[UPDATED 05/01/2012]Note: You don’t have to worry if FBML tags are not working in some of these iframe apps because starting from 1st, Jan 2012, FBML will no longer be supported as described by Facebook here.

Recently I received emails asking about facebook iFrame applications. Most readers enjoyed the guide on how to create an iFrame tab from scratch but some are requesting for a simpler route with ready-made iFrame apps that could save time and effort, even without owning a web page!

I realized there’s a need to update my previous post about adding a Welcome tab (or custom tab) to a facebook page. Therefore, I would like to share some of my after-use experiences with these handy iFrame applications. Kindly take note these opinions are strictly my own and have nothing to do with app sponsorship whatsoever.

7 Free iFrame Apps to Create Welcome/Custom Tabs for Facebook Pages

iFrame Applications with No Banner/Footer Ad:

1. Static HTML: iframe tabs

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: Yes

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: Available

Static HTML is suitable for those who are sensitive with footer or banner ads. You can copy and paste your HTML code, CSS or JavaScript to the empty fields as shown. It enables scrollbars and FBML options which you can tweak for both fans and non-fans content.

In My Opinion…

The editor section is pretty straight forward. To preview your iframe tab just click ‘Save and View tab’. However there is one minor issue when I tried to insert FBML code for ‘Fans-only content’ box with ‘Enable FBML’ turned on: somehow my Facebook Share icon would not show. Unsure if it’s a bug issue on my part but in case you faced the same problem, try inserting the codes below manually in ‘Enter your content here’ box without having to ‘enable FBML’:

<div>
<fb:visible-to-connection>
Put Your Fans-Only Content Here
<fb:else>
<div id=”non-fans”>Put Your Non-Fans Content Here</div>
</fb:else>
</fb:visible-to-connection>
</div>

iFrame Applications with Banner/Footer Ad (may be eliminated with minor fee):

2. TabPress

[UPDATED: 01/04/2012] This app is no longer available.

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: Yes

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: Available

Tabpress is similar to Static HTML in terms of copying and pasting the codes in the content boxes. Comparing to static HTML, Tabpress offers a more user-friendly preview bar that you may tweak between Non-Fan and Fan Content.

In My Opinion…

Tabpress kinda solved my bug issue with Static HTML as it allows FBML tags to show up effectively. Hurray to that!

3. Wildfire’s iFrames for Pages

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: Yes

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: Available

Wildfire iFrame application is convenient to use but best of all, page admin can upload image files straight from its editor. This differs from Tabpress and Static HTML as both apps require user to pre-upload the images (if have) to a self-hosting or photo-hosting site, for example, a coding below is needed if you are to showcase a Welcome image:

<img src=”http://www.yourphotohostingsite.com/imagename.jpg”>

By using Wildfire iFrames, you may eliminate this coding procedure.

In My Opinion…

Unfortunately, FBML tags are not supported in Wildfire app. Wildfire’s iFrames for Pages is currently FREE but in future they might start charging. So if you’re a fan of the app, better install it now.

4. Hosted iFrame

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: Yes

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: Available

What I love about Hosted iFrame is that it lets you add up till 5 iframe tabs to your facebook page (can be found at bottom page ‘Install Additional Tabs’). It gives you both Source and Visual preview of your content. Hosted iFrame allows Google Analytics so you may trace your page traffic. Also, it provides a special ‘Main Content’ editor box that you can create content for EVERYONE, besides the Fans-Only and Non-Fans content.

In My Opinion…

The ‘Main Content’ editor is a catchy feature. For now, Hosted iFrame is free for up to 25,000 fans but do watch out as once your page exceeded 25,000 fans, your tab will show a blank screen until you purchase their paid plans. Do take note that the total fan count is determined as a total of all your managed pages that are using Hosted iFrame, so it is important to monitor your tab consistently.

For Non-Coders: Allowing Subtabs

5. Iwipa

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No (with Media boxes)

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: Yes

I introduced Iwipa previously in 5 Ways to Create Welcome Tab (Custom & Sub-tabs) for Facebook Page http://www.wchingya.com/2010/11/welcome-sub-tabs-facebook-page.html. Iwipa provides advanced editing that benefits both coders (Source view) and non-coders (Visual). You can customize your content easily with the editor, from bolding texts to adding bullet points, pictures, video or links. Most of all, it adds sub-tabs and multiple media boxes to your iframe tab as shown below:

In My Opinion…

Facebook users may get a little frustrated learning their way through Iwipa’s control panels, but once you had mastered it, you may enjoy some fascinating features. For example, you can customize a special note to your fans with catchy title or even a welcome video. (Paid version provides more customization and even embedding your Google Analytics code)

Note: Iwipa has a special media box that can showcase your page fans but that’s optional. If you would like to keep your fan list private, make sure this media box is not activated.

6. TabSite

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No (Drag N Build)

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: No

Same as Iwipa, Tabsite had also upgraded to iFrame compliant. Its ‘Drag N Build’ feature had been recently added so special media widgets such as Google Map and email form integration (MailChimp, Constant Contact and Delivra) can be added to your custom iframe tab.

In My Opinion…

You will have to customize everything in Tabsite’s own main site (login required). Tabsite gives you two free main tabs: Welcome and Drag N Build (each with subtabs). Therefore, remember to ‘Save & Publish’ every time you made corrections to your tab content. Paid account offers more widgets but it all depends on your facebook page requirement.

For Non-Coders: Easy Custom Tab with Ready Template

7. Pagemodo Pagebuilder

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Only and Non-Fans Content: for Paid Account only

Pagemodo is not affected at all by the FBML to iFrames transition as it provides drag and drop template for page admin. You can enjoy quite a number of free, sophisticated templates with easy image-uploading and text insertion.

In My Opinion…

Pagemodo is great to give fans a professional-feel of your page without having to worry much about image arrangement. Great for facebook page beginners to explore before advancing to more professional iframe tab customizations.

Bonus Tip ~

Some of these iFrame applications are using ‘Welcome’ as their tab name. You can re-name these tabs easily if you are to create a different custom tab. Just go to Edit Page -> Apps -> look for the iFrame application and click ‘Edit Settings’ -> Custom Tab Name -> change ‘Welcome’ to any custom name and ‘Save’.

Now Is Your Turn…

Bottom line, there is never a ‘best’ application but only the one that suits your facebook page the most. Make sure to test the iFrame applications yourself and understand their privacy options before using. Do you happen to know any other useful Facebook iFrame applications? Do share in the comments below.

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[UPDATED 25/12/2011] If you want to Insert your external Web Page as one of your Page tabs, now this can be done easily with ready–made custom iframe apps. This will also solve the Secure Hosting requirement for your custom apps to display properly in ‘secure browsing’ on Facebook.

Below method is ONLY useful for those who wish to create iframe application for other Facebook users to add to their Facebook Pages:

It has been almost two weeks since the official launch of iframe app, replacing the good old static FBML tabs on our facebook pages. For those who aren’t sure what is an iframe, basically it is a standard HTML tag to enable a HTML document to be inserted into another HTML page. The benefit of iframes over FBML is that it accepts a wide range of web coding (Javascript, CSS etc) that used to be non-compatible in static FBML to create dynamic content for our custom tabs. Best of all, you can even import your custom made web page to be included in your fan page! Imagine how convenient that would be for your promotional effort!

