This post will be the first of several summarizing best practices for using Facebook Pages as a higher ed marketing tool. (Something I should have written about awhile ago, I suspect, but better late than never.)
Michael Fienen (@fienen) got me thinking earlier this morning when he asked the twitterverse to fess up about which higher ed institutions were putting Facebook Pages to best use. @tsand ran a Google hunt for University Facebook and got Union University on the top of his list – so Union wins in the SEO department. Let’s take a deeper look:
Above: First screenlength of Union University’s Facebook Page – click for live Page.
Union’s Page models several of what I consider Facebook Page best practices. The header image uses the full width of the column, and is bright and engaging. The header image is also sized so that location and phone information can be seen on the first screenlength – as opposed to a header image that extends below the cut line. Union has 1,820 fans, which is very respectable – but low considering how high its search visibility was (many pages have several thousand fans, and presumably more traffic and more inlinks). The Union Page integrates flickr to pull in photos from their flickr account over to Facebook – adding content to the Page and pushing traffic back and forth between both properties (Facebook and flickr).
So that’s Union. The rest of this post is going to focus on the first screenlength of a strong Facebook Page, with special focus on the display image.
Your choice of display image is strong determiner of your Page’s success as a marketing tool. Unlike MySpace, Facebook profiles and pages are still fairly limited visually – your display image is your built in opportunity to push out some fantastic creative. Your logo *might* do here, but:
- How does it look when stretched to capitalize the full column width? You want to get as much as possible into this opportunity.
- Is your logo visually engaging?
- Is your logo the best visual for your goals?
I’ll pick a bit on Ohio State as an example – please note that all the Pages I’ll be talking about in this post are among what I consider the strongest in higher ed – for one reason or another.

- Marquette University
- Texas Tech University (too big, but wow lots of impact!)
- Use at least 75% of the column width.
- Avoid images that extend below the first screenlength.
- Evaluate whether the official logo will be your strongest foot forward. (Would you let the logo take up 75% of your www homepage? Same thing in my opinion).
- Have graphics staff create a custom banner image that is the correct dimensions, and combines engaging visuals with the official brand.
- This is your space – get as much out of it as possible! (Such as Lehigh’s incorporation of visually appealing sales copy).
More tomorrow (or soon thereafter!)