The Facebook Business Page Series ~ No 4 ~ Creating a Great First Impression with a Custom Landing Tab

It’s been a while since my last post, and the previous instalment in the Facebook Business Page Series ~ I have been a bit preoccupied with writing an essay for my degree in Internet Communications, so I apologise for the delay. Sooner or later I will also post some of my academic work for your interest. But for now, let’s get on with the task at hand which is creating a successful and beautiful Facebook Business page, and in particular, creating a great first impression by setting up a landing tab to welcome your visitors.

By default, when people visit your Facebook Business Page, they will arrive at your wall. But if you would like to increase your initial impact and create a more significant first impression, you can customise your Page to include a landing tab displaying whatever information you choose about your product or organisation. This is the first information visitors will see when they click on the link to your page so you can really use this as a powerful way to grab people’s attention. It essentially fits the role of a Home page on a website and creates the feel of a website within Facebook. You can do all sorts of things on a customised landing tab, such as product promotion, alerting people to special deals or events, giving detailed information about your business or adding a webform to build a subscriber list. The possibilities are endless.

Step 1: Installing the Static FBML Application

The first step is to install the official Static FBML application (app) on your page. The tabs along the top of your page are generated by apps, some of which are already provided by Facebook, such as your wall, info and photos; but there are many more apps which you can include to customise your page and allow different interactions and experiences for your visitors. We will talk more about some of the other apps you can install in a later post. In this post we will only look at installing the Static FBML app and ways you can use this app to enhance your Page. The Static FMBL app allows you to add unique content to your page such as custom graphics, audio and video, webforms and links using HTML codes.

Log in to Facebook and from your personal Profile page and click on “Applications” in the lefthand sidebar. You will be taken to the Applications page which shows lists of any applications you and your friends are currently using.

At the top of the screen enter Static FBML into the search box  and click on the Static FBML application name in the search results to be directed to the Static FBML page. Click on “Add to My Page” underneath the logo in the lefthand sidebar.

A dialogue box will pop up. Select your page name and click on “Add to Page”. Static FBML has now been installed on your page.

Step 2: Creating Your Tab

The tabs at the top of your Facebook Page are akin to site navigation on a website. You can set up multiple different tabs which act as different “pages” within your Page. What we want to do now is set up the application you just installed as one of those tabs.

So now that you’ve installed your app return to your Page by clicking on “Account” in the top right corner, then “Manage Page” and when the “Pages You Manage” dialogue box pops up click “Go to Page”.

Once you’re back on your page click on “Edit Page” in the lefthand sidebar below your image or logo.

This will bring up your settings and applications. Scroll through your applications until you find the FBML app. We want to set this up as a tab on your Business Page so to do this click on “Application Settings”. When the dialogue box appears click on “Add” next to “Tab” then click “Okay” to add the tab to your page. This may happen automatically as it has in the example below, so just click on “Okay” and you’re done.

Step 3: Naming, Customising and Adding Content

The next step is to give your tab a name and to customise your tab by adding content. This time click on “Edit” under the FBML app on your page editing screen.

This will take you to a new screen where you can give your tab a name and displays a standard HTML text field where you can add your unique content using HTML code. The “Box Title” is where you give your page its name. This can be anything you like, from a simple “Welcome” or “Subscribe” to “This Week’s Specials” or “Product Specifications”. It’s entirely up to you depending on the subject matter of your page and the image you are trying to portray. The FBML box is where you can enter your custom text, HTML code, CSS or Facebook Markup Language (FBML) code. HTML code writing is beyond the scope of this post (and me!) so seek professional advice if you are new to writing code and want to create some significant design elements. You can, however, very simply write text and embed code for webforms, images, audio or video, for example. For the purpose of this example, I will be adding some text, an image, a video and a link back to my blog. Take note that if you are adding an image it must be hosted somewhere else, on your website or an image sharing site such as Imgur, for example. You can’t host it or upload it  - you can only reference it on your tab. Adding YouTube videos is a little more complex than simply embedding the code from YouTube but this is a great article giving simple step-by-step instructions of how to do it: How to Add YouTube Videos or Flash to Facebook Static FBML Pages. So my edit page now looks like this:

and my Welcome tab looks like this:

If for any reason you do not see your new tab at the top of your page, click on either the “+” or “>>” tab and then click on the name of your new tab. You can also drag your tabs around and reposition them as you choose.

Step 4: Set Your New Tab as the Default Landing Tab

To ensure your visitors are directed to your new landing tab when they click on your page link, click on “Edit Page” in your lefthand sidebar, then find “Wall Settings”  and click on “Edit”. This will expand your settings section where you can select the name of your new tab from the dropdown box after “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else”. This will ensure your new tab is the first thing visitors to your page will see.

And you’re done!

Step 5: Adding More Static FBML Tabs

If you decide you would like to add more Static FBML tabs to your page – a subscription web form, for example, you can easily add extra tabs by clicking “Edit Page” in your left sidebar, then clicking “Edit” under the your FBML application. Below the FBML box you will see “Add another FBML box”. Simply click here and follow through as described above. We’ll cover off how to add a webform in a later post.

In the next post we’ll talk about how to automatically send your blog posts to your Business Page.

Dedicated to your success,