Facebook Fan Page

By Mike Zupp

One necessary feature of a Facebook business page is custom apps. Custom tabs are represented by thumbnails found below your timeline, on the right side of your Facebook page. These tabs can further enhance your promotional efforts by serving to redirect fans directly to your offers after clicking on a custom tab.

Custom tabs, aka “Facebook Apps” can help get you more connected to your fans and increase your chances of converting them into paying customers. These tabs can also be used to send your fans over to landing pages that you have already built, which can help you assemble an email list of prospective buyers, all while increasing your brand awareness.

An apparent advantage of using them is that your followers are kept on Facebook, where they are comfortable. The probability of converting your followers into paying customers will increase because you have kept your fans in an environment in which they are comfortable. There are a good few ways to add and customize Facebook tabs inside your fan page. One method is to use the Static HTML/iFrame, which is as follows:

The first step is to search “static HTML:iFrame tab” using your Facebook search bar. Then you’ll be redirected to that page and you will see a question asking you would like to add a tab to your Facebook fan page. Click on the “add Static HTML to a page” message and confirm it. If you have more than one Facebook page, they will all show up. Just select the one you would like to add the custom tab to for now.

The second step is to customize your app. Start by renaming the tab and changing the icon image. Click on the pencil icon in the upper right hand corner of the thumbnail and select “edit settings”. You can now change the name of your custom tab, making sure to click “save” when finished.. You can now change the image associated with the thumbnail by clicking “change” and then uploading the replacement photo. The system’s default thumbnail size is 111 x 74 pixels. Your custom tab is tiny and not easy to see at all, so make sure you use an image that is very prominent. Add specific calls to action and select bright colors for the thumbnail picture.

Now is the time to add the content. Just click on the custom tab and you will be routed to the editor page. You will be provided several options on how you can add the content, the most common being through HTML. Other choices include Image, Website, Contact and Drag & Drop.

The content-adding method you choose all depends on what type it is. Your custom tab is complete as soon as you’ve finished uploading your content. Please note that you can always go back to the app editor area to add as many additional custom tabs as you would like.

Facebook custom tabs open up a whole new world of opportunities to engage with fans and ultimately generate additional sales. There are even more ways to utilize them for generating more fans and eventual paying customers, like hosting contests and raffles.

Finally, in order to keep your conversion rate of visitors to fans (and eventually clients) high, you need to keep your traffic inside your Facebook fan page: creating Facebook custom tabs is the best means of achieving this goal.

For more information about building a Facebook template, check out the Social App Tool. I’m sure you’ll find it useful!