What’s your bold, distinctive, inspiring message for your Facebook cover image?

by Carol Buckheit on March 14, 2012

In my view, Mark Zuckerberg has handed nonprofit organizations, businesses and other “brands” a Pinterest-like marketing opportunity with the introduction of the cover image for Facebook’s new Timeline.

If nothing else, the meteoric rise of Pinterest in the social networking world demonstrates the appeal of distinctive images that invite curiosity, astonish, surprise, or inspire.  Folks are just pooped out reading so much text. And, now, with the ability to upload a unique image to one’s Facebook page on the most trafficked social networking site on the planet, nonprofits can market themselves with renewed dynamism.

The question:  What’s your unique, defining message? How to convey that in a single image?

With my cover image, I wanted to celebrate the quiet dedication of the staff and volunteers of cultural, social service, philanthropic and advocacy organizations in Connecticut, beginning with the over-the-top impressive international outreach work of buildOn, based in Stamford.  Here it is:

Nonprofit MediaWorks Facebook

Come March 30th, Facebook will convert all brand pages to the new Timeline format, so orgs better get crackin’ on this.  Here are cover images from organizations who’ve already stepped up their marketing with the new Facebook look:

Connecticut Concert Ballet
Hartford Stage (featuring an upcoming performance)
Nathan Hale School House
Music Haven
Mystic Arts Center
The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven
Cedar Hill Cemetery Foundation
New England Air Museum
The Maritime Aquarium at Norwalk
Greater Hartford Arts Council

You’ll likely need a graphic artist to create the cover image for you, since Facebook stipulates a 851 x 315 pixel image. Sizes of Facebook tabs and custom images for the tabs have also changed. Here’s a cheat sheet from Nate Devore on all new image specifications.

Importantly, Facebook is telling us that certain things cannot appear on the cover image, such as URLs, calls for action, or contact information. See the cover image guidelines here.

Need a video walk-through?  Here’s John Haydon on How to Convert your Facebook Page Cover to the New Timeline Layout:

Open the door and embrace this new marketing opportunity.  And remember that a picture says a thousand words.

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It’s shiny! It’s new! It’s social media! Should your nonprofit pick it up?

by Carol Buckheit on March 7, 2012

In the past nine months, two new social media tools have splashed their way to the shores of the nonprofit world– Google Plus and Pinterest.  Is your nonprofit missing valuable opportunities for engaging new supporters if you haven’d yet embraced these tools? How should you decide whether to devote valuable staff time to establishing brand pages on these sites?

With great fanfare back in January, Google Plus announced hitting the 90 million user milestone, though some question just  how many of their “users” are truly active on the site.  It wasn’t until November that Google Plus allowed brands (like nonprofits and businesses) to claim a “brand page” to build relationships with supporters. Powered by the world’s foremost search engine and packed with juicy features like the ability to customize one’s message sharing into “circles,” many nonprofits jumped in.

The photo-centric site Pinterest has reached 10 million unique U.S. users faster than any independent website –ever. Marketed as a virtual pinboard, the site’s popularity is driven overwhelmingly by women aged 18-34.  Here are 10 nonprofits using Pinterest to market themselves beautifully.

Feeling the pressure yet? Feeling left out?

Don’t.

Instead, ask yourself:

  • Do we have the staff time to maintain a new social media tool?   (Figure 2 hours per week per social media tool to see significant results, as per Idealware’s research.)
  • Who is our target audience? Are they using that social media tool?
  • Has our staff received training in how to use the tools strategically?
  • Have we clearly defined the goals for using the tool?
  • Who will be the “point person” for posting content? How often should they post?
  • What is our game plan for handling negative comments?
  • What kind of content “works” for that tool? Pinterest, for example, is highly visual. If you do budget and policy work, it may not be the best choice for you. Alternatively, it may be a boon to museums or groups promoting the outdoors or animal-rights, for example, who can more readily curate visual content that is inspiring.
  • Have we established guidelines for what kinds of content to post?
  • How will we measure our results?
Along with 1,700 curious nonprofit marketeers, I participated in Philanthropy.com’s online discussion on ”What Nonprofits Should Know About Pinterest.”  My take-home: Pinterest is so very new, nonprofits are still experimenting with it and determining their ROI (return on investment).  But, so far, some  folks are reporting that Pinterest is a significant driver of traffic to one’s website. And that’s a very good thing.

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 Photo by Lucid Dreamer, Flikr–Creative Commons, 1/14/10, “1.53 Carat E SI1 Engagement Ring”, Attribution Share-Alike License

“Think!” photo by florriebessingbourn, 4/10/06, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License.

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