Facebook recently announced that the Timeline format was available for Business Pages. Those of you who are an administrator of a Business Page have also seen a notice that all pages will be automatically converted to the Timeline format on March 30, 2012. Pages can be converted immediately or you can simply preview the new look to see how it changes the page.

There are certainly pros and cons to the new format. I’ve collected several tutorials on changes you may want to consider to your page before the automatic conversion. I’m also including one related to the Timeline format on personal pages. Whether you are in charge of the page for your own business or you are creating graphics content for a client’s page, you’ll want to understand the changes that are coming soon.

Five must-have tools for an awesome Facebook Timeline is geared more towards personal profiles, but some of these tips will also apply to Business Pages.

Facebook Timeline Arrives for Business: Prepare Your Page gives you a checklist of things you’ll want to update to get the most from the new format.

Facebook’s Timeline Pages For Brands Are Here gives you a number of suggestions for updating your page. It also shows some examples of well-done pages in Timeline format. It does include an important link to Facebook’s guide to Timeline for pages, a PDF outlining many of the new features and technical specs.

The Future of Facebook is a cool infographic showing the history of Facebook itself in the Timeline format.

Many pages use a “fangate” app that shows a Welcome tab that is different for non-fans (people who have not “Liked” your page) and fans (those who have “Liked the page). Soon after the new format was announced, these apps were not ready for the new format. When these apps get updated, they should allow for wider tabs (currently 520 pixels wide, changing to 810 pixels wide) and larger icons. The company making the app we use on the Graphics Unleashed Facebook page posted Don’t Enable Timeline on Your Facebook Page Yet. Here’s Why.

This is a major format change and any business with a page should develop a plan for the migration with a target date of no later than March 30, 2012. If you are ready in advance, you can switch immediately. Like it or not, all pages will be converted on March 30. We are working hard behind the scenes on the Graphics Unleashed Facebook page to get it prepared for the new Timeline format. Not only are we preparing for the new format, we are working on a lot of exciting new content and will unveil it soon after we get the page converted to Timeline. If you haven’t already liked our page, do it now so you don’t miss out!