Facebook revised their cover image policy to be more consistent with the 20% text policy for news feed ad images.
They removed language restricting sales/purchase/price information, call-to-actions, or company websites from being on the cover image.
The policy now simply says:
“All covers are public. This means that anyone who visits your Page will be able to see your cover. Covers can’t be deceptive, misleading or infringe on anyone else’s copyright. You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines. Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.”
Enforcement of Cover Rules
Further, Facebook has announced that they will be implementing a MASSIVE enforcement/clean-up program beginning April 1st (I know, I thought the same thing…) to ensure that pages are following the 20% guidelines on cover images.
The first time a page violates the policy, page admins will essentially go through Facebook’s version of driver’s ed where they are educated about the methodology to determine 20% text.
They will also get an opportunity to upload a new photo within 48 hours. Failing to do so or repeat violation will result in the deletion of the cover photo.
Facebook’s Motivation
This seems to be an attempt by Facebook to make their cover image restrictions completely automated, requiring little to no human man power to enforce.
Facebook is prioritizing what they really want to see in images on the site.
Calls to action were less important for them to restrict than just having less text on images in general.
Also, Facebook cover images might be showing up in the new Facebook news feed more often.
Here’s what page like stories look like in the new Facebook news feed:
Why this is important:
Since cover images now appear so much more prevalently in the new Facebook news feed when a user likes a brand page, the cover image is an even more important part of your brand’s Facebook page.
Before you get excited about the fact that price and purchase info is now allowed on a cover image, keep in mind that the image is still limited to containing only 20% text.
How will Facebook’s cover image policy change affect your marketing efforts?