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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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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Freelancers, marketers, even bloggers are taking testimonials seriously. Although some referring it to be purposed for closing sales, truth is testimonial is a critical aspect in brand monitoring.  While I was outsourcing for hosting service, the clients’ reviews are my ‘first impressions’ to the brand. Not solely on the after-use experience, but how the brand is channeling  positive  clients responses to benefit their marketing strategy, creating a sense of urgency for visitors like me to know their service better – that is simply encouraging.

7 Easy Ways to Add Clients Testimonials to your Blog

You don’t need me to tell you how big social media is these days. So if you are hunger for more eyeballs and opportunity for the service (or product) you provide on your site, I will be introducing you some Twitter applications and wordpress plugins to showcase your very own clients’ testimonials. You’ll be surprised how easy it is done:

#1  Twitter Favorites Widget – Web application

It’s not the first time we heard about using Twitter Favorites as a Testimonials-collector for its users. The reason why it is so popular is that Twitter Favorites is public viewable, not only you can retweet it but its RSS feed can be embedded to other social media sites for visibility.

For example, Twitter’s very own Faves Widget allows you to place the testimonial tweets (tweets you’ve starred as favorites) at the sidebar or most visible spot in your blog:

The only downside with twitter favorites is that we won’t be able to keep them forever. The results will update themselves with the most recent tweets been displayed first. If you’re not a consistent twitter user, the old tweets may seem outdated to your visitors. Therefore, if not work-related, quality recommendations concerning your work ethics and personalities may be a good fit too.

#2  Tweetimonials – Web application

This is a much simpler, non-fancy script to import Twitter testimonials to your website. It displays two tweets in one time and auto-refreshes itself after few seconds. No avatars but just texts with status link. You can adjust the colors and width whenever necessary. Sweet and simple.

#3  Tweet-stimonials – WordPress Plugin

The setup is quite easy, just install the plugin and look for it in Appearance -> Widgets. It will then show up at your blog’s sidebar. The maximum tweets can be added up to 20, with a call to action to follow your twitter account right beneath it.

#4  LTW Testimonials – WordPress Plugin

LTW (LessThanWeb) Testimonials enables you to place your client testimonials as a page, equipped with sorting and various configurations available for clients details, visibility for testimonial groups or clients and more. Not only that, you can edit the HTML and CSS code from the admin area to enhance the layout of the testimonial page. An excellent plugin to self-customize based on your clients feedbacks.

#5  Collision Testimonial – Wordperss plugin

Collision Testimonial is slightly different from LTW (LessThanWeb). It does not provide an upload box for clients profile image, but it gives you a form where your clients can submit their testimonial easily to your site. From Pages -> Add New Page, insert these two codes to the HTML content of your Testimonial Page:

<!– collision_testimonials_page –>

<!– collision_testimonials_form –>

You can then review, edit (if needed), keep it on hold (hide it) until you decide to publish it.

#6  Video Testimonials from Clients – New Page

I am impressed by the video testimonial page by Denise Wakeman. She collected the videos from her clients and brilliantly presents the visual effects that speak louder than plain texts. If your clients don’t mind, why not discuss with them for a video feedback? You may be surprised how many of them are willing to help out.

#7  Clients Success Stories

This is another great ‘mutual benefit’ I learned from Denise’s blog.  While sharing her clients’ success stories, not only they were in the spotlight but Denise’s efforts were credited too. I’m sure Denise didn’t ask them to do so, but out of their appreciation to Denise’s work, they are more than willing to mention her. It may be something you’d like to try out, see it more as a relationship building with your clients. Set a special segment for their Success Stories – apart from a little exposure and inspire your readers, your quality work may be highlighted too. Best of both worlds, I’ll say.

These are just some creative ways people can do by integrating Twitter favorites and using wordpress plugins to optimize their brand with Testimonials on blogs. In the coming post, I will be discussing on  how to promote your LinkedIn and facebook page with Testimonials for a similar purpose, stay tuned!

Now is Your Turn…

How would you like to present your Testimonials on blogs? Or any other social platforms for that matter? The comment is all yours!

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

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

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

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

Getting exposed – Employer Link!

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

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

Web Developer – the magic plugin to fix employer link

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

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

Here comes the best part,

For Older Profile Layout (before upgrade):

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

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

2.       Next, install Web Developer to your firefox.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

<input name=”work[employer][id][0]”>

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

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

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

For New Profile Layout:

Updated (09/12/2010)

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

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

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

Forms -> Display Form Details

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

<input name=”work[employer][id][0]”>

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

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

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

Your official page should be added correctly now.

