Twitter is a valuable source of news updates. Without proper management, it can be a real time suck! There’s only so much time in a day, you need to make each tweet, each following count for something. Why not utilize some free Twitter tools to lighten your load so you can focus more on building relationship with your tweeps?

Twitter News Aggregators:

These apps summarize the most relevant and popular updates from your Twitter stream with very simple setup procedures. Best of all, you can subscribe to your friends’ to find out what is hot in their Twitter network too.

#1  The Tweeted Times

Tweeted Times creates real-time personalized newspaper from your Twitter stream and arranges them by popularity based on total mentions from your Twitter friends and theirs. You can then subscribe to the newspaper via RSS reader or promote it to your network.

Special Tip:

Customize your newspaper digests from public Twitter lists or search results. A great way to filter your stream if you are following a wide range of Twitter users.

#2  Summify

I was going to skip Summify because it had stopped receiving new registrations after acquired by Twitter. However, I can’t deny the fact that it helped tremendously in gathering social news feeds from various social networks: Twitter, Facebook and Google+, presenting them in one-page summary so one can catch up on daily news updates via web or mobile. Normally it takes 1-2 hours to collect the stories.

Special Tip:

Summify is visually appealing comparing to Tweeted Times and both give me slightly different results in their daily news updates. I love how I can easily share individual story without having to leave Summify.

#3  Paper.li

Paper.li offers more configurations when collecting trending news: optional to add photos, videos and to order the news by priority via drag and drop. You can add anything you read from the web to your paper and share it with your Twitter network. Being a publisher is all about providing content, which makes it all the more important to follow the right people in gaining valuable resources that interest you.

Special Tip:

Besides Twitter stream, you may import stories from other websites via RSS Feed and Google plus account as well. You can feature, hide or delete an article; block a user or website from your newspaper.

Declutter Your Twitter Stream:

#4  Slipstream

Slipstream works perfectly in Twitter web to eliminate irrelevant tweets without having to block or unfollow anyone. You can hide tweets containing a specific keyword, tag, either from a user or everyone in your Timeline, @replies or twitter lists.

Special Tip:

A huge time-saver if you don’t wish to get caught up by a trendy topic or hashtags you’re not interested in. My only problem with Slipstream is that it only supports limited browsers at the mean time: Chrome and Safari. We need more browser choices.

#5  StrawberryJam

StrawberryJam pulls in popular links shared by your friends and gives a clear overview of what’s trending in your Twitter network. You get to see the results ranging from last 8, 16 and 24 hours. Did I mention you can even see real time results too? Turn on the Preview and you can read the post excerpts, giving you some idea what is the story about.

Special Tip:

Enter specific keyword, tag or twitter list to find out most shared links in the mentioned category. Great app if you’re looking for popular links to share.

Twitter Following/Followers Management:

#6  ManageFlitter

It has been awhile since I cleaned up my Twitter account. Thanks to ManageFlitter, I was able to clear a few inactive accounts while discovering contacts I should communicate more. It allows Google+ integration so your public posts can be imported to your Twitter stream after configured.

Special Tip:

Free version of ManageFlitter only lets you ‘unfollow’. If you’re interested to know which of your followers you didn’t follow back, another free app you can use is ‘Friend or Follow’.

#7  FollowFriday Helper

I was able to jump on the FollowFriday bandwagon easily thanks to FollowFriday Helper which displays a filtered list of those we interacted most recently. You can choose to write personalized or multi-user recommendation tweets from within the app.

Special Tip:

Various hashtag suggestions are given other than #FF. Add multi-user recommendations by clicking at their Twitter username; navigating from one page to another won’t affect your pending recommendations in the text box. Thoughtful.

I was meant to add Formulists and Conversationalist in this category but unfortunately their sites are shutting down soon. Still yet to find a Twitter app that supports smart lists updating. For other Listing options, you can refer to 6 Twitter Lists Applications to Expand Your Network.