Since no more NEW static fbml applications can be added to our managed pages, it’s important to know exactly how to work from creating the app to adding it to your facebook page successfully. I will try to be as thorough as I manage:

How to Create and Add Custom iFrame Tab to Facebook Page

Firstly, you need to prepare a html page to be inserted into your facebook page. You may use Dreamweaver for the job and upload the html file to your web server so to be pulled into your fan page later. Or, we can do this the easy way with less complication via a wordpress plugin named Facebook Tab Manager. What I love about this tab editor is that it saves time and keeps the custom tab size limit of 520px wide so no resizing is needed afterward.

Add Facebook Tab Manager to your WordPress Blog

1.  Login to your blog and add Facebook Tab Manager to your plugins.

2.  Activate it and look for ‘Facebook Tabs’ at your sidebar -> click ‘Add New’. Notice that to create the iframe tab content is as easy as how you normally write a new post.

3.  When done, hit ‘publish’. New instructions will appear at the bottom of the post on configurations to register your content on facebook:

Customize Facebook Tab with iframe App

4.  Go to Facebook Developer and start setting up your new iframe app.

[UPDATED Image: 25/12/2011]

[END]

Note:

Some of you who are creating your facebook application for the first time, verification process may be required. If you had already verified your facebook account before this, you can bypass this step. Otherwise, you need to go ahead and select to verify your account with mobile phone or credit card. Or, if you are not comfortable with this step, add an admin who is already done the verification to work on the new iframe application.

5.  The ‘About’ section consists of some necessary fields besides filling in your app name. Add image to your icon and logo so it’s recognizable.

[UPDATED Image 25/12/2011]

Edit your app icon: Settings -> Basic -> Edit icon:

[END]

Tips: Why icon/logo image is important?

‘Icon’ image will show up next to your app name when added as a new tab to your facebook page. ‘Logo’ image will appear in app directory, for example:  you can have a look at your ‘Edit Page -> App after you added it to your page :

6.  At ‘Facebook Integration’ section is where all the hard work landed. Here are some important fields that required to be filled correctly:

In Canvas Section:

• Canvas Page – the base URL of your application on facebook.
• Canvas URL – this is the URL where facebook pulls in your iframe content.
• Secure Canvas URL – the secure version of Canvas URL with ‘https’. Basically the same info you entered in your ‘Canvas URL’.

Complicated? No worries. Refer back to step #3 above and locate the ‘Facebook Integration Tab’ in your blog and copy/paste the links given to you, for example:

[UPDATED Image/Instructions 25/12/2011]

Go to Settings -> Basic -> Select how your app integrates with Facebook -> Save Changes:

To create and associate a new (community) page with your app, go to Settings ->Advanced ->Contact Info ->App Page (Create Facebook Page) (optional) :

[END]

Below is the example of how Canvas section is filled:

*Caution*:

If you are unable to see the iframe app after installed to your page (regardless if you’re in ‘http’ or ‘https’), leave the ‘Secure Canvas URL’ field BLANK. Your iframe tab should be able to work in ‘http’ (non-secured browsing) and in order to view that, you need to go to Account -> Account Settings -> Account Security -> UNCHECK Secure Browsing. This is believed to be caused by a known issue on how our custom app is not visible when viewed in secured browser (https) as described in this bug report.

The bug occurred in February and was said to be fixed in mid March, however it seems that the bug is back again recently and affecting some of my pages. Will follow up on this issue and if you know how to fix this, do share.

In Page Tabs Section:

The important parts are ‘Tab URL’ and ‘Secure Tab URL’. Both links are referring to the html file location including its file name -> Save Changes:

*Caution*:

Again, if your app tab is not viewable, leave the ‘Secure Canvas URL’ field BLANK until the bug issue for secured browsing (‘https’) is fixed.

So now, your new iframe app is created!

Add Your iFrame App to your Facebook Page

[UPDATED 25/12/2011]

Refer to the documentation on how you can add a page tab dialog, or the one near to the end of this post. Clearly there is no longer a view app profile page link available in Developers apps section. No idea why though. [END]

7.  Now go back to your ‘My Apps’ page and select ‘Application Profile Page’.

8.  Then as how you normally add application to your page, click ‘Add to My Page’ -> then Add to the page you want:

9.  See that a new tab is added at your page sidebar. Rearrange the tab [#2(c)] to a preferred location or set it as your landing tab.

*Caution*:

For some web developers who intends to import their external web pages to facebook pages, be sure to check if your page consists of any disallowed ad providers. Thanks to Kim for providing this info so not to violate facebook Terms of Use (refer to the part about ’9. Special Provisions Applicable to Developers/Operators of Applications and Websites’).

10.  You can rename your custom tab by going to Edit Page -> App -> your app name -> Custom Tab Name -> after edit, click Save:

 

So whenever you wish to create a new custom tab, you need to go through all the steps again to get it done. Time consuming isn’t it?

To make things easier, if I could I will try to find other alternatives or ready-apps so even facebook beginners could enjoy as much privilege without having to go through the lengthy steps. Be sure to follow close and don’t miss upcoming posts!

Updated Post to check out:
7 Free iFrame Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom Tabs) for Your Facebook Page.

Now Is Your Turn…

How is your experience with iframe app so far? Has it been more useful for your page or not? Do you have any special tips to add? Feel free to do so in the comments.

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I’m really grateful to Are for he had posted a great question here. I haven’t actually wrote a detailed post about photo arrangements for either New Profile or the upgraded facebook page.

This week would be a great opportunity to go more in depth with both platforms! Truth is, we do need all the visibility we can get in facebook these days. Not to mention the ability to control which photos to show or hide from public eye.

Section #1 : How to Manage Your Photos in New Profile

It’s always important to check your privacy settings before applying any changes to your personal profile. For your new profile, all the photos appearing on top of your wall are photos been tagged by you or your friends. Make sure you are clear of the privacy setting that controls who can view your tagged photos at #2 of this post.

Now, let’s proceed with our photos arrangement in a new profile:

Creating a Profile Banner

In a profile banner, photo sequence is everything! There are many ways you can create a banner, some suggested to use app like Profile Banner but personally I prefer self-customization. I simply created a banner with the size of 485px x 68px and divided them into 5 photo strips. More about the photo size at Section #2 later, but once you got your photos ready:

1. First of all, upload your photos to your selected or newly created photo album in new profile:

2. When the photos are uploaded, you may choose to whether ‘Publish Now‘ or ‘Skip‘ it for later. I would go for ‘Skip’ as the news feed about your tagged photos will be updated anyway when we apply the tagging later.

3. Now in your album, identify your photo sequence and rearrange them if need to.

4. Before applying the photo tagging, do take note that the last photo you tagged will always show up at the farthest left on top of your profile. So if your photos are telling a story or been arranged to form a banner, make sure they are displayed so photo #1 is the first to be tagged, followed by #2, #3, #4 and #5 as shown below:

5. To tag a photo is easy, simply go to your album and tag your photos in proper sequence. Select the photo -> Tag this Photo ->Type or Choose your own name in the box -> click ‘Tag’ -> Done Tagging:

Solution: Unwanted Photos due to photo tagging by friends

Your profile banner can be easily disrupted once your friend had tagged you in another photo. Since there is no way to prevent people from tagging you, you can manage the unwanted tagged photos by:

i) Hiding tagged photo by ‘x’ (mouseover)

ii) Remove and untag photo from Wall

Section #2 : How to Manage Your Photos in (Upgraded) New Facebook Page

In the most recent post about enhancing your upgraded facebook page (some new tips were added at ‘Extra Tips‘ section in that post, do check them out!), the #1 advice is to make use of the photo row to attract fans attention effectively. Unlike personal profile, these photos are not only tagged photos of your facebook page but also:

• Your most recent uploaded photos
• Randomly arranged

Obviously a page banner is not possible for now since we cannot control the photo sequence. Even so, there are some easy, exciting ways you can use the spot for publicity. See how my friend, Nancy is smart on making sure her business messages are sent through via the photos on her page:

From what I see, this is by far the best way to present the photos until other methods come around. Without further ado, let’s see how we can learn from Nancy in controlling our photos on top of our fan pages:

1. Create and optimize your photo size to approximately: 97px (height) ×68px (width). (Photo sequence is not an issue here.)

