Facebook Relaxes Rules on Cover Photos – What does this mean for Veterinary Practices?

Facebook has relaxed the previously strict rules on cover photos.

The most eyecatching feature on a facebook timeline is the cover photo, see below:

Up until now facebook has had strict and very specific rules for businesses on the content of the cover photo; they have prohibited the inclusion of some features that businesses often felt it was intuitive to include. Including information about the business such as telephone number or address was prohibited; no ‘calls to action’ could be included, and referring to facebook features was not allowed ie. you couldn’t ask people to ‘Like the page’ with an arrow pointing to the Like button.

Facebook have updated these regulations to a far more simple:

“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.”

These changes appear to offer vastly more freedom to businesses using facebook pages. The question is, were facebook’s original recommendations actually in the best interest of the businesses using their platform? If businesses use this extra freedom to include calls to action, phone numbers will it feel alot more overtly promotional and perhaps put people off?

Should veterinary practices immediately upload their contact telephone numbers to their cover photo or not? Will an arrow on the cover photo pointing to the ‘Like’ button increase the number of clients that choose to engage with you on facebook, or will it have the opposite effect?