Twitter Account Management:

#8  Tweetbackup

Tweetbackup allows you to run daily backup of your twitter posts which you can then export to be downloaded. Tweetbackup is the subsidiary of Backupify, a well known backup app for social media accounts.

Special Tip:

Although it says to backup people you followed but neither can I locate the backup file nor the setting for that purpose.

Brand Monitoring on Twitter:

#9  Topsy

Tracking your brand mentions on Twitter can be done easily with Topsy. Get real time search results over the social web from the past 1 hour to 30 days, sort them by date or relevance. Use advanced search to filter your results if need to.

Special Tip:

Topsy adds Google+ in their real time results too. A good method to track who shared or mentioned your brand on Google Plus.

#10  Twubs

Twubs makes hashtags useful as it enables tracking for certain conversations, information, shared movements and memes. With Twubs, you’re able to view latest tweets of your preferred topics.

Special Tip:

There is no official claiming of hashtags so anyone can edit the hashtag descriptions. This could be a risk if someone deliberately sabotages a brand by altering their hashtag content. Therefore, commitment is required to monitor twitter chats and events closely.

Smart Scheduling of Tweets:

Tweet-scheduling can be a hassle. Often times I wonder do those scheduled tweets earned a spot in followers’ streams or simply dropped off their radar? Here are the solutions to the problem:

#11  Timely

Timely analyzes your past tweets and schedules them at suggested time slots for your optimum exposures. The timing will adjust itself after you added more tweets. Later, find out how your tweets performed in stats (number of clicks, reach and reactions). You can also skip or limit weekend posting as well.

Special Tip:

You can reply to those who mentioned you within the Timely app. Add a bookmarklet to your browser for quick and effective scheduling. No edit can be done on suggested time slots except deleting them.

#12  Buffer

Buffer is often compared to Timely but if you want to have control over your scheduling time then Buffer is your go-to app. Set your time slots and add up to 10 tweets for one Twitter account (Free version). Personally, I love how Buffer is integrated with other awesome apps like StrawberryJam and SocialBro. As a bookmarklet or browser add-on, you can add content easily to buffer!

Special Tip:

Buffer button is also available for websites to encourage readers to buffer your content. Adjust your time slots not only in hours but on different days by ‘Change days’ option. Ability to post less on certain days is available for paid accounts.

Recommended Read: 6 Points To Ponder Before Using Automatic Status Updates

Innovative Use of Twitter Stream:

#13  TweetWally

TweetWally is great for both personal and brand promoting purposes. I’m a Facebook addict so thanks for TweetWally’s embedding feature, I can gather all my Facebook-related tweets and share it with my blog readers. You can claim a vanity URL for your account and customize its appearance to fit your brand.  Here’s my TweetWally if you wish to take a look.

Special Tip:

No edit can be done on displayed tweets. Require constant monitoring so no irrelevant tweets are included.

Twitter Analytics:

#14  Twitsprout

After hearing so many good things about Twitsprout I decided to give it a go. It takes about 7 days to collect data for a new account but it’s worth the wait. Twitsprout transforms your historical data into a beautiful infographic, showcasing the stats for your new followers hourly, number of people retweeting you and number of mentions received.

Special Tip:

TwitSprout works best in Chrome; upgraded Firefox and Safari browsers (both version 4 and up).

#15  SocialBro

SocialBro is a Twitter community management tool but I must highlight its real-time analytical feature: you can find out who are the most active users in your stream in the last 5 minutes (twitter timeline, public Twitter lists or any search terms). Although free version only provides monitoring up to 100 active users every 10 seconds but that’s good enough for me.

SocialBro’s very own Insights is equally impressive where you get to track languages, timezones etc for your followers/following. You can export then save your data in PDF.

Special Tip:

Always synchronize your account to get the most updated results. SocialBro can do a lot more than analytics alone, including managing following/followers, discovering best time to tweet (integrated with Buffer) and so much more.

