It’s good to be home! For those of you who missed my last post, I was taking a short break from the net due to health reasons. Glad to start writing again, but I won’t be force feeding you with lengthy posts just yet. How about something light and easy this week with a few handy tips for your daily facebook experience?

16++ Facebook Tips You Should Not Miss!

#1 To Control Facebook Font Size for Readability

To enlarge: Press ‘Ctrl’ and ‘+’;

To minimize: Press ‘Ctrl’ & ‘-’

#2 To Bold and Underline your text in Facebook Chat

For Bold text –> *your message*

For Underline –> _your message_

#3 To Bypass 420 characters limit for Status Updates

Add a photo to your status update and enjoy the limit-free characters.

(Suggestion: use photo that is related to what you’re sharing, see here for the example)

#4 To Increase the number of Pages or Friends to appear in News Feed

At News Feed > Most Recent > Scroll down to bottom, click Edit Options > Increase the maximum number of friends (or pages) shown in Live Feed OR, insert your own selections of ‘Recommended Friends (or Pages)’.

If you are a page admin, encourage your fans to add your page. But mind you, ‘popularity’ is another major factor that you need to be aware of: Facebook News Feed Settings – Random or Not, Biggest Secrets Revealed

#5 To Display extra Information on Facebook Page Wall with ‘Founded’

Go to Edit Page -> Basic Information -> Founded -> type not more than 247 characters for your (extra) business info.

#6 To Access your Application Settings directly from profile

We all know the Account -> Application Settings is no longer available. But you can still reach the application page easily via this direct link: http://www.facebook.com/settings/?tab=applications Bookmark it if you’ll use it often.

#7 To Review your Invites and Imported Contacts

Invite History is an important link to track contacts you had invited to join Facebook. As an admin, I find this particularly useful when I’m sending email invitations to those who are yet to own a facebook profile but to co-administer my page. That way I can track their responses and send reminder to them if need to. Also, a good way to discover if the invited contacts are all set with a personal profile to be added as friends:

#8 To Remove all your Imported Contacts from Phone or Emails

If you’re a mobile user who had accidentally imported your friends from phone contacts or emails while authorizing an app, remove and protect their privacy (and yours) via this link so they won’t be exposed on Edit Friends -> Phonebook:

#9 Discover Facebook Pages to ‘Like’

Browse facebook pages you may find interest in based on categories or countries. Not only that, you can even discover what your friends and you have in common based in mutual ‘liked’ pages.

#10 To Browse Directory by Name

A full directory that contains public search listings on facebook – profiles, pages, applications, groups, you name it – all arranged alphabetically by last name. Numbers 1 to 26 contain non-Latin character names. If you do not wish to be found here, make sure to opt out by changing your privacy settings for Public Search.

#11 Download Your Facebook Information

A new feature introduced by facebook to back-up your personal data:

Go to Account -> Account Settings -> Download -> Learn More

It will take some time for facebook to generate all your data (photos, videos, wall posts, messages, friend lists etc). Once it is archived (in .zip format), you will receive an email notification to proceed with the download.

Your .zip files will not be containing photos uploaded by others, phonebook and friends’ email addresses, so if you’re in need of those data too, some recommended apps to download the missing data.

#12 To Secure your facebook account

To be notified when people hacked into your facebook account:

Account Settings -> Account Security -> ON -> Save to receive notifications for login alert via email from new devices. You can now login and register your computer with a name, then start tracking.

#13 To Download Facebook Videos

It is always easy to download a video hosted on Youtube, but what about those clips uploaded directly to facebook? This facebook video downloader may be able to do the trick. So far it has been working well for all public videos.

#14 To obtain facebook Info & Facts:

• Statistics
• Company Factsheet
• Facebook Timeline
• Facebook Press Releases
• Stories and experiences by facebook users

#15 To Get Practical with your Facebook Page:

• Enhance your facebook pages with Facebook applications, but be selective.
• Import blog feed to facebook page for site visibility.
• Improve admin and fans interactions with contact forms; setup page notifications for wall updates and discussion board.
• Improve profile- or page-to-page engagements with status tagging
• Secure your Employer Link with business page link on personal profile
• Protect your personal profile from business pages with privacy settings
• Social media integrations with selective tweets, status updates schedulers (with points to ponder) and multiple blogs import.

NEW! #16 To Change your Page Name

Great news for newly created facebook pages or business pages that have a small amount of fans, you can now edit your page name from: Edit Page -> Basic Information -> Name

Not all facebook pages are given this previlege and unsure how ‘few’ fans considered eligible for the name-change. But at least it’s a big step for facebook.

