Facebook has some great tools at your business’ disposal, especially since it implemented the Timeline format for business pages. You can include tabs for contests, coupons, videos, blog posts and more.
Using Tabs to Get People to Take Action
Bigger brands like Skinny Cow have been using custom tabs for promotions and contests for a while now, and small businesses can learn a lot from these brands. Here you see a custom tab for the brand’s “The Dirty Dancing 25th Anniversary Celebration.” Images link to pages on the company’s site that provide more info on the promotions.
As you can see, custom Facebook tabs can be used to get people to enter a contest, use a coupon code or download a whitepaper. Focus on using call to action words like “Enter now!” to instill a sense of urgency in your visitors.
Creating Your Custom Facebook Tab
There are a few ways to go about this.
Level 1: Some Degree of Technical Knowledge
Start by searching the Apps on Facebook to find one that meets what you need. A basic iFrame app like this one will let you enter info like you would a Word document. Or you could use this Contest app to create your own contest.
Level 2: You Want it Dead Simple
There are other tools, like these websites that hold your hand while creating both your business page for Facebook, as well as custom apps.
Level 3: You Have the Budget and Want Something Really Custom
The services above tend to use templates, so if your needs are beyond what they can provide, you can hire a Facebook developer to really customize your tab content. This will cost more, so it’s not for the small business budget, oftentimes.
Other Not-To-Miss Features of Facebook Timeline for Business
If you haven’t played around much with the new features of business pages, here are a few highlights:
- You can highlight a status update. So if you have a blog post you want more attention for, simply click the star once you’ve updated it in your status box. It stays up, I believe, a week, at the top of your feed.
- Larger, wider cover photo. You can use your small icon as your logo and now include a larger image of your products or staff for better visual appeal.
- New admin panel at top of page. Shows you who has liked your page or update as well as a quick snapshot of your Insights.
- Uses a time frame approach. It’s not called “Timeline” for nothing. You can set company milestones (founded, new products added, etc) with dates.
For more info on Facebook tabs, don’t miss our free webinar, Making the Most of Custom Facebook Tabs, July 19, 2012, at 2 pm Eastern.
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Communications, an internet marketing firm specializing in marketing communications, copywriting and blog posts. She’s written two books: 101 Entrepreneur Tips and Internet Marketing Strategies for Entrepreneurs, and has blogged for several sites, including The Marketing Eggspert Blog, as well as Mashable, Small Business Trends, FutureSimple, and Lead411. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing.