For New Profile Timeline:

Updated (23/12/2011)

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

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

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

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

Extra:

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

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

Now is Your Turn…

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

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

But before that, let’s take a look…

Why a Facebook Page Needs a Contact Form?

Simply put,

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

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

4 Online Form Builders for Your Business Page

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

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

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

#1  Freedback

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

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

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

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

#2  123 Contact Form

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

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

#3  Allforms

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

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

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

#4  Jotform

Free Account Features ~
No. of Forms: Unlimited (max: 10MB100MB)
Data Export (CSV/Excel): YES
Ad Link: NO
Pricing / Plans: http://www.jotform.com/pricing
Advantages: Full features as in paid account (limited by space), Sub-header, Drag and drop interface

How can anyone not like Jotform?:

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

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

c) Account Status at the Sidebar

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

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

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

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

#5  Others

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

Now Is Your Turn…

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

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I have hoped everyday that Facebook will grant us the convenience to receive email notifications for our business pages updates. Unfortunately, it seems like facebook has no intention to incorporate this feature yet:

Bummer, pardon me for not being tolerate when it comes to business page notifications. There has not been a clear reason given why Facebook is hiding (or saving) this feature. Could there be a surprise for us in near future? Your guess is as good as mine.

It is not logical yet we have no choice, but to depend on external services and a few tricks to temporarily monitor our page activities. I have tested a few methods and now using 2-3 of them for my facebook page. They are not perfect, some have delays and no way to compare with Facebook’s very own notification system that we’re enjoying in our personal profile, but if you’re desperately needed an alternative, maybe some of the info here can help:

Email Notification for New Posts & Comments

1. Page Notifier – Facebook Application

Page Notifier alerts page admin new wall posts and threaded comments from fans. I have been testing this service for a day or two now and thrilled to say follow-up comments can be tracked easily and promptly. I get to respond and followup on questions immediately, thanks to the trial version provided (96 scans/day):

Here is how the email notification looks like whenever there’s a new post or comment on the Wall:

What I love about Page Notifier:<

Page admins are notified with follow-up comments regardless how old was the wall post. You can add multiple pages to Page Notifier as long you can get a hold of their page IDs.

Opps… BUT you should know:

I think this applies to all types of notifier – your facebook page must be public viewable (no age or country restrictions) otherwise this app cannot access your page to retrieve the updates. Also, after the trial your account will be downgraded to Free Version that allows one-time-scan per 24 hours unless you’re willing to purchase for more frequent scans and emails. To get 15 minutes/scan you need to pay up to $14.95/month. Yes, I wish this service is F.O.C too.

Email Notification for New Postings

2. Fan Page Notifier – Web Service

Similar to Page Notifier, you will be informed whenever there’s a new wall post from fans. Good thing about it is that not only you get to follow up on your own managed pages but your liked-pages too. It is optional to set either one or both notifications (admins and fans) as shown below:

What I love about Fan Page Notifier:

I have been using Fan Page Notifier for about a month now. For the entire August it has been right on time with new wall posts (scan frequently). No fee required so you can enjoy this service freely.

By monitoring liked pages, Fan Page Notifier actually works well as an alternative to a recent Facebook updating issue in News Feed, besides using facebook lists.

Opps… BUT you should know:

Fan Page Notifier does not collect follow-up responses in a post (only New wall posts) so you need to check back regularly, or utilize ‘like‘ option (Method #3) for a better page interaction. In early September, I had missed a few updates but after I re-subscribe, everything works fine again. Considering it’s a free service, I can tolerate a few ‘misses’ as long it’s not overly done.

Suggested Read: 2 Excellent Facebook Page Apps to Get Email Notifications (2011)

Email Notification for ‘Liked’ Items

3. ‘Like’ Option – A Manual Way

Many of you already know how ‘like’ option can track follow up comments. Usually it works perfectly for manual posting in a facebook page. You can ‘unlike’ a post to stop receiving upcoming comments (unless you have commented then there’s no way to unsubscribe). Make sure you have checked through your notifications especially for ‘comments after you’ in a Note, Video, Link and wall comments for it to work.

The downside of this method is you need to ‘like’ all your status updates manually. Not really convenient for scheduled updates and auto-published Blog RSS Feed via facebook applications.

