While Facebook continuously adds new features to help businesses and groups enhance their pages, it can be difficult to know what these features do without running a test on your page. The last thing you want is to test out a feature on fans who think you already know your craft, so it is important to study these tools before you move forward with using them.
What exactly are Facebook Milestones?
Milestones allow pages to display an event with a location, date, story, and a photo to inform their fans of something exciting taking place. For example, a page dedicated to a bakery may create a Milestone for the day they sell their 10,000th cupcake to one of their customers. Or, a fan-page for a celebrity may create a Milestone on the day they receive their 500th Like for the page, thanking their fans with a unique photo and a few kind words to commemorate the event.
What’s the point?
It may seem relatively useless to make a post with such little information, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Milestones are yet another way for companies and groups to add some flare to their page and break up the monotony of regular posts. Facebook, like most other Social Media venues, is very aesthetically driven in that users will Like posts which catch their eye before they’ll Like a long, textually driven message. What Milestones do effectively is stretch across the entire Timeline of a page feed with a photo, bolded text, and a date, giving the page aesthetic variation.
Milestones also add to a brand’s credibility, because it allows them to showcase the finer points of their organization. Awards, ceremonies, fundraising, Likes, and even a Fan of the Week are just a few examples of how Milestones can be used to celebrate on Facebook. If you’re a business selling a product and want show your fans that you care about more than simply making money, Milestones will only add to your social likeability.
How do I set up a Milestone?
Setting up a Milestone on your page is very simple. First, locate the box you typically use to create posts for your page, and click on the “Event, Milestone +” button, which you can see circled below.
Once you’ve clicked, a drop-down menu will come into view, giving you the option between creating an Event, a Milestone, or a Question.
Click on the Milestone option in the middle of the menu list, and then a larger box will come up. You’re ready to start putting in your Milestone information!
Type in a title for your Milestone Event. In the above screen-grab you’ll see I’ve used “I Learned Milestones” for mine – followed by a Location, a date, and a short story. While all of this information is not required, each extra bit will add some pizazz to your post. You also have the option of uploading a new photo or choosing from photos you have already uploaded to Facebook. I highly recommend using a photo with your Milestone to make it even more eye-catching.
Once you have all of your information in, click Save and the Milestone will appear on your Timeline at whichever date you’ve chosen. If the current month is October and you have set your date to September, the Milestone will not appear at the top of your feed; instead it will appear earlier amongst the posts you made in September. The date is a key factor for this reason, and why you should wait until the day of a Milestone event to make your post.
In summary…
- Milestones signify special achievements or events
- They are great for breaking up page monotony and rewarding fans
- They are simple to set up
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