Facebook is once again making some changes to its guidelines and terms of service for business pages. As of January 15th, 2013, ALL Facebook Cover Photos and ads will now be restricted to just 20% text.
Is your business’ Fan Page in compliance
My guess is quite a few of you out there will say ‘No’, because even our own Cover Photo was breaking Facebook’s rules. If you don’t run ads on Facebook, this new rule will only apply to your Cover Photo. While you can still post images to your Page’s Timeline that are text, you can’t use them as the Cover Photo. You also won’t be able to use one as a Promoted Post or Sponsored Story. Facebook’s new rules will, however, allow them as ads that appear on Facebook’s sidebar, but they won’t be able to be used in the news feed. (Side note: I really don’t recommend using text in a sidebar ad anyway, unless it’s your logo. This is small real estate and you want to make the biggest impression you can. Think images. Think simple.)
So, what ARE the official rules for Cover Photos?
In addition to the new 20% rule, Facebook’s guidelines explicitly state:
Cover photos must be at least 399 pixels wide and may not contain:
- Price or purchase information, such as “40% off,” “Download it at our website,” or “Free Sunglasses All Summer Long.”
- Contact information, such as a web address, email, mailing address, or other information intended for your Page’s About section.
- References to user interface elements, such as ‘Like’ or ‘Share’, or other Facebook site features.
- Calls-to-action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends.”
- Cover photos may not be in violation of Facebook’s official terms.
The rumor is that Facebook has been cracking down on violators of these rules. NOW is the time to replace your cover photo. For best results, we recommend creating a cover photo that is sized correctly at 851 pixels by 315 pixels. If you need help, give us a shout!
You must also note that any logos within a Cover Photo DO count towards your text limit, so choose your images and build wisely!
UPDATE: There is now a handy tool to tell if your cover photo is in compliance with Facebook’s rules. Click on this link and just type in your Page’s URL. For example, our page is /socialvisionmarketing.