2. Use photo editor such as Pixlr or Photoshop, even your very own Paint (Windows 7 version) to create the photos (more image editing app suggestions refer to section (b) of this post). Make sure the photos are striking enough to capture attention, better with a call to action like ‘Click Here’.

3. When you’re done designing your photos, upload them to your facebook page. Notice you can see them on top of your facebook page as soon as they are uploaded:

4. When your fan clicks at the photo, it will appear as a slideshow. Add image caption or URL that explains your promotion in details:

5. If you had added other photos after this, you can still grab the first spot on the left via tagging. Go to your album and select the photo you want to place #1 -> click ‘Tag this Photo’ ->Type or select your page name in the drop down menu -> click ‘Done Tagging’ :

6. Look! The tagged photo will appear just where you wanted it to be (so far only works on #1 photo from the left):

You can add as many photos you like to your facebook page and apply tagging whenever necessary. Of course, you can always ‘hide’ other photos you uploaded so only the default ones are showing on top of your facebook page. Most importantly, use your creativity and make sure each click-through is worth it for your fans.

Now Is Your Turn…

Have you discovered any smart ways to control photo arrangement on both your new profile and facebook page? What other ways you can suggest so page admin can make full use of their photos? Be sure to share your brilliant ideas in the comment below.

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Three days ago, facebook announced an exciting news about Page Upgrade! Some of the most desired features are finally included such as page notification, ability to comment as the page profile and many more! I can’t wait to share with you what I love about the new facebook page:

 

#1  Latest Photos Arrangement to Grab Attention

 

Clearly, the new profile launch was preparing us for this evolutionary change for facebook pages. Now your page is also featuring 5 photos on top of your page, displaying the most recent photos or the ones you’ve tagged your own page in. Fans photos are excluded here.

Notice that the photos are randomly arranged after each click-through. It is difficult to maintain the photo sequence to create a large banner as how we normally do in new profile. However, since the removal of the ‘information’ box and latest status update on top of the facebook page, admin will need all the visibility he/she can get to grab fans’ attention. You should work out a method on how these photos can better assist in promoting your business without having to worry about photo sequence. This is something I intend to look further into.

 
Updated & Recommended to Read: How to Manage Photos On Top of Your New Profile & Facebook Pages
 

#2  Extra Length in Naming and Tab Descriptions

 

A lot of people see the new tab arrangement at the sidebar as a bad thing due to less visibility and click-through rates comparing to older design. After exploring them, I found there are hidden blessings within. Here are a few important tips about tab control:

a) Default Landing Tab STAYS
This could be the biggest concern of all, but good for facebook, this option stays for good.

b) Extra Spaces in Naming your Customized Tabs
Remember how we used to complain not having enough space in naming our tabs? Now you can have at least two rows of eye-catching description for your customized tab! That’s a welcoming improvement in tab visibility at the left column.

c) Edit and Hide Excessive Tabs
Unlike Merged pages, you can edit and hide your app tabs at will! Just click ‘Edit’ -> drag and drop the app tabs to arrange their order:

To have a less distracting sidebar, it’s advisable to keep only the important tabs in sight. Remove the unwanted tabs by clicking ‘Edit’ -> click ‘x’ next to the app to hide it:

Remember, sometimes less is more.

 

 

#3  Improve Page Interaction with Page Notification & Admin View

 

Wall Posts are no longer arranged in chronological order, instead two new filters are given for viewing: ‘Everyone’ or ‘your page name’ (posts by admin only). By default, ‘Everyone’ will show fans the most engaging posts on your page. The good side is fans are encouraged to participate often for visibility. The downside, new posts are struggling to reach the top. Even popular posts may lapse over time. For example, Christmas or new year wishes may stay on top of your page due to >100 comments by fans, but it doesn’t give much significance in value or info-sharing. This is another concern we need to work on in page engagement.

Page Notification:

This is remedied by the new page notification:

 

a) Email notification: Go to Edit Page -> Your Settings -> Tick the box for ‘Email Notification’ -> Save Changes. You can also change email settings for individual pages here :

 

b) Red on-site alert: You will have to ‘Use Facebook as Page’ (Logged in as Page Profile) in order to see them:

Then you can see page notification updates:

And it works for photo comments too! Hurray!

 

Admin View:
Page admin can easily view the ‘Most Recent’ posts and ‘Hidden Posts’ (Spam filter) via Wall -> Admin View option at the sidebar.

 

 

#4  Separate Business Interactions from Personal Profile

 

The upgraded page solves the biggest concern in separating personal life from business contacts. You can now do the following via identity switch between a personal and a page profile:

What you can do OUTSIDE managed pages:

• Post comment as your business page without status-tagging feature.
  

 

• A whole new section of news feed for your liked pages (or once known as ‘favorited pages’):
  

 

What you can do INSIDE managed pages:

• Page activities (‘recent activity’) are showing up on your page Wall
  

 

• Find out mutual connections (mutual fans count) between other pages and yours in Recommended Pages:
  

 

• You can even choose to post as your personal profile by Edit Page -> Your Settings -> Untick ‘Always comment and post on your page as Your Page Name‘:
  

 

#5  Effectively Build Relationship with Other Pages via ‘Like’ & ‘Feature’

 

A page can finally ‘like’ as a page itself. There are two ways you can do this:

a) When logged in as your personal profile: click ‘Add to my Page’s Favorite’, OR

b) When logged in as your page profile: click ‘Use Facebook as Page’-> go to another page -> click their ‘Like’ button on top.

Best of all, you can decide which of your favorited/liked pages are showcased at your page’s sidebar: Edit Page -> Featured -> Select the number of pages to be rotated randomly:

You can feature your own page admins too if like (but DON’T if you are separating business from personal life):

 

 

#6  Limitless Counts to Change Page Category

 

It used to be troublesome to request for a page category review from facebook. Now you can manually select the accurate group and category for your facebook page from Edit page -> Basic Information -> Category -> and see the immediate change after that:

And there is no limit of how many times you can change page category.

 

#7  Better Moderation to Reduce Spam via Moderation Blacklist

 

You can now add keywords in the ‘Moderation Blacklist’ to prevent spams from appearing on your wall or comments: Edit page -> Manage Permissions -> Moderation Blacklist:

 

It’s great to see facebook is learning from their lessons with New Profile and merged facebook places/fan page by allowing ‘Preview’ before forced implementation. Page admin can switch back to public mode anytime if not satisfied, but NEVER after confirming the page upgrade. All facebook pages will be auto-updated starting March, 2011. Might as well get adapt and be ready for it.

 

Extra Tip:

 

Not sure if you noticed but Managed Pages is gone from our profile account. You can still reach your managed pages via this direct link or via Discover Facebook Pages -> Pages I admin.

 
Updated 01/03/2011:

We can now change ANY app tabs to our desired names. Go to Edit Page -> App -> select the app you wish to rename, click Edit Settings -> notice a new option ‘Custom Tab Name‘ is given! Key in the name and ‘Save’.

 

Some page comments may appear in GREY, which means they had been marked as spam by facebook and visible to page admin only. Release the legitimate comment by clicking ‘x’ -> Unmark as Spam so it is visible to all.

