After you launch a Facebook page for your business, you may be looking for ways to enhance its visual appeal and functionality. One of the most effective ways to do this is to create custom tabs.
You’ve seen these before. Perhaps it was a nicely branded Welcome tab that shows up before you “like” a company’s page. Or perhaps it was a tab highlighting a new product, service, or contest. These custom tabs are great ways to engage your fans while continuing to promote your business.
The Nuts and Bolts of a Great Facebook Tab
Facebook users will not settle for a tacky clip art tab. It needs to be done well or not done at all. SmartBlogs breaks down a great Facebook tab into five key components: purpose, viewpoint, branding, incentives, and timeliness. These elements will ensure that your tab mirrors your company’s look and feel and helps to achieve your business objectives.
Tab Types
There are dozens of different types of tabs you can develop for your Facebook page. Here are four of the most popular tab formats:
Welcome Tab: A Welcome tab should act as the front porch to your Facebook page. As a fan gate, it will be the first thing users see when they visit your page, so it must be inviting, engaging, and consistent with your brand. It’s also your opportunity to demonstrate the value of joining your Facebook community more clearly than the content on your Wall ever could.
Integrated Tab: This is a way to host your company’s blog (shameless plug), YouTube channel, Twitter feed, etc., on your Facebook page. This works to promote connectivity among your social networks while providing your Facebook fans with further insight into how you think and do business. It may also be the push your users need to “follow” you on Twitter, subscribe to your channel on YouTube, or bookmark your blog.
Promotional Tab: This tab allows you to thank your fans by providing them discounts on your products. Check out this example from Oreo. This type of tab is ideal if you’ve just launched a product and want to encourage your fans to try it. You can drive traffic to the tab through a Facebook ad campaign or by posting links in your news feed.
Contest Tab: Creating a tab around a contest is a great way to draw people to your Facebook page. Whether the prize is a gift card, an iPad, or cold hard cash, people love to win contests. A contest tab enables you to easily track all entrants as they enter information directly in the tab. It will also keep those entrants coming back to your page to continue entering and to find out if they’ve won.
Facebook Tab Creation Tools
You can expect to pay a designer and Web developer thousands of dollars to create and maintain a Facebook tab. For a big, intricate project, this may be your best bet. But, if you’re going for the less expensive, DIY approach, here are some solutions for you.
1. Build the tab in Facebook. You can create basic tabs in Facebook by logging in as a Facebook developer. This foolproof process will allow you to create basic tabs for your page for free.
2. Use a paid service. There are countless apps that will help you build attractive and functional tabs for your page, including Wildfire and ShortStack. Most of these services come with tiered pricing options — the more you pay, the more capabilities you receive. Paying for these services will allow you more control over design elements and may include features such as the tracking of tab analytics.
Now that you’re an expert on Facebook tabs, what are you waiting for? Get started on creating your own custom tabs today.
Interested in learning more about the role social media could play in your business? Give Matt Ferraguto, our Digital Division Director, a call at 919-858-6914 or shoot us an email. We’d love to have a conversation with you.