Don’t just take my words for it, try them out. Not all Twitter apps are suitable for everyone. Find out what is your biggest Twitter challenge and incorporate some of these tools to boost your online presence and productivity. You’ll be surprised how well these apps could work!

Now Is Your Turn…

Are you currently using any of these Twitter tools? Do you have more apps to add to this list? Feel free to share in your comment. Or you can always share with me on Twitter: Follow @wchingya

 

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Have you ever felt troubled when trying to add a stunning custom tab to your page but don’t know how? Since last year, I had found several that works great in providing sub-tabs and some with fan gate options. Today, it’s all about templates and widgets! Wouldn’t it be great if you can add one of these facebook applications together with some from 23+ Facebook Page applications to improve fans engagement? After all, it’s all about trial and error. Let’s head right to the facebook apps:

7 Killer Tab Customizers for Facebook Pages

#1  GroSocial

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: Available

I love GroSocial for the fact that it makes Facebook customization a breeze with its drag and drop interface, along with slick, sophisticated templates and widgets for all packages. It is super easy to use with clear indication of which apps are free and required payment. Best of all you can try all widgets and only pay if you decided to publish them. You can tweak the tab and element settings and preview them in your WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. For free account you only get to publish one tab for one page but you may create as many tabs and publish the one you are most satisfied with. Here’s a custom tab created using Grosocial for my Page, imagine a lot more you can do with yours! GroSocial auto saves your work too, very neat.

#2  Lujure

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No (except email/button embed)

Fans-Gating Content Settings: Available

Lujure provides templates (limited layout for free plan) and 35 social suites you can choose to add to your tab. There are no ready images in the templates so you need to prepare your own according to the given image size per template. Adjust your page height and background color/image however you wish. Double click at each element to customize its content. Some may require coding knowledge such as embedding your email opt-in form and paypal button. Free plan allows you to install one tab to one managed page.

#3  Social Page Builder

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: For Paid Accounts Only

Like other page tab customizers, Social Page Builder offers free plan that allows you to install one tab to one page. Their templates are quite stylish and more towards retailing purposes. Its editing interface has both design and HTML mode. In order to edit an image on its multi-layer customization, double click it and you will be able to adjust color saturation, brightness or add shapes/text box. You can set hyperlink and alt text for the image as well. Social Page Builder is the only service I came across with spell check ability.

#4  FaceItPages

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: For Paid Accounts Only

FaceItPages is another DIY page tab customizer that offers quite a number of templates and modules for your page. Free account holders will have access to header banner, content block, photo gallery/slideshow and contact module but not the RSS feed (for blog and twitter account). You can add and preview the feed content but in order to get them published on your Page you need to upgrade to paid packages.

Extra info: FaceItPages also has an option to manage/create your timeline cover.

#5  Thrusocial

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: Available

Thrusocial is a great app to design your custom tab with drag and drop application widgets. Unlike most customizers, Thrusocial includes twitter and blog feed in their Free plan (hurray!). The greyed-out widgets are only accessible in paid packages.  Thrusocial provides basic template layout for you to work on and you can manage uploaded images in ‘Gallery’ option. Unsure if it’s just me but I can’t get ‘Facebook Sharing’ button to work on my Page after configured. I was excited to have found a scheduling feature in Thrusocial but couldn’t get that to function either – the message is forever ‘sending’ and never published. But since both features are not essential to me so overall, I’m still quite satisfied with Thrusocial.

#6  FanBridge Fan Page Creator

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: Available

Or known as Damntheradio, FanBridge Fan Page Creator enables you to create dynamic Facebook tab that features audio, video, tour dates, contests and more. Damntheradio is widely used by musicians like Linkin Park and Enrique Iglesias. What I love is that it provides Like-gating feature on single module to attract more Likes on Page. If you include comments in your template, you can only edit or delete a comment from their main site but not within your page. You can download the comments in .CSV format whereas email addresses for the ‘Signup Form’ module can only be downloaded for paid accounts.

