Today is the day all business pages must convert to Facebook Timeline.  The traditional page view will now be the timeline that was available much earlier for individual profile pages. 

There is always some grumbling with any new change, but there are ways for businesses to take advantage of Timeline and some of the other recent features Facebook has released.

8 Ways for Businesses to use Facebook Timeline:

1. Pick a great cover photo. Dimensions for the large cover image is 851 x 315 pixels.  If you upload an image that's smaller than these dimensions, it will get stretched to this larger size. The image you upload must be at least 399 pixels wide. One rule to keep in mind: No calls to action are allowed in cover photos.
2. Facebook Ads. With its updates, Facebook is also updating its advertising platform. There are new Premium Ads and a Reach Generator. And, the one that could be very exciting: Offers (that one is actually free to set up, though currently only available to large brands).
3. Messaging. Fans can now directly message a business page.  Pages cannot message individuals, but can respond to messages. Make sure to check your page often for new messages. 
   
4. Posts. Posts now appear in a timeline format (hence the name), and you can pin certain posts to the top of your timeline for 7 days if you want to be sure they can be viewed over and over again.  You can also star a post to make it stay in a wide format that spans both of the timeline columns, another way to highlight something important.
5. Tabs and Apps. In the top right of your page, you can choose to feature different apps or tabs. Photos tab is not optional, but you can choose between videos, likes, events, notes, or other tabs.  The best part of this feature is that you can customize these tabs, like Coca-cola does:
   

   
   
   The dimensions are 111 x 74 pixels. These are great areas to get creative and add seamless branding, calls to action, and specials. To add/change a custom thumbnail, first expand all apps by clicking the small down arrow to the right of the four app display. Then hover over any app > click the edit pencil > click Edit Settings > click Change next to Custom Tab Image (opens in a new window) > click Change > upload an image. The image loads and saves right away.
6. Timeline your Milestones. Fill in your company's timeline by adding important milestones, like when you company was founded, your first product, new employees, etc. This will build trust with your fans. Coca-cola is again a good example:
   
7. Custom Landing Tab. This is a really neat feature. While landing tabs (fan gates) do not still work for people organically landing on your timeline , you can still drive traffic to a custom landing tab. Each tab/app still has a unique URL so you can drive traffic from inside or outside Facebook to any "Ëœlanding page' you wish.
8. Interest Lists. Users can add your page to an Interest List.  Encourage them to choose a list that is applicable to your content, like Business News, Web Tips, Great Products, etc.