 
Updated 02/03/2011:

You’re gonna love this! Facebook is giving us back the ‘Most Recent’ posts option on our pages! Hurray! The previous ‘Admin View’ is now switched to ‘Hidden Posts’ (also known as Spam filter).

 

NOW IS YOUR TURN…

 

So I’m eager to hear what you think about the new upgraded page? What is the biggest gain for you and what previous options you’d like to keep unchanged? Share your thoughts in the comments.

 

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It has been four months since we talked about how to receive email notification for facebook page updates. Up till today, this feature remains unavailable on facebook. Apart from regular checking, page admin can only rely on third party applications to monitor upcoming posts and comments from fans.

I had previously introduced Page Notifier and Fan Page Notifier to monitor page activity (read this post to learn more about them). Page Notifier’s free version provides one-time-scan per 24 hours. As much I’m satisfied with its results, I longed for more scans in a day. As for Fan Page Notifier, the last time I got an email notification from it was end of December 2010. Not sure why it stopped. I went back in and updated my subscription recently, we’ll see how it performs few days later.

It’s absolutely fair to have limitations when using a free application, I understand that. In fact, I appreciate the app developers for trying to make our lives easier with these nifty facebook applications. Still, it never stops me to source for better alternatives, which is why I’m thrilled to introduce you these two new, free facebook applications that made my page monitoring a lot easier starting 2011:

#1 Hyper Alerts

Hyper Alerts won me over with its tag line ‘The Feature Facebook Forgot’ (how true is that!). It’s currently in public BETA (FREE) so definitely worth a try. The setup is almost instantaneous, start by registering yourself with an email:

Then, decide how you wish to add your facebook page to be monitored:

Option (1): Add Alert by URL
- All you need is to type in your facebook page URL -> Add, and you’re set. You don’t need to add this app to your facebook page at all! Plus, you can even monitor other fan pages you like but not under your administration.

Option (2): Add Alert from your Facebook User
- This option, on the other hand, requires authorization to access your facebook account. The purpose is to retrieve all facebook pages you are currently managing with your profile so you can select multiple facebook pages at once.

Normally I would go for option (1) since no strings attached (less privacy concern). But in order to receive instant email notification for new posts and comments, I was requested to connect my facebook page with the app anyway with option (1) :

So bottom line, you have two choices based on your alert frequencies:

• If you refuse to allow Hyper Alerts to access your facebook account, you need to settle with either one of these alert frequencies: Hourly, Daily, Weekly or Monthly.
• If you prefer to receive email notification ‘as soon as possible’ for new posts and comments,  it’s a must to add Hyper Alerts to your facebook page (authorization required).

For now, I don’t think HyperAlerts is capable of notifying new photo comments (within photo albums) but only updates from the page wall:

What I love about Hyper Alerts:
It’s always a courtesy to ask if user wants to add the application to their facebook account. Even if we are not ready to allow access for Hyper Alerts, it still gives us other options – that’s thoughtful. I love how a user can opt-out of ‘Own Content’ so only fans posts or comments are notified, reducing the noise in our inbox. Not to mention, the ability to monitor other pages we like is a bonus!

#2  MediaFeedia

MediaFeedia is actually a facebook management tool and ‘fan page notifications’ just happens to be one of the offered features. Similar to most web applications, you need to register (either via facebook connect or email address). Then, you will be asked to import your facebook account to select the pages:

Once confirmed your page selections, go to Fan Page Notifications -> Start Monitoring -> type in your email address to receive page alerts. The maximum number of email addresses you can enter is three:

This is how mediafeedia email notification looks like in your email:

Mediafeedia includes updates from the page admin him/herself. By clicking at ‘Comment’ you will be redirected to your facebook page to reply and view the complete conversation:

What I love about MediaFeedia:
I have started using MediaFeedia since early January, I must say this application is exactly what I was looking for to improve my page monitoring with Page Notifier. The scan results are very similar to Hyper Alerts’ but with extra features such as post scheduling and email invitation to other admins.

Hyper Alerts and MediaFeedia are both showing profile thumbnail in their email alerts. I find that a significant ‘visual’ improvement for page notification apps, also a good way to get familiarized with who our fans are via their profile image.

Now Is Your Turn…

How do you monitor your page updates? If you have been using other facebook page notification apps, how would you compare them with Hyper Alerts and MediaFeedia? Kindly share your thoughts in the comment.

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The incident with merged facebook page and Places has temporarily subsided, thanks to the much-requested ‘unmerge’ button. I didn’t get to explore how the Places page work but as much the Bing map looks attractive on the merged pages, there are numerous reasons why a business owner should think twice before merging.

Last Saturday, I had a light bulb moment when one of the page members wrote:

Although this has nothing to do with a Places page, but undeniably the idea of inserting a Google map into a facebook page is a great alternative! That way page admin can still use an interactive map to guide fans to their business premise without having to worry about page layout and losing landing tab setting due to the merge.

There are several ways to do this but personally I prefer facebook applications over manual HTML embed. I am anticipating for iframe app facebook promised to release in 2011 which will make dynamic content (like Google Maps) to be embedded a lot easier. Until then, here are some facebook applications you can use without having to worry about manual coding at all:

3 FACEBOOK APPS TO EMBED A GOOGLE MAP

#1  BlockWild Map

-[01/04/2012] Does not support Secure Browsing

BlockWild Map lets you add a ‘Map’ tab indicating your business location within a facebook page. No HTML code required. All you need is to fill up your business name and address, the map tab will be up and running:

Notice that you can even announce local events for your business with details such as description, duration, image gallery etc. Fans can interact with you about the event via facebook comment box, or share it with their Twitter or Facebook friends (social buttons available). Since there won’t be any notifications you should check on new comments regularly. To access the complete map, fans can close the event box anytime by clicking at the purple-circled ‘x’:

I love how the tab is named ‘Map’ to suit perfectly for its purpose. However, if I have a customized Google map to highlight special routes or places nearby, I will need more control over the map and how it is displayed. That’s when Contact Tab comes in:

#2  Contact Tab

We first heard about Contact tab from my introductory about facebook page engagement tools (app #13). Back then I didn’t go deep with the Map feature but today, you will see how easy it is to embed a customized Google map to your Contact tab. I’m using First World Hotel, Genting Highlands as an example:

1. Learn how you can customize your Google map here:

2. Once your map is ready, look for the option ‘Link’ at the upper right corner and click at it for the HTML code:

3. Next, locate the ‘Contact’ tab on your page wall -> Edit Application:

4. Paste the HTML code you copied from the map and paste into the iframe box at the lower part of the Contact Tab -> Save Application:

5. After been asked to ‘click to view map’, your fans can use the tools (red-circled) to move around the map, or zoom in/out at will:

I love how Contact Tab is capable of adding a customized Google map, but if only other mandatory fields such as email, website and address can be opted out. The word ‘Contact‘ may not be obvious for fans in finding the map so you may like to mention/add a link to it from your Welcome tab or Info.

#3  Placewidget

-[26/03/12/]no longer available

Placewidget is also using Google map so if you had claimed your business on Foursquare, you can add this application to showcase the map. But unlike Foursquare main site, the map is non-interactive, merely an image file. A click at it will bring you to Foursquare where you can then explore the map thoroughly.

We don’t know how long we get to stay in the old page format, but until facebook team improvises the Facebook Places for merging, page admins will have some options to show their offices via Google Maps for now.

Now Is Your Turn…

Is adding a Google map or Bing map essential for your business page? Shall the settings for default landing tab and tab-positioning be maintained in the new facebook page layout? Love to hear your thoughts in the comment.

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CHECK OUT: 23+ Essential Facebook Page Applications to Improve Fans Engagement in 2012.