A Summary of Page Notifications (at selected time)

4. NutshellMail – Facebook Application

NutshellMail is a managing tool for various social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and MySpace. By adding it to your facebook page, your fans can subscribe to your page updates when they go to Newsletter tab -> Click here to continue:

As a page admin, you can subscribe to Nutshellmail for a summary of page notifications. Customize the email delivery (time), sections and your managed pages:

Nutshellmail may not be an instant notifier when it comes to page activities, but I see it as a checking-list. I can set the delivery at regular intervals, make sure I have responded to all page comments as required.

Email Notification for Discussion Board

This method utilizes Google Reader and Feed Notifier to track new responses in Facebook discussion board – it is explained in earlier post so feel free to give it a read. Process can be a little cumbersome but thanks to these external services, page admins can now deal with an active discussion board.

Why Email Notification Is Important for Page Admins?

It may be wishful thinking that I hope Facebook would see this, but as page admins, we need page notification :

• to be responsive when dealing with fans requests.
• to filter spammy and inappropriate content from wall posts.
• instead of checking back the page once every few minutes, notification can be a real time-saver (avoid time-suck).
• to deal with conflict asap to protect business branding & fans interests
• to respond to offers and job opportunities immediately
• to improve fans interactions and relationship-building

I could go on but I’ll save the rest for the commenters. It is our hope to enjoy this facility one day without relying on third party applications (reliability and ZERO monthly charges).

Now Is Your Turn…

How do you monitor your page activity for now? Are you willing to pay for receiving email notifications? Share your thoughts.

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Remember 7 Features to Brand, Market, Manage with MarketMe Tweet? Yup, it’s back again with an updated version MarketMe Tweet V2.0! For those who are hearing it for the first time, it’s a Twitter client equips with branding and marketing features. I’m no marketer but its ‘branding’ ability captivates me since their free app Tweetbrand (was recently pulled to focus on their main product). Imagine if you’re a business promoter, you will do whatever it takes to get your brand out there, reaching out to potential clients as much as you possibly can. MarketMe Tweet is specially designed for the job, see how it’s placing a blog link below my tweet:

I must admit, at first I was a little skeptic about who would actually look at that tiny spot for a web link? Until some of my followers starting to ask how did I place a link to my blog in each tweet, I realized this application has a good chance even for a freelancer like myself!

Of course, it’s not fair to limit MarketMe Tweet capabilities based on my personal preference. Here are other basic features you should know about:

So after using V1 for awhile, I had to find out what are the updated features in the new release. Despite of what has been said in the video, I need to personally try it out to confirm the reliability. Kindly be reminded that this review is based on my personal opinion only and has nothing to do with MarketMe Tweet sponsorship whatsoever. So here goes:

#1  Manageable Interface

I have long hoped for a new interface since I’m a big fan of Tweetdeck and Hootsuite. I can’t be happier with the new columnized interface, a lot easier to view conversations and follow up on Twitter lists. Now we can position, rename, add lists and reload the panes as how we work on any other web/desktop clients!

Remark:

There were times earlier when MarketMe Tweet was unable to retrieve updates – pane returns with ‘No Results’. After referring to their support team I was told that Twitter itself has issues refreshing API limits on certain accounts as explained in this post.

#2  Tweet Branding

Still by far, my personal favorite of the app! This is particularly useful if you are handling multiple Twitter profiles – MarketMe Tweet saves you the trouble to log in and out of the account but manages everything inside the client! You can add multiple brandings for different campaigns or business accounts. The setup is quite simple as indicated in the video (or you can request for a step by step write up and I’ll get it done just for you):

Video tutorial to setup a new brand with MarketMe Tweet:

(Source: by Tammy from MarketMe Tweet)

#3  Tweet Scheduling & Bulk Import

Another improved feature that made my day. It has a sleek sliding panel to schedule tweet (with branding), and drop down boxes make sorting easy (today, week, month, year and beyond). It is convenient to check and modify scheduled tweets, even integrate it with your Google Calender:

A new feature by MarketMe Tweet to import tweets (drafts) and schedule them in bulk. For example, you have saved some interesting links in your notepad, instead of scheduling them one by one you can do it in one-go: place %T% in front, and %D% at the back of your tweet, following date and time (24 hours clock format):

Format: %T% Your Message and Link %D% Date Time

Example: %T% 9 Ways to Enhance Your FB Page http://bit.ly/b9rn2w %D% 01/08/2010 22:10:00

Another method is set the intervals between your bulk tweets (tick ‘Use Override Interval’ to set the minutes):

Suggested Read: 6 Points To Ponder Before Using Automatic Status Updates ; 6 Status Updates Scheduler for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn

#4  Geo-tagging for Reply Campaigns

Another important feature offered by Marketme Tweet is to setup reply campaigns for targeted individuals. The app makes it easy to find relevant people based on your location, keywords, following by an opportunity to network. Especially when people are expressing interests about your product, your immediate respond via reply templates can earn you firsthand connections when attending to their needs. It’s optional to set the reply templates though, but in case you do, make sure to personalize it well to not spoil your first image.

