Tag Archives: facebook apps

Are you ignoring (and annoying) 4 out of 5 of your Facebook Fans?

Facebook revealed in August that 4 out of 5 (or 20 million) of its daily 24 million users in the UK are accessing Facebook via mobile apps on  smartphones and tablets. Facebook Page admins including many who manage Pages of well known brands have yet to adapt to this major shift towards mobile use by their Fans.

Facebook Tabs (or Apps) are becoming increasingly popular and are a great way to host competitions, promos and discounts - see 5 ways for using Facebook Apps. Anything that you can created on website can be implemented on a Facebook Tab, so they can be customised for the required function and designed with company colours and brand. Below is a competition that’s currently running on the Homebase Facebook Page.

Custom Tab icons like the one below enable Fans to access the content on the Tab, in this case a Wallpaper Competition. This screenshot is taken from a desktop but on mobile apps they’re not displayed. So the only way to direct mobile users to a Competition or Promo Tab is to post a link on the Page Wall, on a website or in an email newsletter.

Here’s a post from the Homebase Page Wall link to this competition as viewed on a smartphone.

But there’s a problem. If you click the link above this is what you see next:

So not only are Fans interested in the competition unable to enter via mobile or tablets they’re likely to be left annoyed too when presented with a message that isn’t very helpful. It offers no explanation of what’s gone wrong or how they can enter the competition on their desktop.

Facebook Tabs are a great way to engage your Fans but it’s important to ensure that they are optimised for viewing on mobile. If not you could be ignoring and annoying 4 out of 5 of your Fans.

If you’d like help in designing Facebook Tabs for your Page suitable for both desktop and mobile please get in touch.

Fans engaged with ‘Sledgehammer’

A great example of an engaging competition on Facebook is provided on Peter Gabriel’s Facebook Page, where fans are asked to recreate scenes from his 1986 Sledgehammer video. The winner will receive a Wireless TDK Boombox and a signed Peter Gabriel ‘So’ art print. The contest promotes the 25th anniversary issue of the So album.

Fans are engaged by giving them the opportunity to create their own video as well as watch the original video, plus videos from other entrants.

The contest demonstrates how a Facebook app can be used to provide the type of competition that you might normally associate with a website. However, by using apps you can re-create pretty much any website experience using a Facebook app. For example; shopping, flight check-in, email newsletter sign-up and event booking can all be found on Facebook.

If you would like to discuss  what Facebook can do for your business please let me know.

5 ways to use Facebook apps

Following the introduction of Timeline, apps (previously called tabs) have become a really attractive feature for owners of Facebook Pages. They are now more visible and accessible with large icons - which you can customise - at the top of the Page. The apps themselves are now larger with a width of 810px. There are no ads or sidebars so no distractions meaning fans can now focus on the app content. Pro-tip: You can use Facebook Ads to link directly to your tab to increase visitors.

Below are a 5 ideas on how you can use them:

1. Sell your products - set up a shop on Facebook to sell your products. Here’s an example from the Flissitations Crafty Creations Page which uses the free Etsy Theme Shop app.
2. Encourage newsletter sign-ups - add a sign-up form for your newsletter to increase your readership - You can read more about this in a previous article and here’s the app I use on the Intranet Future Facebook Page.
3. Showcase your videos - let your fans watch your videos on Facebook. Here’s redbull.tv from the Red Bull Facebook Page.
4. Run a competition - encourage people to enter a competition. Here’s a Cheekiest Smile Photo Competition which I helped set up for the Nametags4u Facebook Page this month.
5. Ask for customer feedback - obtain feedback from your customers so you can help them. Here’s the Customer Care tab from the Domino’s Pizza UK Facebook Page.

Working with our partners we also design and produce complete Facebook Pages or individual apps - more info and prices. For help with using Facebook for marketing and customer services you can book a consultation at £70 per hour or attend one of my Facebook workshops for £87.