2011 has finally arrived! It’s the moment we renew our pledge to social media commitments and keeping our audiences enthralled with our content! As I went through my blog achieve the other day, I was deeply encouraged by the responses obtained from the below posts, especially in helping page admins to discover some favorite apps of their own:

• 13 Facebook Applications to Promote Your Blog
• 16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page
• 31 Facebook Applications to Enhance Your Facebook Page
• 5 Ways to Create Welcome Tab (Custom & Sub-tabs) for Facebook Page

Coincidentally last month, a reader wrote in and requested for ideas in increasing fan base and fans engagement on their page wall. During my research, I came across Appbistro, a market place for facebook page applications that saved me a lot of time in discovering new applications when I logged in as my Social @ Blogging Tracker page:

Basically what it does is to identify my page type then recommend me the best applications for my facebook page. I can sort the app results based on popularity, rating or price range. Thanks to Appbistro, I found myself a new set of facebook applications for my facebook customization work in 2011. Most applications below are either free or allowing free trial as I know how much we all love FREE stuffs.

Kindly be reminded that this review is based on my personal opinion only and has nothing to do with Appbistro or any app developers sponsorship whatsoever.

To Listen to Fans / Customers Feedback:

#1  UserVoice

I had briefly touched about UserVoice in promoting your facebook page with testimonials. When I finally tested out this app in mid December, what a great substitute for Feedback app this is! Your fans can now provide suggestions for your service/product, and have others to comment and vote for existing discussions. You will then be notified for each new update via email so you can moderate fans posting at once. When you feel a subject has gotten enough feedback, close it so no further voting or new posts can be added to it, except for comments.

Two features I love about Uservoice: page admin can retrieve deleted ‘ideas’ (if you had deleted any posts by mistake) and each response on the forum will not be posted back to any of your fans profile wall – I’m sure most will appreciate that, especially in separating personal profile from business pages.

This application is cross posting between your fan page and UserVoice homepage, where you can setup own alias for the domain (yourusername.uservoice.com). Learn more about their different plans and how extra features such as ‘export’ or ‘unlimited forums’ can meet your page requirements.

If you’re not ready to pay for the service, you can always customize a feedback form using Static FBML all by yourself.

To Give Incentives and Attract New Fans:

#2  Gifts for Pages

Everyone loves FREE gifts! ‘Gifts for Pages’ prepares a facebook tab for you to create branded gifts so fans can distribute to their own friends on your behalf! Inspire your inner creativity and personalize some catchy 130×130 px image icons to grab fans attention. Give them something meaningful or worthwhile to share, then track fans responses via traffic graph. If you don’t like the existing layout, modify the ready CSS file to fit your brand’s image.

It’s always good to learn about giving prior to receiving.

#3  Easypromos

If you don’t know how to customize a promotion tab yet, this is the app for you. Easypromos is FREE for FIRST-time promo only ($15/promotion after that) and you should definitely take a look at the features and configurations, very easy to setup. Specify the length of your promotion period and select the criteria from the given options. One of my favorites is that page admin can encourage non-fans to like your page first before they are able to fill up the entry form.

You may choose how to display this promo on your page wall and check your fans registration form within the application itself.

Note:

Promotions are great but make sure you’re not violating any of these Facebook Promotion Guidelines before set one up.

Extra Read:

Refer to #1 Promotions in 31 Facebook Applications to Enhance Your Facebook Page

To Encourage Fans Participations via Polls and Media files:

#4  Fan Appz

Fan Appz will impress you with its wide range of social media marketing applications. Free account provides Polls, Quizzes and Top 5’s. To me, those are sufficient enough to generate interest and participation from fellow members, if your questions (and images) are intriguing enough:

Page admin can edit or delete published poll or quizzes but not after fans had already voted on them. Plus, you will be given scheduling feature to promote the poll on your page wall so fans from different time zones can participate. To discover more about their paid plans read here. Just remember a free plan will have an advertisement link on the tab and you won’t be able to set promotions/coupons.

#5  ffwdPlayer

I had been asked many times about better ways to import a video channel into a fan page. Besides Involver, ffwd Player can be an excellent alternative to publish videos uploaded by you on other video hosting sites such as YouTube or Brightcove.

The video-import is extremely easy by inserting your channel’s username, then you can configure so to update it automatically with feed (either via uploads, favorites, playlist or search). Customize your video tab with brief description of the videos and include a header image. Your fans can later share the videos with their friends via the ‘Share’ button per video.

#6  Livestream

(image credit: Livestream)

How fun it is you can now broadcast live from your fan page to get in touch with fans all over the world! Just a click at the Livestream tab your fans can enjoy real time interaction with you via the comment box during the live broadcasting. As usual, the ‘Share’ button is highly visible so if your fans find it interesting enough to share with their friends, they probably will. Customize your livestream tab with a catchy header image for brand awareness. Your livestream is not limited within facebook page only, it will be kept in a video library on livestream.com and to be viewed or used on your external sites, such as a company blog.

Another great example of Livestream can be seen on Facebook Live. Read about their paid plans if interested.

#7  Peekeez

Peekeez is very similar to livestream, it lets you setup a live video broadcasting from your webcam on facebook page and encourage fans to comment, share within the tab. Say, if you have a restaurant and you’d like to show off how busy the day can get, Peekeez is perfect for the task.

What makes it different from Livestream is that it does not cross post to its official site. According to their privacy policy that “your webcam can only be viewed on your facebook page” but it’s not entirely free. You may have trial period up to 14 days and after that it’ll cost you $20/month.

#8  Posted Items Pro

Posted Items Pro is basically a tab where you gather your favorite medias to be shared in one place with your fans. All you have to do is decide which media files (blog posts, video, mp3, web link or image) you’d like to feature with proper title, source link and descriptions. For web link, you can even select a thumbnail for the post. Then all the media files will be displayed within a tab named ‘Favorites’. Your fans can comment or share these files with their facebook friends, a harmless and effective way to increase page impressions for your business page.

#9  Clobby Group Chat

Some people told me how they admire Facebook Groups for having the Group chat feature. If you feel the same way, why not try out this real time chat app called Clobby Group Chat? Your fans will be able to invite their friends to join in the chat or ‘like’ a chat, so it’s great for viral effect. I once blogged about this application so if you’re in for a detailed review, kindly refer here Clobby: Facebook Group Chat for Fan Page and Personal Account.

To Encourage Geotagging for Local Business:

#10  PlaceWidget

(image credit: appbistro)

PlaceWidget adds a foursquare tab to your facebook page that includes your venue info with an easy configuration. You can show off mayor, offers and tips to visitors – this is obviously a plus if you and your fans are dedicated users on Foursquare. Comparing to the after-merged facebook places and a fan page, this would not alter your existing page layout and landing tab settings.

Extra Read:

Find out what other types of location you can add on Foursquare here.

For Marketing, Job Opportunity & Branding:

#11  TextualAds

You do aware how prevalent mobile marketing is these days. TextualAds is not for everyone but if you are interested in mobile marketing, textualads is an application that allows your fans to opt in for latest promo or product news via text messages. You will be able to send targeted SMS for your marketing campaigns according to your fans age, country, state, gender etc with customizable layout (css style sheet) and messages – but these are under paid plans, of course. Free account has less customization but may be good to try out:

Just be reminded that people are very cautious with their privacy. If you are going to use TextualAds make sure you had made clear that you will not distribute or misuse your fans’ personal details. Trust is hard to come by these days so never, ever violate that promise.

Extra Read:

To learn more how powerful textualads can get, here’s a post that will amaze you.