#7  ShortStack

Requirement of Coding Knowledge: No

Fans-Gating Content Settings: Available

If your Facebook Page is relatively new and you don’t have enough budgets to create multiple custom tabs like in the above plans, you just might love ShortStack! Differ from most Customizers, ShortStack has no page limitations and you can install up to 12 quick-publish tabs per page. You will have access to sweepstakes, fan gating tabs and other widgets except those required contest database, such as photo submissions for voting etc. Apart from its well designed template layouts, you can rearrange and set so certain widgets are exclusively for fans-view only. For those who have CSS knowledge you can enhance your tab further.  The only catch for this free account is that your fan count should not be more than 2,000. Otherwise you must upgrade to paid packages.

Feeling overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. The more you know what apps are available and what they are capable of, the more you’ll consider what can you offer to your audience. Remember, the purpose of this post is not to ask you to install EVERYTHING but to acknowledge you some of the choices available. Even free plan doesn’t sound so bad as long you don’t mind their ad placements (header or footer) on your Page. Carefully plan out your strategies, after all, 2012 had only just begun. Be glad that even none coders can find joy in setting up an impressive custom tab without feeling burdened.

Now Is Your Turn…

What is your favorite facebook application to create custom tabs? Have you come across better app suggestions? I’d love to hear them out in your comment.

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Update: Don’t forget to check out 7 Killer Facebook Applications to Create Impressive Custom Tabs too!

Greetings and Happy New Year! To kick off 2012, some of you may think of giving your Facebook Page a facelift. There may be some features you wish to add such as custom iframe tabs with fan gate option or ideas to encourage fans engagement on your Page. If you do, you’ve come to the right place! Every year I will compile a list of cost-effective facebook apps you can use not only to improve your fans engagement but hopefully enhance your brand visibility at the same time. Without further ado, let’s get to the list.

This review is based on my personal opinion only and has nothing to do with affiliation or app sponsorship whatsoever.

To Encourage Fans Participation and File Sharing:

#1 FriendCard

FriendCard is a smart way to make your brand go viral by allowing fans to send customizable branded greeting cards to their friends. Upload your logo and replace the default message with your own to fit your brand image. Your fans can then schedule to either send out their card immediately or later, what fun!

#2 Coupon for Pages

What can be more exciting to offer fans some great deals on your Page? Coupon for Pages by Involver is easy to setup while allowing your fans to print the coupon or share the good news with their friends. Not only you can gain new fans out of this but existing fans will appreciate your special treat and support your brand continuously.

(Note: Transform the Coupon tab into a fan-gating tab to entice new ‘Likes’)

#3 File Sharing

File Sharing enables page admin to share up to (any) 5 files with fans on your Page. There doesn’t seem to be a way to delete the files though but uploading new files will replace the old ones. I won’t worry too much about this as you can always hide the tab and use it when necessary.

#4 Scribd for Pages

Scribd for Pages is by far the best file sharing app I came across with the ability to support various file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .txt, .jpg, .pdf). When you upload multiple files the latest one will appear on top of the rest. Files uploaded to Scribd will have more sharing options including embedding and emailing.

#5 PDF Tab

If you would like to share a PDF file with fans without the download option, this app might just meet your requirement. However you can only display one PDF file (<10MB) at a time.

#6 Fotobabble

Fotobabble lets users add voice to their uploaded photos and share them on Facebook Pages! What a great concept where Page admin not only get to enhance their welcome tab with a ‘real’ call to action asking fans to Like the page, but can also plan a fun contest like ‘Tickle Me Baby’ here where fans can upload ‘baby-talk photos’ for others to listen to.

To Communicate with Your Page Fans:

#7 LiveChat for Fan Pages

LiveChat is a very useful Facebook application to provide real time customer support to your fans or potential customers. If handled well, you may even convert first time visitors into loyal fans too. Sadly, LiveChat is not free but you get to try it for 30 days with no credit card required.

