It seems as though little by little content managers of Facebook Fan Pages are getting a bit more room to push their message visually on a pretty serious piece of fan page real estate – the cover photo. Previously we’ve shared with you the top Three Practices That Will Shut Down Your Facebook Page and in just a short amount of time practice #1 was turned on its head.
Contact Information in the Cover Photo
Unfortunately, cover photos are not the place to advertise. It’s a great idea, great location but according the the Facebook TOS, they must not include more than 20% of text, price or purchase information, contact information, calls to action or references to Facebook features such as like or share.
Take pride in the fact that the user is already on your page and woo them with your intriguing content.
Earlier in the year, the rules changed to a bit to reflect more lenient standards of including any desired copy in your cover photo, as long as it did not exceed 20% of the total image. More recently (July 1) the 20% max copy rule was lifted as well.
What does this mean for your page?
Just because it’s OK by Facebook, doesn’t necessarily mean you should indulge. As always, make sure the cover photo plays well with the profile picture but don’t feel like you have to include every character from your main message on the first image your fans see (and the image that pops up in a user’s newsfeed when their friends fan a page). Play around with different layout styles and choose an image to copy ratio that works for you, and more importantly, works for your fans.