Marketme Tweet is now using geo-tagging to filter results so you can discover local clients in targeted area.

#5  Contact Management

i)  Auto-Follow Option

If you are eager to connect with followers, MarketMe Tweet provides an easy option to reciprocal by ‘Follow Users Back’.

In additional, you can opt in to receive daily @Mentions Emails for the latest results:

ii)  Follow Users based on keywords

You can bulk or selectively follow users based on reply campaigns keywords.

iii)  Unfollow Users who are not Following You

To bulk unfollow or do it selectively.

#6  Social Accounts Integration

Facebook profile integration is now available in MarketMe Tweet. You can post status updates, comment and like your friends’ updates within the client itself. It supports multiple Facebook accounts so if you are managing facebook profiles for your clients, you can inter-switch between them. I am having difficulty to retrieve my facebook page and just submitted a support ticket for it. Will update the results when it’s fixed.

Some of you may wonder about LinkedIn integration, that is do-able with Ping.fm. All you need is to copy your Ping.fm API Key and insert it here: Settings > Ping.fm

Your Ping.fm configuration controls the number of social accounts that get to update from MarketMe Tweet. Here I only plan to update my LinkedIn status, so click ‘Send All’ to reveal the box, make sure ‘use Ping.fm’ is ticked before ‘Send’:

#7  Auto RSS Feed

It’s thrilling to see MarketMe Tweet is now providing feed management for users. Now you can import your favorite blogs’ RSS feed (or your own) and tweet them either way: automatically or manually via RT to credit the author.

According to MarketMe Tweet Support, if user chose to ‘Automatically Tweet the feed’ their brand won’t be visible. This is due to Twitter rules and kindly refer here for detailed explanations. Currently, the brand works brilliantly but I’m still having slight issues with the RT prefix of original author. Will continue to look into this.

Suggested Read: Twitterfeed, HootSuite RSS Feeds, and Blog Posting Schedules

Overall, I am quite impressed with MarketMe Tweet V2. It’s obvious how much this app has improved and I can see why. I have been communicating with their support team after trying out the app and so far they are fast to respond and most of all, willing to accept customers’ feedback. MarketMe Tweet is still actively updating its service. Although there are still rooms for improvement but let’s not forget it’s a marketing tool fundamentally.

Its upcoming updates including Blog integration (wonder if it’s something similar to Hootsuite?), Plugins, Enhancement for Facebook integration so forth. At the same time waiting for minor fixes to make the app more user friendly and presentable. For further improvement, I would suggest to add:

• Spelling check
• Filter Search within pane
• Ability to post images or files (documents) in future enhancements

Not bad to strive towards social aggregator, don’t you think?

How do I Get MarketMe Tweet V2?

MarketMeTweet is not free. Currently the lowest price is $99/year (free updates, 6 month money back guarantee) with limited time offer. Kindly look for Pricing & Plan here. At the same time, MarketMeTweet offers affiliate program too, check it out if you’re interested.

Have you been using MarketMe Tweet V2? What do you think of the app and if you yet to try it, what do you think of it so far?

Note: MarketMe Tweet has changed its name to MarketMeSuite to fit its ultimate purpose as a social media management/marketing tool and not limiting to just Twitter only, but Facebook, Google Calender, Ping.fm and more.

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Every day we are exposed to hundreds of Facebook applications, hoping to find the perfect ones to enhance our page and fan engagement. Last couple of weeks I had a good chance to explore some applications during Facebook Page Customization that I never before mentioned in this blog.  I thought it would be great to jot them down and share it with my readers. If you’re already familiar with these 16 Facebook Applications to Boost Popularity of Facebook Fan Page, now learn 15 more to enhance your facebook page further!

Be pre-warned this is a lengthy post. Go get yourself a cup of hot coffee and enjoy the ride (I do seriously need one now)!

