So the timeline for brands is finally here. After months of speculation about what all will it bring with it, we now know that the platform is all set to undergo another major shift in communication pattern. Emphasis will now be on visual creative and storytelling. We analyze the changes that the platform will see in this article.

Getting Covered

The most noticeable change that anyone would see is the huge space that is going to be available right on top of the page to put up a cover photo. The size of the cover photo is 810×350 pixels. In a way, this is the largest available space that Facebook has ever given a brand to reach out to their audience.

Aviation industry has always looked at doing things in their marketing plan that can match the service quality that they offer in their flights. With increasing cost of advertising and marketing, innovating in these areas would only add to the ever increasing cost of the industry. Social Media, hence, has emerged as a very feasible platform for the industry.

Getting your routes right

Social Media engagement has allowed airlines to create awareness about their flight route. Effective planning has not only made the brand come out with better recall but also enabled an increased awareness of its network.

Over the past few months, the netizens have been irked about various developments surrounding the much talked about Anti piracy acts and censorship debate. Leading the pack are PIPA and SOPA. Various other issues have also cropped up on similar lines. Concerns pertaining to censorship of social media in India being one of them. For the ease of understanding let’s break them down and do a quick recap on what has been causing the stir in the cyber space.

No less than TIME magazine themselves asked whether Facebook is on a decline. While I understand it’s fashionable to ask whether products that are seemingly approaching the plateau of their product life cycle – are dying out, I do not think Facebook’s going anywhere.

And why? (I like to analyse questions like these from an emprical and this-is-how-we-work way rather than cull out numbers, graphs and stats that can be used to say anything)

1. It’s become our Flickr and Picasa: Apart from professional photographers and enthusiasts who benefit from pro features, I can’t recall too many people using either service anymore. Let me put it this way – you’re just back after a vacation. Or a friend’s birthday party. Or just transferring photos you’ve taken using your phone cam. What do you do with them? My guess is, Facebook and tag. And one doesn’t need stats to say how important photos are to the Facebook experience.

After much anticipation, Google finally allowed brands to create their pages on Google+ social network earlier this month. With lots of pre-launch speculation as to features, functionality and the impact Google+ Pages for brands could have on search and on Facebook pages, many brands will surely be very very excited to make their presence felt on the latest social media platform. An early adoption may boost the brand numbers in short run but a close look is a must before diving in.

While it will be essential that brands make the most of the functionalities and features available to add something new and fresh to their social media user experience, emphasis will also be on the way they integrate their approach to social media and SEO which would be a very important element of Google+ pages.