Page Cover Photos usually draw a lot of attention in the News Feed which means you can capture some extra attention if you change them on a regular basis.
Do you have an upcoming store event? Special sale? Big announcement? You can use your cover photo to announce any one of these, but just make sure to keep that announcement within the 100% Safe Zone I'm showing you.
Even though the Facebook Cover Photo is 851 pixels wide by 315 pixels tall there actually a much smaller safe zone that will always be visible throughout all of the social network. To the right, you can see this 539 pixel by 160 pixel Safe Zone shown as a green rectangle.
This template on the right shows a secondary area where you can position another message. This blue rectangle is 505 pixels wide and 112 pixels tall. I've indicated an area on the right side that is typically covered by the profile photo.In this template, I've also indicated the margin "bleeds" that you should be aware of because they will be hidden depending on where your cover appears around Facebook.
If you think about your cover photo as a single large marketing message, you should also envision these green and blue boxes as smaller viewports of your message. What compelling image or message can you put in that green box that would entice someone to click from the News Feed to your page? Can that message/image be self-contained but also make sense when viewed with everything else?
What additional message or image can you place in the blue box area that adds extra excitement to the main headline? Although the message in the green box needs to be strong enough to compel the viewer, the message you place in the blue box is only a sub-headline or supporting image. The message you place in the blue box area will never be seen without the message placed in the green box area.
Your cover photo should create some kind of interest. A single photo of a ring won't create any real interest without an intriguing message; just make sure they are correctly positioned.
Don't worry about putting your store name or logo in the cover photo if you are already using them in the profile photo since the profile photo will always appear next to your cover image in some way.
I've seen better response rates to cover photos that included photographs of the staff or store events than to simple billboards with fine jewelry and a message. You could have a standard cover photo that you can switch in and out with other seasonal or monthly images. Remember, cover photos seem to have a lot more reach so don't be afraid to change it once a month.
I decided to put together this last template to illustrate what you might hear some other marketing guys talking about. Now that Facebook is allowing large messages, they are also allowing "calls to action." Here are some typical call to action phrases that you are probably familiar with:
* click here
* buy now
* like our page
* visit this page
* please share
I've already read some suggestions by other marketing gurus saying that you could include a call to action with an arrow to point to the button. I've already seen some of those arrows that are being cropped out of the cover photo because they were poorly placed.That last template shows where you should position 2 different arrows if you want to use this technique. You could probably be a little more creative than I'm showing here but the important point is that the tip of the arrow in the green box should be exactly where I've placed it. This will point directly to a Like button when only the Safe Zone is visible.
The tip of the arrow shown in the blue box will also point to the Like button when the full cover image is visible or when only the green/blue zones are visible.
Although this idea of the arrow pointing worked in previous Facebook designs, I'm not too sure it will lend itself well in the Cover Photo.
Regardless which approach you take, I hope these templates help you fully understand how to best employ the marketing power of your cover photo. A little marketing creativity could really jump up the ability for you to attract more fans to your page.
Click on each of the template images to download the full 851x315 size to your own computer.