Marketing & Brand Promoting

#1: Promotions

This is an application by a technology company called Wildfire. You are given a variety of campaigns to market your product/brand: sweepstakes, coupon giveaways, quizzes, contests etc. Promotion is one of the best ways to draw attention and increase facebook fan base. The only downside is that this service isn’t free. The basic package costs $5 per campaign, the length of your campaign will decide the charges, for example:

You can preview and adjust your campaign to full satisfaction prior to publish (and payment). Signup is free so at least you can explore the service to learn more about how a promotion is made and what are the necessary fields to go with it. If you’re unsure which campaign suits your business page the most, refer to this post for ideas.

Note: Make sure you read the Facebook Promotions Guidelines first before proceeding to avoid removal.

#2: Constant Contact labs – Join My Mailing List

Here’s a good news for Constant Contact (email marketing service) users who are not into self-customized opt-in form. All you need to do is login with your credentials then add this catchy form as one of your facebook tabs (unable to shift to Wall as no options for box tab). During setup, make sure to assign the location of these emails (for example: general interest). Also, publish a shout-out so people who like your page (a.k.a fans) will know about it:

It would be great if Aweber and Mailchimp can provide something similar too.

#3: My Portfolio -[25/03/12/]no longer available

This application is specially designed for photographers, models and whoever wish to showcase their artwork in a professional way. It is said to have a clean interface, great for any artist to embed it easily without having to mess with Static FBML. However you do need to upload the photos to Facebook beforehand. During the settings, you can select multiple fan pages and decide which photo album to display.

#4: FAQ Page

Who would have thought fixing up a FAQ tab can be this easy? Create your very own page’s frequently asked questions without even worrying about HTML coding, just input as many questions you need. Make sure to ‘Save Changes’ before leaving the setup page or Add New Faq otherwise your draft will be gone. To delete a question, simply click the blue [x] same row as the selected answer.

I have one placed on my fan page if you’re interested to check out the sample. One can expand and hide the answers, plain and simple!

Media-Importing Applications:

#5: Viddler

I think all Viddler users will appreciate this facebook application – so convenient to setup! Simply type in your Viddler username and that’s it! Record and upload video can be done without having to leave Facebook at all! Also, one can view and comment on videos easily. Did I mention it imports the entire channel too? Absolutely a fantastic app!

#6: YouTube Channels

YouTube Channels import your entire channel into facebook tab. It equips with social plugin (stream) for commenting, provides sharing option for visitors while showcase your other videos as well. It gives you the ability to insert a banner above your channel, but unfortunately it costs $4.99 per month to set one up in Facebook page. It’s F.O.C for personal account without the banner option .

Good for those who are associating their personal profiles with pages. You can promote your business indirectly via YouTube Channels on personal account. One thing I dislike is the compulsory to fill up email address as shown below:

For those who are not willing to pay can consider using Involver with similar service – free to import your youtube channel and the ability to share selectively with your friends. However, it does not come with a comment form.

**Kindly take note that application tabs will be removed from profile (not pages) starting 3rd Nov 2010, refer here for details.**

#7: Flickr Tab

Love this application for it imports the entire Flickr account with sets of photos (publicly files only) and able to view them via tags. Fans can enjoy the photo streaming inside the facebook page. To customize the tabs or use it on your facebook page requires payment: $10/year or $20/3 years for VIP membership (free for personal profile).

Of course, you can always use Flickr tab by Involver, which I’ll explain next…

**Kindly take note that application tabs will be removed from profile (not pages) starting 3rd Nov 2010, refer here for details. So no more FREE apps from Tabfusion**

#8: Involver

Ah yes, we’ve heard so much about it offering free services to import YouTube channels and Flickr accounts. Actually Involver provides more than that: import Slides, PDFs, Photo and Promotion Gallery. As long you’re not bothered by their big brand name at the side of your tab then it should be no problem. They do provide premium package as well for customers who are willing to take a step further with signup form, coupons, even eliminating the brand name, but that’s optional. Here’s an example of Mashable’s Twitter tab using Involver, notice the ability to share the tab with your friends selectively – available for both free and premium users.

#9: Portfolio tab

Portfolio tab bundles Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Blogs under one facebook tab. It works brilliantly for personal profile where you can have clickable buttons for each social profiles similar to a mini-website.

