Previously, we talked about Facebook Fan Pages Vs. Group Pages. As we discussed, Fan Pages are a great way to promote your company on Facebook, and hopefully, you’ve started your own page.
Aside from using the wall, photos and asking people to be your fan, are you using ALL of the functionalities available to you? One such feature is the custom tabs. Much like real tabs, they keep things organized and easy to see for you and your customers.
If you use Facebook a lot, then you’re already familiar with tabs – you use them to navigate between your wall, homepage, photos, applications, etc. Fan Pages allow you to put your own tabs (with your own headings) on your page. For example, if you’re a retailer, you may want to have a page to highlight your current in store special deal.
Why would you want to go through the trouble of making your own tabs? For one thing, you can make your landing page (that is, the first page people see when they arrive on your Facebook page) consistent with the branding of your company’s website. Customizing your Fan Page makes you stand out from your competitors –and chances are you’ll be able to attract more Facebook users to become fans of your business.
There are some pretty good examples of how other business (both large and small) have leveraged the custom pages to increase their fanbase. Here are a few examples:
YMI Jeans – http://www.facebook.com/YMIjeans
Going to the California-based jeans company’s Facebook page instantly brings you to their promotional page (“Free Jeans Wednesday”) where fans can win free products. Their custom tabs include one for their shop, allowing users to browse and buy from their catalogue with ease.
Harley Davidson – http://www.facebook.com/harley-davidson
Harley Davidson gets in on the act by creating a custom home page for their fan site. They take it a step further, adding tabs for their current promotions (“Bike Exchange”) and other custom tabs like a separate page for Women Riders and a page to leverage the social networking aspect of Facebook by inviting friends who may be interested in becoming fans.
Mabel’s Labels – http://www.facebook.com/pages/infomabelca/Mabels-Labels/6494469723
Mabel’s Labels really makes their fan page their own with their colourful home page, filled with all the latest news about their company. They’ve also integrated tabs for fundraising, contests and testimonials to let their fans easily navigate their content.
Facebook does not allow for directly making customized tabs. Instead, you’ll need to use FBML (Facebook Markup Language) and use a little bit of HTML and CSS to rename the tabs. Of course, knowing a LOT more HTML and CSS can go a long way towards making a Fan Page totally your own.
Don’t have time to do it yourself? October 17 Media can create a Fan Page which reflects your business and helps attract more customers. So give us a call today and we can get started right away.
Tags: Facebook, Self Promotion
Love your FB landing page! Cute!
Great information to get one started!
Now, how about a walk through on using FBML for those who aren’t HTML and CSS knowledgeable?
If I beat you to the punch, I’ll let you know!
Keep up the great work!
Hey guys, glad to see the October17 Facebook page update — nicely implemented! =)