Now is Your Turn…

Why not share your special facebook tips and tricks? If there are enough contributions, I’ll produce a sequel for this article, along with a link love to either your facebook page or site, depends on relevancy. If you want more, be sure to follow my fan page’s discussion thread entitled ‘Collections of Facebook Tips’ for new updates.

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For those who knew me well, taking a break is never easy. In mid September, food poisoning and a minor fever forced me to rest a whole week, but my mind was so occupied with work that I hardly slept at all. After recovered, I worked 10++ hours/day to catch up with lost times but ended up with more health issues – backache, eye strain and muscle pain! I had pushed myself too far that it affected my own health this time.

I need a short-break from the online world, at least for a few days. I need time to reconstruct my strategies and come back with a rejuvenated mind and body. So if you’re reading this, I’m probably busy packing and getting some final things done before my flight tomorrow. So this week instead of a lengthy post, I’m sharing with you a recap of some of my favorite links, hope they will keep you company during my absence:

Top 10+ Facebook and Twitter Resources to Check Out

Twitter:

1. Twitter 101 for business – A Special Guide

From best practices to Twitter lingo (retweets, shortened URLs and more), along with PDFs and slides for you to download! My favorite section is the ‘Case Studies’ – see how these prestigious companies utilize Twitter for their ultimate success, simply encouraging!

2. Twitter Guide

Cindy King compiled a resourceful list for you to get the most out of Twitter. Learn how you can make Twitter a strategic networking tool to build your network, create your own tweet plan and even twitter interviews!

Facebook:

3. Facebook Phonebook – How Safe is your Cell Number?

Mari Smith educates us how to protect and un-sync our phone contacts from facebook Phonebook. A good reminder to always be cautious before approving any iphone apps and protect your own mobile number with Privacy Settings.

4. Facebook Insights : A Beginner’s Guide

Everything you need to know about facebook’s very own analytical report for your fan pages. It’s important to understand fans behavior and how influential is your page based on demographics, comments and page views. I wouldn’t suggest you to be overly obsessed with the numbers, but use it more on general monitoring and self-reviewing purposes (periodically).

5. Understanding Facebook Places Functionality Opens Possibilities

Not only Facebook Places is beneficial for nonprofit organizations, but to anyone who wishes to properly use your claimed Places to achieve your goals. Debra Askanese did a great job explaining the steps involved so be sure to check her post out.

Image credit: Communityorganizer20

Extra: Download the Facebook Places Guide for business here. (Thanks to John Haydon for the tip)

6. Facebook Groups: All you Need to Know

Facebook Groups had a face-lift – with group chats and docs sharing available. But will that be enough to replace facebook lists? Or the old groups? You’ll be the judge of that:

Facebook Pages:

7. 8 Success Criteria for Facebook Page Marketing

I shared this on my fan page once and think it worth another mention here. Stumble-worthy!

8. The 10 Point Checklist for Your facebook Page

Great checklist covered by Amy Porterfield for a well presented facebook page – make a few adjustments and strengthen your page presence today. (appreciate the feature at 09:44)

9. 16 Facebook Pages that Will Help you Make a Facebook Page

Kim compiled a great list of resources (fan pages) for  you to check out. I’m a regular visitor on most of them. Do you have any good page suggestions to add? Feel free to do so in the comments.

Others:

10. Why Mobile Social Media Matters – Stats, Trends, Technologies

Bringing you the insights how mobile social media can change our world, especially via geo-tagging and ease of sharing.

Now Is Your Turn…

So can I count on you to not bail on me (and my blog) just yet? I’ll be seeing you again in a week’s time, revived hopefully. Until then, be sure to take good care and most importantly, DO NOT over-work! For those who are joining Blog Expo, have a safe and enjoyable trip/meetup (wish I could be there too)!

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Updated 09/12/2010 for New Profile Layout workaround (below old profile workaround).

Updated 23/02/2011 for New Profile, now you can have a much simpler way to add your Facebook Page. Just delete your job (that created a community page) and when you try to re-add it, you will be prompted to link to your managed facebook page. No extra steps required.

Updated 23/12/2011 for New Profile Timeline workaround (near to the bottom of the post).

Don’t get me wrong, I love facebook. But there are times that I wish users are given more control over things to share on their own accounts. Especially after facebook page was introduced, users who are excited to share their professional backgrounds are constantly brainstorming to break through on a few matters: separating business from personal account, receive notifications for fan page wall updates and most of all, how can we improve page visibility on profile effectively without being annoying?

Getting exposed – Employer Link!

The easiest and most unharmful method is no doubt the ‘Employers’ section in Info tab. But there’s one MAJOR problem with that – no option to place our very own official page link there, instead a community page be created for each field inserted.

Imagine the frustration for unable to showcase our brand correctly with an authentic page. But now a new found fix will change all that – thanks to a Firefox add-on named Web Developer, and you don’t even need to stick with firefox after this, only during the setup.