Flickr Tab at #7 is an example of how each social tab would look like as a stand-alone tab. Before this, I was looking for a blog application with post excerpts but without comment form. Blog Tab fits right for the category and I have it setup now on my personal profile. The fonts are much bigger than Social RSS; post title links to my main site, just how I like it. In order to have an all-in-one tab as shown above, you need to authorize each tab individually before merging them altogether. Same as Flickr tab, this service is not free for Facebook Page (bummer, isn’t it?) but should be great to try out on your personal profile for extra visibility.

**Kindly take note that application tabs will be removed from profile (not pages) starting 3rd Nov 2010, refer here for details. So no more FREE apps from Tabfusion**

Fans/People Who Like Engagements

#10: Clobby

Clobby is a chatroom app for both personal profile and facebook page owners to communicate with friends/fans instantly. Great for casual chats so you won’t have to worry about flooding people streams with continuous postings on Wall. I did a post about Clobby on my posterous blog after testing it. Read about it if you’re interested to know more about the settings and review.

Social Media Profiles

#11: My LinkedIn Profile

Yes, I had mentioned this application in earlier post. However, there are slight changes for this application in terms of name and settings. Instead of fixing it at the left column as a social button, now it is displayed as a Facebook tab with your complete LinkedIn summary. This is no doubt a smart move for LinkedIn account integration.

#12: Page List

If you own multiple facebook pages and dying to share them with your fans but unfamiliar with codes or Static FBML, Page List is a good choice for you to display all pages in one tab. People who like your page can choose to visit all of them or do it selectively. Of course if you only manage one facebook page like me, no point of setting a tab for that. The above image is just for your reference only. The setting is relatively easy as well, make your page selections and save changes. If you wish to include your selections to other pages, look for ‘add to page’ on top of the dashboard.

#13: Vpype Live Broadcaster

Vpype Live Broadcaster provides you the ease to create live shows to millions of Facebook users. Great opportunity to meet new fans and interact lively with viewers. You can record the show then promote to fans with a ‘Show’ tab as shown above. It works well for personal profile too, get family and friends to participate has never been easier. Just get your microphone and speaker ready, then follow the steps below for configuration.

Others:

These facebook applications might not be for everyone but can be useful for some:

#14: Creative Commons License -[25/03/12/]no longer available

This application allows you to specify how your media files and updates can be used by others with six Creative Commons licenses given. Be sure to choose one license that fits all the items shared on facebook and not individually. This is particularly useful for users who are sharing their artwork on Facebook. Although this application does give us the option to ‘add to page’, but the ‘CC’ tab returns with an empty box. If you are to use it for Facebook Page, recommended to save and upload the image to your server, then place the link inside image embedding code with the help of Static FBML.

#15: Menu

If you’re an owner for a restaurant, what can be more suitable if not having a menu tab on your fan page? You can include phone number (for delivery, maybe?), display set lunch or special of the day with pricing too! Love these non-complicated tabs to save time and trouble.

Important Notes: Application Removal

You may enjoy testing out these applications but do bear in mind: If you’re not going to use it then remember to remove them from your account:

1) Personal Profile:
Account > Application Settings > click ‘x’ to remove application completely

2) Facebook Page (fan page):
Edit Page> Look for the application name > Remove Application

You should do the same for other social media integrations. For example, if you have previously linked your Twitter account to test out Twitter tab, remember to revoke access via:

Logged in Twitter> Settings> Connections> look for the application and ‘Revoke Access’

Now Is Your Turn…

How do you enhance your Facebook Page in terms of application, strategy and fans engagement? Share your success stories or opinions on how to enhance a facebook page in the comments below.

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I must thank Heather for bringing up this brilliant question. To me, Twitter Favorites is another hidden gem for content discovery. Apart from discovering smart tips, Twitter Favorites works as a bookmarking tool to collect testimonials, acknowledgments about others and our work. Either way, it deserves more attention from us rather than rusting itself away on the sidebar.

Retrieve the location and RSS Feed for Twitter Favorites

Twitter Favorites is public viewable for all user accounts. Consider Favorites as a ‘resourceful link’ for your Twitter, to retrieve its RSS Feed simply go to the link indicated below then look for RSS feed of user’s favorites below the ‘Following’ chart:

Tools to Import RSS Feed to Facebook Page

Now that you got the feed, here comes the best part: importing the feed to your Facebook Page. Tons of ways to achieve that and if you are already familiar with how Facebook applications can enhance your Facebook Page by adding it to your page, it should be easy for you to carry out either one of the following methods:

Facebook Applications: RSS Graffiti and Social RSS

Most of the applications are now supporting multiple feeds importing, therefore you don’t have to worry about messing up the existing blog post updating to your wall posts. RSS Graffiti and Social RSS both fit well for the job, but the former has a slight advantage over its Twitter posting options:

• ability to personalize favorite tweets as status updates
• eliminating unwanted twitter username right at the beginning (the example stripped my username to make the message more straight forward)

Twitter Web Client: Hootsuite

This is another favorite method of mine – using the almighty Hootsuite you can enjoy the efficiency of RSS Feed updating easily from its web page.