#8 TinyChat

TinyChat provides free video chat rooms for you to setup video conferencing with fans. After you created a chat room, just share your Tinychat room link with fans on your Page wall so they could enter. Bear in mind, since you are using TinyChat’s Facebook app your name will appear as your personal profile in the chat. For now there is no way to change the name yet so make sure you are comfortable with that.

#9 Forum for Pages

Ever since Facebook removed the discussion board from pages, Forum for Pages becomes one of the best alternatives to fill in the spot. You will be asked to authorize the app in order to post or comment; and ‘Like’ the discussion post to subscribe to the topic. Page admin can edit, delete or ban the user from the forum. Best of all, you can even lock a thread or make it a ‘sticky topic’ so it always stays on top.

#10 SupportTab

SupportTab creates a tab for your fans to ask questions. This app is great for those who don’t feel like installing a forum on the Page but still wish to communicate with fans about brand-related topics.

#11 Contact Forms

There are three types of contact forms you can choose from:

i) ContactMe

You can add business information including logo, address, phone number and social profiles. Customize your form with required fields and arrange them to your likings:

ii) Contact Form

Aside from basic configurations, you can add picture and message text separately as header; ‘send me a copy’ option is also available and you can customize your (sent) success message too. However you won’t be able to re-arrange your selected fields:

iii) Contact Us Tab – Improve Your Conversion Rate Form

Contact Us Tab is equipped with four general fields and you may set whichever as required fields.

To Acknowledge Loyal Fans on Page:

#12 Top Fans on Pages

Instead of checking through all fans activities yourself, here are several Facebook applications to help you decide who is(are) your superfan(s):

i) My Top Fans

After the results had been generated, you can publish it to your page Wall so everyone can celebrate:

ii) Booshaka

Booshaka tells you who is your superfan while rewarding the others in weekly basis based on their participation on your page – wall posts, likes and comments. What I love is that Booshaka shows admin the overall performance of a fan (Recent Activity) to confirm their qualification to be chosen. You can then recognize your top 10 fans on Page wall.

iii) Fan of the Week for Pages

Fan of the Week for Pages will feature one fan weekly. Although it is said that the result is based on fan’s activities but after compared the results with similar apps I’m not totally convinced. Either it’s random or based on activities, it’s still a good app to showcase your fan while schedule an automated shoutout at the end of the week (optional).

iv) Top Fans by SocialAppsHQ

Page admin can configure so top 5-15 fans are displayed. It is optional to link to fans’ profiles and place a Like Gate to this tab.

To Notify Events and Handle Appointments:

#13 Events Calendar

Events Calendar enables admin to create and maintain a list of events related to your brand Page and showcasing them in monthly calendar format to fans. You can set the event name, date, time and link to the contact’s profile Timeline or email. You may set so the calendar is viewable to admin/fans only.

#14 Genbook

Genbook is an appointment scheduling web service for small business. By installing Genbook to your Facebook page, you are allowing potential customers to reach you and gain more leads through confirmed appointments. You do need to register a Genbook account with your email address for 30 days free trial. When fans access your ‘BookNow!’ tab, they will be brought to the appointment page outside your Page:

To Encourage Invitation to View Your Page:

#15 Invitation Tab

Always make sure your fans are aware of this call to action to attract more ‘Likes’ on your Page:

i) Tabmaker Invite

For none-coders, this is an easy way to add an invite tab on managed Pages. Your fans can select who they want to invite to your Page or type their friends’ names in the search box:

ii) Invite Your Friends Button for Pages

This app makes it easy for fans to invite friends because all their friends’ names will be automatically added for invitation after the app is authorized. Of course, they can always choose to ‘invite (friends) one by one’.

iii) Smart Suggest To Friends – Invite Friends

Smart Suggest allows fans to include an invitation message not more than 255 characters before selecting friends manually.

