The Facebook Timeline design is having a significant negative impact on Facebook tabs. A recent Mashable report on data from Facebook analytics firm PageLever shows engagement with tabs has dropped 53 percent since the Timeline became mandatory for Pages in April:

“Why the general drop-off? PageLever founder Jeff Widman believes it’s a combination of two things: That brands can no longer set a custom tab as their default landing page for non-fans, and Tabs are less visible in the Timeline layout.” 

The article suggests this drop in tab engagement may lead organizations to alter their strategies by spending less time on tabs and more time on creating content for the wall.

While we’re always ready to adapt to Facebook’s ever-evolving platform, we also know there are ways to continue leveraging the potential power of custom tabs.

The Timeline’s “Pin to Top” feature allows you to fix a post to the top of your page’s news feed. Promoting a tab this way actually brings it more front and center than it would have appeared in Facebook’s old Pages format.

Facebook advertisements can also still be used to drive people directly to a tab, ensuring there are opportunities to maintain a tab as a key component of a digital campaign.

Clearly the new Timeline format necessitates some adjustments for a Facebook page strategy, but until customizable tabs are permanently removed, they will continue to serve a useful purpose. Having built a variety of custom tabs for a wide range of campaigns, we’re prepared to show you how.