1. After logged on to Hootsuite, look for Launch at the bottom left corner of your dashboard.

2. In launch> Settings > RSS Atom to add a new feed

3. While making your way through the configuration, make sure your facebook page selection is active/ticked:

Web Application: TwitterFeed

So you’re not used to Facebook applications or Hootsuite, how about Twitterfeed that provides the same functionality to update your Facebook Page with favorited tweets easily based on configured settings. Post prefix or suffix, even apply keyword filter to further select your tweets based on Facebook Page audiences.

Social Networking & Microblogging Service: Ping.fm

Ping.fm makes sharing all the more easier! Iit covers a wide range of social media sites other than Facebook Pages and updates them in one-go! It’s comparable with FriendFeed and the process is relatively easy as well ever since Ping.fm included Feeds and Google Reader as one of their services. Just logged on to Ping.fm and go to Superfeedr to customize your feed:

Or, if you prefer to do selective tweets for Ping.fm:


1. First, Log on to your Google Reader and add the Twitter Favorites RSS Feed to your subscription.

2. Back to Ping.fm, go to this link and input your Google Reader username and Add Feed.

3. Once you have hit ‘Share’ over at your Google Reader, Ping.fm will update your Facebook Page and other social media sites immediately as how you’ve configured them.

Points to Ponder:

To identify your purpose and the type of messages you are bound to showcase at Facebook Page members is vital. Mari Smith has shared a few good ideas to use Twitter Favorites even outside Facebook. In addition to that, Favorited tweets are good choices for selective tweets (as you can apply in Ping.fm and twitterfeed earlier) instead of importing the entire twitter stream which can be a turn off if you’re super-twitter-social at times. Try using prefix to create non-intrusive updates, sharing what matters and truly important to your audiences.

What about tweets from Protected Twitter accounts, you say? When you mark ‘favorite’ for a tweet shared by your friend who has a protected Twitter account, although you can view it in your Favorites but it won’t be visible to your followers publicly, only those who are sharing the same connections you have with that protected account. It’s good to see that Twitter is still protecting user’s privacy up till now.

Now Is Your Turn…

Do you have any questions about Facebook? Or any social media issues you’re interested in finding out? I would love to have a Q&A session like this as a blog post as it helps us all to discover new approaches that might be a big step in our respective networking goals. Like Heather, you’re definitely gaining a spotlight and link love for your kind participation here in Social @ Blogging Tracker, I’ll say it’s a mutual benefit for all of us, don’t you think so? Email me and let’s make this happen.

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The distinctive difference between Facebook personal and fan page is to separate private lives from business ventures.

What I love about Facebook personal page is that it can either go public or private. Some people are precise in protecting their inner circles, completely shield off the outside world; while some are interconnecting it with fan page to enhance online presence. It is important to identify the type of personal account you are maintaining now because Facebook privacy is getting vulnerable.

Shall We Combine Personal Account with Fan Page?

It goes back to the core reasons why you setup a personal account in the first place. How Darren Rowse defriending some people on his Facebook personal account months ago was a reasonable act to clear the line between work and leisure. I would suggest you to examine all the people in your friend lists and people who liked your page:

• Who are they?
• What are their behaviors?
• Are they interrelated from one page to another?

If there’s no way to tell, dip your toes in the water with a brief business update and see how your friends reacted. Indirectly bring to their attention that you can be the go-to person if someday they ever felt like using your service. It’s about making your digital name card visible, even on personal account that can be helpful in two reasons:

• people in your inner circles know what you are doing and capable of handling;
• introducing you to their colleagues or friends whoever needed the service;

Curiosity is a good thing. When they are wondering what you are doing, it’s an opportunity to educate. It doesn’t have to be business-oriented all the time, instead bringing a new information to your inner circles and help them to understand. I was among my closest friends who are the first to quit my job and go for freelancing, they know some of my work from my Facebook updates and basically calling me the go-to person for ‘blogging or internet thingy’. Although none of them needed any of my service now, but I had a couple of them who introduced me to their colleagues for blog setups so that’s a really cool and unexpected way to expand the business.