To Create Tabs for Company Blog & Information:

#16 RSS for Pages

I have always loved RSS Graffiti for automated blog updates on Pages, but when it comes to creating a blog tab, RSS for Pages is my favorite. The tab consists of post image along with ‘Like’ and ‘Send’ buttons for fans to show their support.

#17 Extended Info

Not enough space in Info tab to describe your brand? Don’t squeeze everything on your landing tab, use Extended Info to add extra fields on a separate tab instead.

#18 FAQ Tab

Besides an appealing interface with your brand logo/banner, it attaches a form below for fans to reach you if needed.

To Showcase Other Social Media Profiles on Page:

#19 Google Plus Tab for Pages

Showcase your Google+ profile at your Page’s sidebar and configure the amount of Google+ updates (5-20) to display on the tab. Insert your Google+ Profile ID in the admin settings and you’re set to go:

#20 Twitter Tab

I prefer a (free) Twitter tab with customizable settings for brand visibility. This app allows you to insert banner image and provides customizations for the tab’s background, text and link color!

For Your Facebook Page Management:

#21 Post Planner

Post Planner lets you schedule your wall posts (text, links, images, videos etc) without leaving Facebook. This app is free for profile Timeline but costs $4.95/month to post on Pages (and Groups). Anyhow, it offers a 30-days trial for you to test it out.

#22 Static HTML:iframe tabs

Not enough iframe tabs on your Page? Now you can add up to 12 iframe tabs per page with Static HTML, find out where to get them. (More iframe apps to choose from, kindly refer to: 7 Free iFrame Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom Tabs) for Your Facebook Page).

#23 Selective Tweets

Don’t flood your Facebook page with Twitter stream. Use Selective Tweets to share info that matters to your page fans. When you post a full URL in your tweet that ends with #fb, it will appear as how you normally post a link on Facebook. Not to mention you will get a link below to be redirected to your twitter account for fans to follow.

Not enough Facebook applications for your Page? Get 14 more app suggestions here.

Now Is Your Turn…

Do you have other facebook page applications to suggest? Which app do you think has the biggest potential to improve fans engagement on Pages? Kindly share in your comment.

Like what you’re reading ? Subscribe via RSS Feed or email so you won’t miss a thing:

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If you’re on Facebook then you are well aware of this problem. Remember how we used to be able to check pending friend requests in our friends list as indicated below?

Not anymore with the new personal profile.

If you think there may be a hidden feature for this then sorry to disappoint you again. Here’s how Facebook responded about tracking pending friend requests:

Unable to check pending friend requests is a huge disadvantage for Facebook users, especially if you are warned for overusing the feature (sent too many requests in a short period of time), reducing the request quantity may be the way to go. Currently the only known way to track pending friend requests is by visiting the person’s profile with a ‘Friend Request Sent’ icon at the upper right corner:

Imagine we have to memorize ALL friend requests we ever sent then return to each profile, EVERYTIME? Obviously this isn’t effective enough. Now wouldn’t it be great if there’s a list for that… that’s right, a LIST!

Recently, I was inspired by how useful a Facebook list can get, including tracking our liked pages in News Feed. So I thought why not utilize Facebook lists to track our pending friend requests as well? Of course there may be plugins or apps for the same purpose but if you are skeptical towards third party apps, Facebook Lists is a much safer method to use. Here’s how:

Step 1: Build Your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List

1. After logged in your personal profile, go to this link: https://www.facebook.com/bookmarks/lists

2. Click ‘Create a List’ and name it ‘Pending Friend Requests’.

3. You won’t need to add anybody to the list yet but whenever you sent a friend request, be sure to add him/her to your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list.

4. From Home -> ‘Pending Friend Requests’, you can see profiles that had been added to your list. In order to follow up the list regularly, add it to your ‘Favorites’.

Step 2: Manage Your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List

Unlike any Facebook applications, you need to update this list manually whenever a friend request is accepted. You can easily aware who just accepted your friend requests via Facebook Notifications or email alerts. After that, remove your new friend from the ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list.

