first to admit, often times, I’m so busy helping all our clients run their social marketing, blogs, websites,  and their businesses, that my own goes into major neglect mode. The same held true for me on deciding to finally upgrade to a smart phone. Once I did, I wonder why it took me so long, and how in the world I could manage my business effectively now without it.

The Final Word: You Have to Start Somewhere!

As a business owner, whether you’re just getting into social media, or if you’ve been involved with it for a while, you might have a lot to learn and a lot of things to think about, but the most important thing is you have a plan.  With that plan, you can start little by little.  You do not have to join and try out every social media site there is. I HIGHLY recommend you focus first on the “Big 4,”  Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Know your customers and make an effort to interact with them. Build relationships and follow the 90/10 rule of 90% relationship building and 10% marketing.

If you have a comment or question about this article, or anything having to do with Social Media, use the comment link below to sound off about it. We truly do love comments and questions.

Strategies for Getting Your Facebook Fan Page Found

How does a professional use Facebook to build their business, generate leads, and meet potential clients?

First, you have to set up a fan page for your businesses or brand. After that, you have to get the word out. The page won’t do the work for you. So here are some tips on finding an audience and keeping their interest …

Give it a Proper Name: Sure, seems easy enough…but choosing a smart name might mean something entirely different to you than it does to a search engine. The best name to use, if you’d like to be found more often in searches, is the exact name of your business. Using clever phrases or your web domain may seem like a good way to separate yourself from Facebook’s 600 million active users, but more often than not it’ll make you less likely to be found by the very people you’re trying to attract.

Promote Your Page: Like anything else, if you want people to know about something, you have to tell them. So take advantage of Facebook’s widgets and badges and add links to your page on your business website, your blog, your email signature, and anywhere else you can think of. The more opportunities you create to promote your page, the more likely you’ll have a burgeoning fan base before long. The easiest of all these suggestions is your email signature. It amazes me how many people DON’T use this 100% free method of self-promotion. If you don’t do anything else today, add your Facebook Fan Page address to your email signature file!

Advertise: Facebook offers an advertising platform allowing you to buy a simple ad you can target by location, age, or interests. That means, your ad appears before exactly the audience you want to attract. It’s not free, but if you’re serious about building your fan page, it’s a good way to start adding fans that aren’t in your family or social circle, and it can be done amazingly cheap, compared to some PPC methods like Google and Yahoo/Bing. I’ve run campaigns and cost per click were as low as $.05. That’s pretty darn cheap advertising, and I would challenge you to find advertising any cheaper than that anywhere!

Treat Your Fan Page Like an Online Ad and Optimize: Fan page administrators have access to reporting tools and can use the tools to optimize the performance of their page. All posts are given a quality rating based on how many people comment, like, and write posts in response. You can use this quality rating to get a better understanding about what fans want to see from you.

The Facebook Pages platform provides the most effective way for businesses to engage fans on Facebook. But to be successful, you must remember, pages are a two-way conversation, and you need to be present and active. The rewards are great. Embracing this form of interaction will build deeper connections with your most loyal advocates.

If you don’t already have a business Fan Page, visit http://Facebook.com/GetACustomFanPage for more information on how you can have a professionally designed page without all the programming hassles and struggles.

Questions or comments? We’d love to hear from you!