#12  Work For Us

What can be more rewarding by offering your fans a chance to work as a team? Work For Us allows you to post job openings on business page. Apart from filling in the forms, applicants can attach their CV/Resume without having to leave the page at all! Work For Us makes it easy to share job opportunity with friends via ‘Share’ button or a personalized private message.

One thing I love about this application is that you can integrate your twitter account and set the tweeting frequency for the new job vacancy.

All accounts are given 30-days free trial or, you can always subscribe to its Free plan for one job slot.

Extra: similar application – Jobmagic

#13  Contact Tab

I absolutely love Contact tab! This is a comprehensive tab about your business info and how your potential clients can reach you. Not only banner image and logo, you can include contact forms, contact methods and embed a comment box within the tab. The setup is very easy, simply fill in the required info and Save it. If you’re interested to display the location of your premise via Google map or Bing map, feel free to do so. A remedy to a plain, dull info tab that makes you stand out from the rest of your competitors.

#14  dPortfolio

I’m all about adding Testimonials and portfolio to your social profiles if you are to promote your business as effectively as possible. As much I prefer custom tabs for the job, but if you are not familiar with customization, feel free to adapt dPortfolio in categorizing your quality work with descriptions. Honestly, I was having second thoughts when placing this as # 14 since I was getting error message when trying to save my project, the page stalled for a long time and didn’t stop. It could be a temporary error since no other users are complaining about this yet, so I’m putting this under observation as I really hope it would work.

There are over 110+ applications on appbistro so these are just the tip of an iceberg. You can learn more about other facebook applications that match your needs by logging in with your user profile in which your facebook page has attached to it. If you are not ready to login with your facebook account, why not browse all the applications here.

The paid apps listed in appbistro are either using their payment API or attach with an affiliate program with them. That’s why some apps can be purchased straight from the site (Cart) while some are not. When enquiring about their future project, I was told that appbistro is working on a whitelabel application store. Any service or website that owns an API can integrate their own application store powered by appbistro, a great news for app developers in search for a platform to showcase and market their products.

Friendly Reminder: some apps require access to your basic facebook info. There will always be a pop up box to alert you what information the app will be accessing so make sure to check them through before you click ‘Allow’. Also, if you decided to discontinue an app from your page, apart from removing it from your ‘Edit Page’, make sure to remove it from your profile’s privacy settings here as well.

Now is Your Turn

How do you plan on enhancing your facebook page in 2011? Will you be using Appbistro or any of the facebook applications above to increase fans engagement? Do share your thoughts.

SPECIAL GUEST on SBT In TWO WEEKS TIME!~

In conjunction with the new year, an honorable guest poster will be here for the first time on Social @ Blogging Tracker! I’m pretty sure most bloggers are familiar with his name and It’s truly a privilege to have him here! So if you wish to know who is my mysterious guest make sure to subscribe so you won’t miss this! I can assure you it’s worth the wait.

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Last week, I had a major issue with my PC so I brought it down to the technical center for maintenance. As I was sitting there waiting for my turn, I overheard two ladies talking about the new facebook profiles and how they are missing the old layout. One of them said that she is now having a hard time locating the tabs while the other is unable to keep up with her own status since it is no longer on top of her profile!

Can’t blame them, we are all in the same shoes after the new upgrade – adapting. Like it or not, it is coming to all personal accounts:

“We’re really excited about the new profile. We’re rolling it out gradually and plan to get it to everyone by early next year. You can upgrade immediately or learn more about the new features” – facebook official blog

People are not prone to sudden changes so when this happens, uncertainty kicks in and complaints took over most of  facebook blog comments. Although facebook prepares a brief intro about the new profile prior to upgrade, but fact is there are more one should know about the new profile, let it be good or bad:

7 Things You Must Know about Facebook New Profile

#1 A friendlier way to promote your profession and experiences

Users’ professional experiences and interests are highly emphasized in the new profile. Employer section has moved up to the highest point in Info tab, allowing friends a sneak peak of your professional and educational backgrounds above all else. So to prevent community page from stealing your hot spot, attach your official business page as your employer today. Great advantage if you are to promote your fan page on personal profile that way.

For each added ‘Employer‘, you may add in projects and tag friends whom you had shared the experience with. And if you want to be notified whenever someone tagged you in their profile,

Go to your Account -> Account Settings -> Notifications -> Facebook -> Tags me on their profile:

#2 Photo-tagging is a big deal – Control it!

Instead of your recently uploaded photos, facebook chose to have your most recently tagged photos to be featured on top of your profile. You should know by now there is no way to stop friends from tagging you, so if your friends are constantly doing that it’s important for you to have better control over who can view your tagged photos with privacy settings.

Another thing you can do is to mouse over the tagged photos and click ‘x’ at the top right corner to hide them or de-tag yourself from these tagged-photos, simply.

If you are the creative type, then you probably enjoy some fun tagging your ownself in order to setup a custom photo-collage as your personal billboard:

Ok, mine is not the best work but you’ll get the idea. It’s quite easy with each image approximately 97×68 pixels in size and arranged so the farthest-left image to be tagged first. But you do need to watch out so your friends won’t abuse its use and tag you for some practical jokes. One of the best way is to make sure the check box for ‘tags you in a photo’ is ticked at all times so you can respond immediately.

Go to your Account -> Account Settings -> Notifications and look for:

Updated: Great tip from one of the commenters, Lauren for introducing the Profile Banner facebook application – a non-technical way to add your own profile banner easily. Check it out!

#3 Less control over the facebook tabs

The default tabs are basically Info, Wall, Photos, Notes, Friends but their visibility will be controlled by your privacy settings completely. For example, tweak the privacy setting of your notes before publishing them:

And you can no longer drag and drop the tabs to rearrange their orders like you used to in old profile.

Where are the rest of the tabs?

• Events tab:

  Direct access: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=events

  Where is it:

  Home -> Events (at your sidebar)

  

• Links tab:

  Direct access: http://www.facebook.com/posted.php

  Here you can find links posted by your friends and yourself, including link subscription management.

  Where is it:

  Home -> Application listing (sidebar) -> look for ‘Links’ (or click ‘More’ to expand the list). The default view will be the links posted by your friends. To reach your own links: :

  http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=YOUR_PROFILE_ID

  

• Photos and Videos tab:

  

  Edgardo brought up a good question on the fan page the other day. We used to have photos and videos tabs separately. But now, facebook had merged them both in the ‘photos’ tab. You can access the latest photos/videos by you and your friends.

  Direct access: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=media#

  Where is it:

  Home -> Application listing (sidebar) -> look for ‘Photos’ (or click ‘More’ to expand the list)

  

  

#4 Application tabs listing – More about personal app management

In new profile, facebook application tabs are more about personal usage ever since facebook eliminated them from public view. You can now access all added applications through Home -> Application listing -> click ‘See all’. You can declutter your list by hiding the unwanted application with ‘x’.

You can undo this anytime with ‘See Hidden’ -> select the application and add it back to the sidebar navigation links.

#5 Location for friends and page requests

We used to be able to access all requests sent to us from the top bar. Now that is reserved for friend requests only. And recently, a lot of people are complaining about the missing page suggestions sent to them by friends after receiving facebook email notifications. If you’re one of them, try look them up: News Feed -> Request (right column sidebar):

If not, you can access them all here with this direct link.

#6 Feature meaningful friendship or facebook lists / groups

A smart implementation similar to Twitter lists except it does not have the ‘follow list’ feature. I have yet gone into making public lists but my friend, Cindy King did a fantastic job with her Social Media Examiner Writers’ list on her new profile. If you want to create the lists or upload an existing one (even facebook groups!) to your sidebar, try this link or from your Info tab -> Feature People -> Create new list or Add an existing list or group.