Now, what if you missed the notifications and forgot all about the list after sometimes? Fear not, there are ways you can modify the list after several accepted friend requests.

Bear in mind, the news feed of your custom list will be consisting of updates from both your new (accepted) friends and non-friends (their public stories). Therefore you need to make sure the correct profile been removed from your ‘pending friend requests’ list, but how do you determine that?

Method #1 – Update ‘Pending Friend Requests’ List in News Feed

a. Open your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list and scroll through your news feed. Hover over the profile to reveal his connection with you: If he/she had accepted your friend request, the ‘Friend’ button will appear. Remove everyone who established the ‘Friend’ connection with you, leaving the actual pending requests remained.

Method #2 – Check if Someone Had Accepted Your Friend Request

Instead of visiting the person’s facebook profile, you can check this within your custom list:

a. In your ‘Pending Friend Requests’ list -> ‘See All’ (upper right corner) to load the popup menu.

b. From ‘On This List’ you can have an overview of the people you sent friend requests to on Facebook. The unanswered/unaccepted friend requests will not appear in your ‘Friends’ list. For example, if Ron had yet to accept my friend request, his name won’t appear in my ‘Friends’ list. That’s how you know if a particular friend request is still pending or accepted.

These methods can only assist you this far in monitoring current and future sent requests but not previous ones. If anybody knows how to track back old (unlisted) friend requests, be sure to drop me a message!

Now Is Your Turn…

How do you manage pending friend requests before this? Do you think it’s necessary to have a checklist for it on Facebook? Kindly share your thoughts.

Like what you’re reading ? Subscribe via RSS Feed or email so you won’t miss a thing:

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[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

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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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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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

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

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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You should know by now how much of a facebook fanatic I am.  Since last year, I have not been blogging much about other social media apps except facebook. Well this week, I decided to do them justice by introducing you some of my favorite social media applications that got my attention long before 2011. Some of them may not be new to you, but they are all ‘love at first sight’ to me.

10 SOCIAL MEDIA APPS TO WATCH IN 2011

If you are expecting something grand, complex then it’s not the purpose of this post. These social media tools impressed me with their simplicity and best of all, they are cost free.

Twitter:

#1  Formulists

I remembered how tedious it was to group all my twitter contacts MANUALLY into Twitter lists. When I first heard about Formulists I was overjoyed! It is exactly what I needed to manage and reach out to other Twitter users based on our recent interactions, direct or indirectly. For example, I have an auto-updating list for ‘Thanks-For-Listing-Me’ generated by Formulists. Not only I can return the favor, knowing which lists I belong to but at the same time getting to know these kind people better:

Formulists also gives you filtering options such as bio and location so you can better customize your lists for targeted contacts. This video explains it all:

Remark:

What I love is you can keep your lists in Formulists even though you deleted them from your Twitter account, a good way to refer back or exchange lists whenever necessary. Formulists provides a sidekick account if you used up all 20 twitter lists (limit) but till now I have yet gone into that so unsure how that works.

#2  Mentionmap

Fear not, you’re not in Charlotte’s web but a twitter conversation web to show you relevant people to follow on Twitter. Back then it was all about people and location search, now Mentionmap makes it ‘visually’ capable in discovering who our friends talk to recently and how we can expand our network through these potential contacts.

Remark:

Best of all, no Twitter authorization is required to compare your map with friends’, something a lot more relevant comparing to Twitter’s very own app called ‘Who to Follow’.

Blogs:

#3  Apture

Apture is a must-have if you are all about twitter and facebook sharing. Besides the catchy Twitter and Facebook share buttons, the search bar is equally impressive by offering results from your blog and Google. Your readers don’t have to leave your site in searching for ideal content. It works the same when someone highlight any phrases within your blog post,  just click ‘Learn more’ and the search results will show up before you :

Remark:

Apture bar occupies the top spot of a blog. However, it moves following the reader’s scroll bar to encourage social sharing after reading! Pretty neat, huh?