Web Developer – the magic plugin to fix employer link

If you do not own a firefox browser, Web Developer will give you enough reasons to install it for the sake of your business page visibility. This add-on is for firefox only but final result will work on all browser types. Web Developer adds a toolbar for web development purposes, but no fear as inserting a page ID will get things done with no coding complications at all.

How to Add Official Facebook Page Link to Profile ‘Employer’

Here comes the best part,

For Older Profile Layout (before upgrade):

1.       Firstly, install firefox if you haven’t and run the setup.

Special Note: Good news as Google Chrome also comes with the Web Developer extension and it works exactly the same way!

2.       Next, install Web Developer to your firefox.

3.      Restart the browser as instructed and you will notice a toolbar appears on top of the browser.

4.       Now go to your official fan page and locate your Page ID.

If you already claimed your vanity URL or username, then retrieve your official page ID by mouse over ‘Edit Page’:

5.       Let’s go to your personal profile now : Profile -> Info tab -> Edit

6.       Select ‘Education and Work’ -> look for ‘Employer‘ field box (with ‘Add Another Job’ below it).

7.       Now at your browser, look for the Web Developer toolbar and select Forms -> Display Form Details

8.       Do not be taken aback by the scary looking codes displayed to you. Instead, try to identify the location of this code:

<input name=”work[employer][id][0]”>

Once you have found it, insert your page ID next to the grey box as shown below:

9.       Turn off codes by deselecting ‘Display Form Details’ on your browser and fill in the rest of the details -> Save Changes. You can add as many jobs as you prefer by repeating step #7-9.

10.   Go back to your Info tab and admire the result!

For New Profile Layout:

Updated (09/12/2010)

Now recently facebook had recommended their users to upgrade their personal profile to new layout. This method still works but with a slight twist at the Page ID insertion part. I would recommend you to change the employer link in the old profile first before upgrade to save the trouble. Or if you had done so, then follow exactly from Step 1 – 6 above, then continue the rest here:

7. Type in your Page Name in the Employer box, click ‘Add’ (your page name)’.

Sometimes facebook will load the correct thumbnail of your official page. When that happens, you can stop here and shout for joy! If instead of your page but a briefcase thumbnail appears (community page is created), then go on with the rest of the setups by going to your browser and select:

Forms -> Display Form Details

8. Again, try to locate the location of this code:

<input name=”work[employer][id][0]”>

Once you have found it, change the community page ID to your official page’s in the grey box:

Click ‘Add Job‘ (or ‘Save Changes‘ if you are editing) to confirm your change.

Optional: Sometimes if the page is not updated correctly, try to add details to your Job, for example setting the Time Period -> click ‘Add Job‘ (or ‘Save Changes‘). You can always remove them later after you had successfully added your official facebook page:

Your official page should be added correctly now.

For New Profile Timeline:

Updated (23/12/2011)

For the most recent upgrade to Profile Timeline, slightly different for where the employer link is located and the code as well. Refer to the instructions below after you had installed the Web Developer Add-on. I’m using Firefox 3.6.22 for this example:

1. Go to your Profile Timeline -> Update Info (or click ‘About’) to access your work and education details.

2. Add your work by typing the name of your business page. Sometimes instead of the Page’s full name, try its partial name so it will appear in the drop down:

3. When that’s not working, use the Web Developer -> Forms -> Display Form Details. Then locate the code <input name=”employer_id”> to insert your Page ID in the grey box:

Extra:

Major props to Jon for discovering the fix for old profile layout that saved our day! But there are a few things I came across during the setup as well – the ‘position’ you filled in Employer section will be directed to a community page (of course), just as how the employer link reacts before the change.

So make sure you select the best position title that describes your post. If needed, use the same method to control where the link is been directed to.

Now is Your Turn…

Does this method work for your employer link? Or do you have a better idea for a fix? Love to hear your thoughts.

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Ever came across a ‘Contact Us‘ form on some facebook pages that you wish you had one too? Look no more for today I am going to share with you some fascinating web forms that are compatible to be embedded in facebook page using Static FBML. No worries if you had never touched FBML in your whole life. All you need to do is to copy and paste the codes generated to your FBML tab and you’re good to go.

But before that, let’s take a look…

Why a Facebook Page Needs a Contact Form?

Simply put,

• to encourage inquiries about your work
• to contact page admin for urgent matters
• to allow interactions without exposing admin’s personal profile (separate page from profile)
• to deal with complaints effectively (brand management) through one-to-one communication
• to improve business / fans conversion rate
• to collect feedback about a particular subject or service

Fixing up a contact form is not compulsory, but it serves a great purpose in listening to individual thoughts and ensures two-way communication between page admin and a fan.

