In a very quiet move, Facebook has removed almost all of its restrictions on cover images for pages that were previously in place! The only basic rule that survived is that text can still only occupy 20% of the overall image area. Social media expert Mari Smith reported the changes about Facebook’s page guidelines in a status update on her page, which credits Hugh Briss of Social Identities and Andrea Vahl of Grandma Mary — Social Media Edutainer for bringing these changes to her attention.
Mari goes on to point out everything new we need to consider:
What we still need to adhere to:
*Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.What is now NO longer in the guidelines:
Covers may not include:
* price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it on socialmusic.com”;
* contact information such as a website address, email, mailing address, or information that should go in your Page’s “About” section;
* references to Facebook features or actions, such as “Like” or “Share” or an arrow pointing from the cover photo to any of these features; or
* calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
Mari speculated that Facebook could be making these changes because the old rules were way to hard for them to enforce, which makes a lot of sense given their 1 billion person user base. This also could be an attempt to become a little more friendlier with brands given all the other social networking options popping up for businesses like Pinterest and Google+.
So do you like the new changes to cover images? Do you think this will provide a boost for businesses on Facebook with more branding flexibility?
I think it’s a good move. I can understand why the old restrictions were there, but I am glad to see it be less restrictive.
Excellent, yes I’m glad to here this.
Glad to hear 🙂
More likely even more brands will use their cover photos as billboards. I think Mari Smith is right that it was difficult for Facebook to police those businesses that either ignored the rules or didn’t know the rules about CTAs, web addresses, etc. It’s far easier to apply software to measure the amount of text on a page. This could backfire for brands. Facebook has always touted engagement and a great user experience, rather than just being another marketplace. But then fans will have the opportunity in the new newsfeed of either filtering in or filtering out pages they’ve liked.
Yes it was hard to police plus maybe business should be given a little more freedom to do what they want with their own social network real-estate. And this isn’t a green light to make overly blatant ads on your cover photos either, but rather gives brands a chance to be a little more creative within their campaigns.
Good move… and this would be more business friendly anyway..good business for all.
For sure cheers Ty!
I think the fewer restrictions the better. People will vote with their feet as regards cover pictures that they don’t like 🙂
Great article. Thank you for the update. This is vital information that will better assist my FB page!
My pleasure thanks Michael, this is definitely a big yet rather quiet update 🙂
Probably was a bad idea to be seen as too hostile towards good business pages. With so many other social options cropping up the last thing FB needs to do is open up the exodus gates.
Drop the restrictions and let the design do its work. If the design appears not to be well thought out or slapped together, it will be a representation of bad planning regarding other areas of their business.
Great point!
Hi Daniel! Thanks a mil for spreading the news. Exciting times, I’d say!
Hi Mari no problem and thank you so much for alerting all of us to the big news!