Why spend the time changing your cover photo? So many people leave their cover image for months and miss the powerful marketing opportunities.
Cover Photo as a Marketing Tactic
Your cover photo is an essential marketing tool that can be used to:
- Add interest to your page
- Showcase your niche market or specialty
- Highlight destinations you’d like to sell
- Give preferential treatment to a preferred supplier
- Thank your clients
- Give fans a glimpse of an upcoming tour
Here’s how to make the change. (2 minute video below. Please click the video to play)
Add a Description
When you take the extra step and add the description behind your newly uploaded cover image remember to add a link to your website. Make sure the link leads readers to a landing page on your website that is relevant to the graphic image.
Tip: if the link is too long, use a link shortening tool to focus attention on your description while not taking up valuable real estate with a long (ugly) link.
Travel Consultants: if the cover image you selected is related to cruising, link to a landing page on your website that features cruise information, tips for first time cruisers or specials. How about linking to your own creation of a Top 10 Reasons to Cruise list.
Destinations: by using your cover image to reflect upcoming events then leading fans to more information about the event and ticketing information will increase the buzz and attendance.
Hotel Suppliers: keep in mind the seasonality of your product and showcase a holiday with a link to dining at your hotel. Using your cover photo to tease, tempt and titillate will give exposure to dining, weekend packages, spa and other amenities.
Add a Call to Action
Did you know….When fans click anywhere on the cover image they will automatically be taken to the Description box we talked about above. Invite your fans to click the image by adding a graphic that includes a call to action. For example, you may add a box to your cover image that tells them a specific benefit to clicking, tells them what they’ll discover by clicking or what they’ll receive. For example, you may say something like:
- “Click here for a free cruise guide”
- “Click and discover a packing tips guide”
- “Click here. Event Guide”
Try including this type of call to action in a specially shaped graphic that draws attention.
Image sizing
Keep abreast of the changing sizes of cover images as well as the placement of buttons at the bottom of the image. Current Facebook Cover image sizes can be found here.
Many times I see great cover images with interesting text only to find that the text has been obscured by the ‘like’ and ‘message’ buttons. Using a tool like PicMonkey or Canva to create your designs gives you the flexibility to move text as needed.
Image Sources
Unique, engaging images are crucial to making the most of your cover image as a marketing tool. Sources include:
- Your own photos
- Photos from suppliers (used with permission)
- Image from royalty-free sources. Here are a couple of my favorites
o Fotolia
Bonus!
When you change your cover photo, remember it shows up in your timeline and your fans have the opportunity to see the change immediately. The bonus is that the shape and size of this post is different than regular timeline posts so it stands out in the newsfeed. What a great way to stand out from an ever growing flow of information.
When you make the time to change your cover image the reward of extra marketing punch will be yours for only a few minutes of your time. Create some buzz for your business with savvy marketing.
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