This week Facebook is expected to unroll its Timeline format to brand Facebook Pages.

The details haven’t been confirmed, but we can guess a few things based on how Timeline works on personal profiles. First, Timeline is going to be photo-rich by emphasizing photos and potentially incorporating a brand banner at the top of the page, offering a more dynamic branding opportunity. In addition, brands will likely be able to showcase their growth over time, not just when they got on Facebook. Just as Timeline allows users to add content going back to their births, brands will be able to showcase their company histories.

Preparing for Timeline

Let’s be clear. Facebook has not unveiled the details, but brands can still prepare by doing what they should always be doing in this space—working to tell their stories.

Specifically, brands can prepare by gathering their assets:

The Cover Photo – The cover photo will play a prominent role at the top of Facebook pages. This offers an excellent branding opportunity that brands can customize as they see fit. This is a place to showcase creativity, promote special deals/offers, generate awareness for brand initiatives and so on. The cover photo can be changed on a regular basis to support the brand’s focus at any given moment.

Photos – Photos play a huge role on the Facebook platform, delivering deeper user engagement by increasing interactions. Timeline allows users to showcase specific photos, and it’s likely brands will be able to do the same. Brands can prepare by evaluating the photo assets they have now and gathering more. Photos are likely to play a large role in the future of pages.

Apps – Facebook has been working to unroll apps using the Open Graph protocol to allow frictionless sharing for users. Apps aren’t for every brand, but there are certainly opportunities to create a deeper level of engagement with a Facebook community.

Tell Your Story

Timeline allows Facebook users to provide a fuller picture of who they are and where they came from, and it’s likely brands will be able to do the same. Brands will be able to rethink how they share content and their brands on Facebook. Facebook pages will remain an engagement platform, but they’ll evolve to become something deeper—a way to bring a brand to life.