4 Online Form Builders for Your Business Page

Although these form builders are offering paid services, but here I will be highlighting on the features given to FREE account instead (everyone loves freebies, right?). If you wish to know more about their paid account, kindly refer to their respective Pricing/Plans.

Without further ado, let’s take a look at these web forms and their layouts:

(Note: Remember to add Static FBML to your page before embedding the form)

#1  Freedback

Free Account Features ~
No. of Forms: 1
Data Export (CSV/Excel): NO
Ad Link: YES
Pricing / Plans: http://www.freedback.com/features.php

Freedback was the first form I tried on my page. The layout is clean and the setup process is straight forward. Just add in your questions and adjust their positioning however you wish. You can set ‘Required’ for must-answer questions, but they will not be indicated in the fields (as shown in the example above). To avoid fans been redirected back and forth due to an incomplete form, it’s advisable to mark it yourself. All edits made to the form will need you to update the codes manually in FBML tab. Once there’s a submission you’ll be notified via Email instantly, along with a record kept in Freedback database (non-exportable).

Freedback allows you to set a landing page after the form is submitted. There may be a delay while waiting for the form to be submitted, advise fans to wait for it then click ‘Continue’ to proceed to the landing page.

I find Freedback very similar to Response-o-matic. If you’re interested to know about the setup, kindly refer to Kim’s write up on how to setup Response-o-matic for a facebook page.

#2  123 Contact Form

Free Account Features ~
No. of Forms: 5
Data Export (CSV/Excel): NO
Ad/Brand Link: YES
Pricing / Plans: http://www.123contactform.com/serviceplan.html

123 Contact Form has a slight advantage with 5 forms for free account. Plus, it shows the ‘Required’ field clearly, along with a verification field built within the form itself instead of a new page (spam control is a common feature for web forms). During sign up, page admin requires to fill up (extra) mandatory fields such as Website and Country. It supports non-English forms as well. Here is the overview of the form editor and form manager:

#3  Allforms

Free Account Features ~
No. of Forms: Multiple forms (with limit)
Data Export (CSV/Excel): NO
Ad Link: NO
Pricing / Plans: http://allforms.mailjol.net
Advantages: Low Price for paid account, Live Support, Form interface

Despite with a congested setup interface, Allforms has quite a few attractive features: no ads display, low cost and comes with a form interface (see example). It supports non-english forms. Page admin can either use existing form layouts provided or import their own forms to be processed and further customized (advantage to those with CSS and HTML knowledge). You can adjust the color, form size and field positioning easily:

The cost for Allforms is so much cheaper comparing to other form builder with only $10.72/year. Frankly, there are not much difference between paid and free account except on data storage (365 days vs. 30 days) and the availability to remove spam control for paid account. Overall, Allforms is highly recommended when it comes to functionality (free account) and cost effectiveness (paid account).

#4  Jotform

Free Account Features ~
No. of Forms: Unlimited (max: 10MB)
Data Export (CSV/Excel): YES
Ad Link: NO
Pricing / Plans: http://www.jotform.com/pricing
Advantages: Full features as in paid account (limited by space), Sub-header, Drag and drop interface

How can anyone not like Jotform?:

a) Does not Cripple Features on Free Accounts
Page admin can enjoy all features as paid account: data-export, no advertisement links, unlimited forms, auto responders etc. The only thing that separates paid from free account are the account size and amount of submissions per month. Fair enough.

b) Drag and Drop Interface
Enjoy its sophisticated canvas with drag and drop – user friendly when it comes to adjusting form style and setups.

c) Account Status at the Sidebar

A monitoring tab is given so you can keep an eye on your submissions and upload space to plan ahead. Maintain the space within 10MB by deleting your data after exported them (if you are to maintain in free account). If you feel like the space is not enough, upgrade it to meet your submission requirements then downgrade back again once you don’t need it. Super convenient.

d) Customizable Thank You Page
I love this! Different from other online forms, you get to personalize your very own Thank You page with images, font styles and many more options provided by the editor.

e) Export Data as CSV or Excel
By far the only form builder I found with data-exporting feature for FREE account. This is the major attraction for Jotform and enough to win me over. Simply amazing!

f) Embed Code for Facebook Page
Once the form is ready, you can embed it to your facebook page through either one of the steps below:
- Share Form > Advanced Options > Social Network > Facebook
- Source Code > Advanced Options > Social Network > Facebook

#5  Others

There are of course, other form builders that may work similar, for example, Formsmarts is said to be allowing form-embed for fan pages but I have no luck to review it:

Now Is Your Turn…

Do you use Contact Form for your facebook fan page? If not what other ways do you communicate with fans besides wall and discussion board? Love to hear your thoughts.

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