As usual, you can customize the privacy setting for your friend list:

Go to Account -> Privacy Settings -> Connecting on Facebook -> View Settings -> See your friend list:

Let’s say you’re not into list-making, then the random friends displayed at your sidebar are those whom you most interacted with via wall posts, comments and other non-private interactions (excluding private messaging and chats).

#7 Account Protection via Secondary email or mobile number

There is a new reminder option to strengthen your account security. You will be asked to add a secondary email address and confirm a mobile number for your highest account security level.

Be sure to add a valid email address that has never been used by other accounts and make sure the loading is completed before you navigate away from the security setup. Otherwise your email address will be lost in limbo and no way to reclaim it for your account.

One thing I learned from facebook is to ALWAYS check your privacy settings whenever there’s a new change or upgrade. Although facebook said no alteration will be done on them but what if there is a new check box added without your knowledge? For instance, I wouldn’t have noticed the security email I added would be given a new privacy option if I hadn’t check. Hence, make sure you customize its visibility if need to:

Updated: #BONUS: Facebook Lists & Status Updates Relocated; Re-emerge of ‘Pages’ option; Facebook page’s Questions tab

There is a lot you can get from the above image. First of all, in new profile the locations for ‘Facebook Lists’ and ‘Status Updates’ are relocated. You can no longer see them at the sidebar but inside the drop down box of ‘Home -> Most Recent‘. What surprised me the most is the ‘Pages’ option – at first I thought it’s back! But then, it’s different than the one we had in ‘Account -> Edit Friends‘ before where you can see your entire ‘liked’ pages in alphabetical order. This is strictly for displaying your liked-pages’ status updates only. It’s still a ‘friendly’ effort from facebook for trying, but it does make users slightly confused with the ‘same’ name used.

I wish there is more I can say about the ‘Questions’ tab for new facebook pages. Till this day, I am still blocked from accessing Facebook Questions and there is no way for me to verify that. Even so, if you have a better luck than me, try to access your page’s questions tab via the link (insert your page username at the assigned area): http://www.facebook.com/YOUR_PAGE_USERNAME?v=questions . Let me know what you get?

Updated (01/03/2011): Security Browsing

Recently a security option is added. You can secure your facebook browsing with ‘https’ by ticking the box for ‘Security Browsing’. Also, make sure you are subscribed to email notification for each new device login to your facebook account:

I wouldn’t be surprised if more changes are on the way, our job is to be ready. And frankly, I do miss the old wall options where I get to inter-select whom posts to view and some handy settings without going through the privacy settings:

But life goes on, so does facebook.

Now Is Your Turn…

Do you have anything else to add apart from the seven changes given? What do you think of your new profile thus far? Share your comments below.

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I hope you had a blast fine-tuning your blog with testimonials last week. It’s really encouraging to hear that some are trying out the methods, can’t wait to receive more feedbacks on that! In the mean time, I will be sharing few more practical ways to display testimonials (and portfolio) on your LinkedIn and Facebook Page! Now there are definitely limitations comparing to working on a self-hosted blog because application is the main key. Not the best of plans but hopefully you can be inspired by this post  and work out creative ways to promote your brand:

Testimonials (Portfolio) on LinkedIn

1.  LinkedIn Recommendations

LinkedIn is well known for its business-oriented social network  among the professionals and experts. Due to that, ‘LinkedIn recommendations’ plays a major role in strengthening your business network by allowing others to know your unique skills and talents when collaborating with a client. There are two things you should know about LinkedIn Recommendations:

a)      How to request a recommendation?

Go to Profile -> Recommendations -> Request Recommendations

I would suggest you to only send recommendation requests to people you know that could give an in depth commentary about your working ethics. Don’t send it to 500+ contacts on your list but be selective to whom you chose. If need to, communicate with the person before you send the request. This is NOT a popularity contest with the most recommendations wins. Remember ‘Quality over Quantity‘.

b)      How to backup your recommendations periodically?

One of the best features I love about LinkedIn is the backup facility. Users can backup profile details along with their client recommendations in .pdf format (with presentable layout). You can send this file to your potential clients, especially those who yet to own a LinkedIn account or unable to access your full professional data. Simply thoughtful!

2.  Creative Portfolio Display – LinkedIn Application

Creative Portfolio Display is an application that allows creative professionals (graphic designers, photographers etc) to showcase their art work on LinkedIn. With just a click your contacts can view your complete portfolio and even rate it! This application is powered by Behance and I had been using it to showcase my facebook page customization work. Go ahead and see how the full Behance portfolio looks like. Maybe you can rate it too since you’re there?

3.  Add Video Testimonial or Portfolio – LinkedIn Profile

Slideshare makes it possible to publish video on Linkedin Profile. It supports .flv, .avi, .wmv and more formats can be found here. You can make it so to display your monthly client video testimonial (refer to point #6 in this post) or a compilation of the work you’ve done with dynamic content that is memorable and shareable.

The procedure is not complicated at all. Just upload your video to SlideShare or do so from your LinkedIn SlideShare application. Once your video is uploaded, fill up your video details and wait for the conversion to finish. When it’s done, go to ‘Your Slidespace’ -> ‘Your Presentations’ to check on your video status. Here is a video example I made for my facebook customization work:

Testimonials on Facebook Page

1.  Reviews – Facebook Application

You can request your fans/clients to review your service or company products via Reviews tab. Clients can update their reviews anytime, re-rate the service or delete their comments. They can even comment on other people’s feedback. As an admin, you can neither edit nor delete the content. It is an irony between getting fair reviews from all parties and the headaches when dealing with spammer/troller.

2.  Custom Testimonial tab with Static FBML

If you prefer to have control over what have been said about your company service or website, why not personalize a Testimonial tab with Static FBML (iframe – coming soon)? You can customize and design the layout as you pleased with texts or images (non-editable), just as how I did for a client of mine:

If you are not familiar with HTML, try a subtab instead from these ready-made facebook applications for custom tabs.

To Collect Testimonials on a Facebook Fan Page

There are many ways you can acquire testimonials from clients or fans in a facebook page. Besides on your wall comments, why not setup a Testimonial form from one of these contact forms? Here is one I set up using Jotform:

3.  Facebook Comments for a Custom Tab – Social Plugins

Facebook comments can be inserted in a custom tab to encourage responses about your service. For example, set a portfolio tab then embed the facebook comments to generate discussions and fans feedback. Best of all, you can have control over the comments by eliminating spammers with ‘Delete’or ‘Report’. That’s a plus comparing to Reviews tab.

4.  Other Feedback Applications – Under Observations (as Reference)

I was actually quite impressed with ‘Feedback Application’ but unfortunately it had ceased to operate since 1st December, 2010. Comparing to Reviews app, Feedback app gives admin extra advantage in feedback management, where bad ratings or hate comments can be hidden from page view. I was using it for a few weeks so worth a mention here.

I was looking for a replacement, that’s when I found User Voice. As you can see on Hootsuite’s facebook page it is performing rather well for fans to post suggestions, vote and comment on them. But still, it is more of an idea-collector tool instead of a rating app. I had been waiting for their beta invite for facebook tab embed since few weeks ago but no replies thus far. Not much to comment for now.

5.  Import Twitter Testimonials to your Facebook Page

If you are collecting Twitter Testimonials, you may import it to your Facebook page wall via selective tweets, TwitterFeed or Hootsuite. That way you fans can be updated as soon as your twitter followers had endorsed your work. Refer to this post on how to get it done.