Now here comes the big question: How Can We Indirectly Promote Our Fan Page Without Pissing People Off?

5 Ways to Promote Your Facebook Fan Page on Personal Account

There are ways to not be annoying but keep that fan page visibility alive on your personal account. Again, these methods are not to create controversy but to help those who are in need of extra opportunities. Do not force yourself into doing this if you’re not comfortable with even putting 1% of business info in your private page, no pressure. For the rest of you, here are some suggested methods:

#1 Info Tab

Facebook recent modification of our Info tab into a fan page linking extravaganza forced us to reconsider our online exposures with Facebook. The ability to add extra information to our Info tab is no longer available for any Facebook applications. Therefore, start filling up your work information and Bio all over with extra details about your job scope. Fill up these sections in Info Tab by including your fan page address(es):

i) Contact Information > Websites

Tips: Claim your Facebook Fan Page vanity URL here: http://www.facebook.com/username

ii) Likes & Interests > Other (You need to ‘Like‘ your fan page to have it listed)

Suggested Read : How to Add Official Facebook Page to Your Profile Employer Link; 7 Facebook Changes You Must Know in New Profile

#2 Information and Personal Message

The information tab is actually fixed according to what you listed in the ‘website info‘ of Contact Information. Make sure the box is ticked to have them displayed underneath your profile image. Another good idea is to put personal message below your image, making sure you are using every space possible for indirect publicity especially when these two spots are the most visible areas of your sidebar.

#3 Fan Page Badge or Special Announcements

**Kindly take note that custom/app boxes are no longer available on Wall but only on tab instead, refer here for details.**

This is my favorite method by far. Customize and place a fan page badge at one of the box tabs won’t hurt. Make sure its position is highly visible, preferably below your friend list or among the tabs. You can have different ways to embed the images and messages to raise their awareness of your fan page. Some people prefer to use contest, announcements or free promotions to draw attention. It’s a good alternative besides sending a personal message to inform them about your existing Facebook fan page. Here are a few Facebook applications you can use to customize a fan page badge that fits right for Facebook tabs:

i) Extended Info

I’m using Extended Info to publicize my fan page badge, along with a brief message. What I love about Extended Info is the variety of ways you can share a fan page message. There are various patterns and styles to choose from, but you do have to take note of the sizes for different tabs. Make sure the image size is properly optimized.

ii) My Info

It’s a pity we cannot customize the title of these tabs like Static FBML does in fan pages. If you are looking for a more personalized name ‘My Info’ can be a good choice. It works the same as any other HTML embedding applications, but the downside is there are advertisements about the application showing up above or below your info. If you don’t mind that then it is a good suggestion for you.

#4 Create A Like Badge

**Kindly take note that custom/app boxes are no longer available on Wall but only on tab instead, refer here for details.**

If you are less prone to create a self-promotional badge, a Like badge is a good choice. Instead of saying ‘Come join my page’ directly, you can simply acknowledge it with ‘(your name) Like (fan page name)’. A friendly way to recommend your page to fellow friends. To do that :

i) My favorite Facebook application for the job: Profile HTML

ii) Add it to your fan page and have it authorized as instructed.

iii) Go to your fan page, look for ‘Promote with a Like Box’

iv) Copy the code and paste it to Profile HTML code box. You may need to modify the codes a bit so the image can fit in properly.

Here’s the end result:

#5 Tagging & Sharing

Sometimes you can tag yourself from the fan page, or share the acknowledgment that other friends have given about your work or fan page. This is an extra publicity but not to be overdone. I apply ‘do this ONLY when necessary‘ principle to keep myself from bringing too much noise into my personal page.

Suggested Read : How to Use Status Tagging Successfully on Facebook Pages/Profiles

So there you go, some indirect methods that can help to promote your Facebook fan page even within your personal account. You must be wondering what about ‘Suggest to Friends‘ option in Fan Page? This is a good feature but requires delicate use. I don’t wish to mass-promote it or else its efficiency may be misinterpreted as a spamming tool. Use it when you think the time is right and not periodically with repeating invitations.

Now Is Your Turn

How do you promote your fan page from your personal account? If not, then how do you promote it outside Facebook? Would love to hear your thoughts.

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