It’s leap year and what a better way to commemorate this unique day than with a major leap forward from Facebook, the the biggest social media platform in the world!

February 29 is the day Facebook is set to announce the launching and details of Timeline for Pages.

Business Insider reported in late January that Facebook is in the process of launching Timeline for Brand pages and that an official announcement will be made on February 29th during Facebook’s invitation-only Facebook Marketers Council in New York City.  We’ll be taking in the LiveStream event and you can to, right here.

So what does Timeline mean for your Page and what can you do to prepare?

No one knows exactly what Facebook is going to do regarding Timeline for Pages until there’s an official announcement. However, we can speculate on a number of changes based on the current Timeline for Profiles, and Facebook’s own admission that they want to have some continuity and consistency between Profiles and Pages (see Mashable 09/27/2011).

Large Cover Image

This is the most striking visual detail of Timeline for profiles.  We see no reason that this wouldn’t be central to a Timeline for Pages. Our guess is that this will function just like it does for Profiles, where Page Admins can add/update the prominent image. (See example below of one Timeline cover concept of a fan Page that was developed as an idea and posted on Mashable.)

Custom Tabs

Custom tabs serve as a key piece of the Facebook experience for visitors to fan pages. Companies rely on their custom tabs for encouraging the “Like” of the page, for gathering user data, for running contests and sweepstakes, and much more. It’s doubtful that this will change. Custom tabs are important to users, Page Admins and to Facebook.

Why for Facebook? Custom tabs provide Ad space. Facebook’s income comes largely from Ad revenue.  Will custom tabs change in some other way like size? Perhaps. Perhaps not.

The Wall

Currently the Wall is the central destination and default location set by Facebook for all that have “Liked” a Page. If you compare the present Page Wall to a Profile Timeline, the Wall fails! It’s largely text-based, and much less visually stimulating.

My guess is that the Wall (and perhaps the Info tab) will be replaced with the Timeline. Once a visitor has “Liked” the Page, the default destination will be the Timeline that they return to upon subsequent visits.

What About Tab Navigation when Timeline comes?

If the Wall transforms into the Timeline for Pages, obviously the current left navigation for custom tabs will be gone. My speculation, and it’s just speculation, is that just like on the Profile Timeline where there are scrollable boxes right beneath the Cover image for “Likes,” “Friends,” “Photos,” etc., there will now be boxes for tabs showing “Fans,” “Map,” and custom tabs. As well, tabs may appear as “boxes” in the Timeline where it pulls in the tab name, possibly an image (replacing custom icon currently used?), and potentially pulling text from the tab itself.

Obviously this may mean changes and new possibilities for custom tabs. Developers like our team at TabSite are poised and ready to respond and take advantage of the new features that may be added.

So, will custom tabs remain after Timeline launches? I think yes. Will users have to rework them? Hard to say, other than perhaps the custom icons for tabs go away and a new size image would be available. Again, just speculation, but this would seem to flow with Facebook’s goal of consistency and a “clean” look similar to Timeline for Profiles.

So what can be done to prepare?

There are a number of things Page Admins can do to prepare for Timeline:

1. Prepare a Timeline – What events and dates are significant to your company? Create a written report with images that you will want to use for those special dates in your company history.
2. Prepare a Timeline Cover Image – You’ll be ready to showcase your brand image and upload it.
3. Prepare Communication – You can begin preparing blog or news communication for your fans/visitors letting them know you are staying current with Facebook’s potential changes and plan to be ready to adjust in order to create a great environment for them.
4. Keep in touch with us – We”ll be giving out information as we have it on how you can prepare and what shifts you’ll need to make. Watch our fan page and blog.

One thing you can always expect from Facebook: innovation. As a social platform, Facebook will continue to evolve and change, just as your social relationships are fluid and ever-evolving. Facebook wants to make the world a more connected place. Timeline for Pages is just a next step in this process!

What are your thoughts on Timeline for Pages?  Post below!

Mike Gingerich is the Business Development and Marketing Director for TabSite and Plan Your Post. TabSite powers more than 67,000 small and medium-sized businesses to create and deploy custom tabs and interactive fan page tab actions.  Plan Your Post is a Facebook and Twitter Post Planner, monitoring, and social impact measuring tool.