#4  Hellobar

I was having my regular blog visits when I found this app on a friend’s blog. It is no Apture but a ‘notice’ bar for specific call to action.  Let it be a simple greeting, your latest blog post (via RSS setup) or even your latest tweet. Unlike Apture, it sticks on top of your blog and doesn’t move along with the scroll bar.

Remark:

All is well except newly registered users may wait a day or two before you’ll get the Beta key emailed to you.

#5  BlogPulse

BlogPulse is all about discovering what’s hot and what you think matters in the blogosphere. You can find out who wrote about your brand and offered a link love! For instance, Evelyn mentioned my site in her post last year which I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t check with BlogPulse. I hurried over for a comment, praying she wouldn’t mind my delayed thank-you. Imagine how many more blogs had slipped under my radar!

Remark:

BlogPulse can be very helpful for bloggers. Apart from Google Blog Search we need a focused tracker that not only about hottest trends but to discover potential bloggers we can network with.

Forums, Discussion Boards:

#6  Omgili

Someone said to me earlier that forums are outdated. I don’t quite agree with that. Forums may not be the mainstream but they have their own impact in shaping a community. Forums are ideal for detailed, in depth discussions. We should not neglect them when it comes to brand-monitoring. Omgili is perfect for the job in discovering what people are saying in message boards, discussion threads about any topics at all.

Remark:

Forum used to be the major ground for bloggers to interact with one another. Thanks to Omgili, I was able to track a discussion thread in which my Twitter account was mentioned. When participated in the discussion, I remembered how forum is still playing the role in building trusts and knowledge-sharing among the members. You’ll never know who you end up meeting with along the path.

Expanding Social Connections:

#7  Rapportive

Rapportive is a nifty tool that shows you more than just a plain email address. Based on the sender’s email, Rapportive is capable of pulling in gravatar image, LinkedIn profile, Twitter updates, Skype account and many more. You can follow up (I prefer not calling that ‘stalking’) your potential clients/readers closely on various social media sites. If you wish to check on other recipients in the same email, just hover your mouse over the recipient’s name or email address will do.

Remark:

Absolutely loving it! Highly recommended if you are hoping to extend your social network in 2011!

#8  Qwerly

Qwerly helps you to discover where your Twitter friends are ‘hanging’ on the social web. Type in the twitter username like this ‘@wchingya’ and it will give you an overview of who your twitter contact is and how you can connect with him/her other than Twitter. Exactly why it is referred to as the ‘whois for Twitter’.

Remark:

You can verify and claim your profile by signing in with your Twitter account. It’s that simple to claim your vanity URL with Qwerly.

#9  About.me

Props to Mari Smith for this handy tip. About.me is a custom profile and a dashboard for your personal analytics based on your social accounts like Twitter and Facebook. Create an account via your email then select your username. Add in as many personal details so others can reach you from your about.me account. It gives a huge interface up to 1680×1050 pixels but it’s advisable to keep the size optimum. Feel free to check mine out.

Remark:

It’s all about SEO benefit, whether you’ll be using the analytical tracking or not. I’d love to grab my vanity URL whenever I can. Another thing I love is other people can reach me by ‘Email Me’ button without having to disclose my email address publicly at all!

#10  Wordle

I HAD to include Wordle because it’s so much fun!  Wordle is basically a toy to generate word clouds based on the URL you provided that contains RSS feed. A good way to find out what is the site mainly about. See how it describes my blog, do you think it’s accurate?

Remark:

Its visual effect is compelling! You can randomize, change the fonts or colors. So much you can do with it, it’s time to get creative with your site.

Now Is Your Turn…

What is your favorite social media tool of all time? Which application above you’d like to try best? Tell us.

SPECIAL GUEST NEXT WEEK!~

Don’t forget we have a special guest blogger next week to talk about social media for the first time on Social @ Blogging Tracker! Be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss it.

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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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