Now Is Your Turn…

Have you been using any of the methods above to promote your brand? Or do you have a secret ‘testimonial’ recipe of your own? Enlighten us in the comments, love to hear from you!

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Last year, Facebook overtook Google to be the most-visited site on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I don’t think the forecast will be any less different in 2010 considering facebook continues to outshine other social networking sites in terms of user base and connectivity. Plus, you must have heard that Facebook beats ebay to be the third most valuable web company in U.S. lately, right? With so much power and fame, facebook lives under the radar of its 500 million active users daily, hoping their expectations be heard and taken heed of.

Two days ago I had an interesting discussion on my page wall. I asked the fans to share what they hope to get from facebook for Christmas this year (if facebook is listening). Their feedback was amazing and I had so much fun learning what people are expecting from facebook! That’s what I love most about a facebook page – you can never expect how a normal wall post can create unusual responses! To reward their enthusiastic participation, I hope their wishes be heard. What can be a better way to chase away Monday blues than a Christmas wishlist to facebook? Take it away, dear Social @ Blogging Tracker members:

1. “I would like an exclusive souvenir from Facebook!” – Mico
2. “Two Newsfeeds – one for personal profiles and one for business pages.” – Jill




3. “To keep it as it is. I dont want them to change its appearance or functions!” – Noor




4. “Time on my hands.’ – Todd




5. “An easier, appropriate, reliable and fair way to communicate, to support people. Please!” – Debbie




6. “To share via my page instead of my profile (because sometimes that’s what I want to do WITH the share button). Ooh, and to be notified when someone does something on my page (likes, comments, etc.). Please, please, please.” – Anne




7. “A free T-shirt.” – Jill




8. “To rid my old account name from any search engine such as google, facebook, etc so i can live.” – Aved




9. “A an email informing me to wait for my gift cheque worth 100 million in my snail mail..lol” – Jena




10. “To solve my privacy bug so that my friends could see my photo albums!!” – Miriam




11. “The ability to unmerge a places and business page; Two news feeds, one for friends and one for pages, each accessible with just one click.” – Laura




12. “My gift from Facebook would be to keep our profile pics with the post, ie. don’t change the profile pics from previous posts. I’d like to keep the pic with the post.. like Christmas, Halloween, Veterans Day.” – Mike




13. “If possible, I want to have a chance to meet Facebook CEO – Mark Zuckerberg.” – Lee




14. “Better option for privacy settings for posts, photographs etc, even amongst friend lists.” – Shubhra




15. “Thumbs up for Anne’s wish! It would be way better to be notified when someone does something on pages! And the page can leave a comment on their friends.” – Jane




16. “The ability to communicate better with Facebook (the organization) when you have problems or questions. And more FBML commands!” – Genevieve




17. “My wish is for better separation between personal and professional activities and pages (finally). Let’s hope they listen to all of your readers’ comments!” – Scott

Are you nodding at some of them? I know I am. Why not join our page and share what is your biggest wish from facebook on Christmas day ? You can do so in the comments too if like, but be sure to tell why that wish is important to you. Fact is, you never know who is going to see the list and checking it twice (*waving* at facebook). Together let’s create an ultimate Christmas wishlist for facebook.

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Updated Post:
7 Free iFrame Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom Tabs) for Your Facebook Page.

Custom tabs can be one of the greatest inventions for facebook page. It brings a page to life, allows content enhancement to impress and capture attention. Setting up a custom tab can be easy (DIY) or complicated with advanced coding knowledge of HTML, Javascript and iframes (soon to come). Answering these questions can help in deciding what type of custom tab you are planning to build:

• What is the tab for?
• What are the results I hope to achieve from the tab?
• What kind of brand image I wish to portray to visitors?
• What are the must-have designing elements within the tab?
• What is your budget for a custom tab?

 

Also, one more thing you should know about is iframes will be replacing FBML tabs soon:

 

Existing FBML tabs will continuously be supported but no doubt, IFrames will be the new lead in facebook customization. Currently IFrames tabs are yet to be released by facebook. A fan from our page had brought up a good concern here – “ I don’t have much knowledge in setting up a welcome tab, but are there any possible ways for a DIY?”.

Yes, there are. In fact I’m going to share with you some facebook applications (come with free accounts) that can do just that. But there will be limitations comparing to customization work done by professionals, such as advertisement links or hidden features. If you’re in a hurry to setup a welcome tab (or any landing tab/custom tabs) for your business page, FBML is still a good pick. Otherwise, these facebook applications will be a good fit for your fan page:

 

5 Facebook Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom & Sub-tabs)

 

1. Welcome Tab for Pages

 

HTML Knowledge: Yes
Sub-tabs: No

The whole concept is similar to Static FBML, you ought to have basic HTML knowledge to get things running on the tab. So this may be a good pick if you’re running out of FBML boxes (maximum 10 tabs per page) to add. The only advantage it has over Static FBML is the built-in analytical stats for your welcome tab visits.

If you are to stick with Static FBML (at least it has no footer message; tab name is editable), try to give this article a read about embedding Google Analytics code within the tab.

 

2. TabSite

 

HTML Knowledge: Yes
Sub-tabs: Yes (Two)

TabSite has a wordpress-like control panel for drafting your tab content: font resizing, styles, even media files uploading (images, videos). For its free account, you can create up to two sub-tabs. You can arrange the tab order and how they are displayed to fans – horizontally or as a drop down menu.

Visit tabsite pricing page for more features.

 

3. Static FBML and Welcome Tab by iwiPage

 

HTML Knowledge: Yes
Sub-tabs: Yes (>2 but Limited)

I love sub-tabs so no doubt I’m giving iwiPage a test-run. It is said to support iframes, Javascript and flash on all sub-tabs except ‘Home’. I did not get to verify on the iframe insertion so if anybody did, kindly share your experience with the app in the comments. Apart from the slick design with drag and drop, the ability to hide tab from non-fans until they liked the fan page impressed me the most – it’s a feature that not always come with a FREE account, but iwipage allows it (but with limitations).

The customization is a bit challenging until you figure out how it works. I would advise you to watch this video tutorial first to prevent frustration and lost of your work:

4. Tigerlily CMS

– [UPDATED: 12/01/2012] This app is no longer available.
 

HTML Knowledge: No
Sub-tabs: Yes (Two)

Tigerlily is pretty much straight forward (drag and drop). Its free account offers users with basic configurations without the need of knowing any HTML at all. As long you don’t mind their brand name on the tab and footer, you can insert quite a number of media files or social feeds with just the source links (no sign in for authorization purposes).

It offers several applications for different packages. More about their price plan here.

 

5. Pagemodo Pagebuilder

 

HTML Knowledge: No
Sub-tabs: No (One Tab Only)

For those who are not into complicated HTML or CSS code modifications, pagemodo gives you sophisticated design layout with the simplicity of drag and drop! Everything is basically well customized. Page admin only needs to replace the images and texts, reposition the content before confirming your changes. Font customization and background design can be modified. No designing skills required to make your custom tabs (welcome, showroom etc) look like pro’s!

But to unlock video-embedding themes, add more tabs and eliminating the footer, a paid plan is needed.

 

The reason why I am so into facebook customization is that every page is unique on its own. Even with these DIY apps, you can still make a difference for your welcome tab if you willing to experiment and improvise. Don’t stop by adding the application to your page. Monitor its results and find out what works and what’s not.

Recommended Post:
7 Free iFrame Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom Tabs) for Your Facebook Page.

 

Now is Your Turn…

 

What are your anticipations for iframes? Any other facebook applications that I missed for a well customized welcome tab? Share your thoughts.

 

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