Supercharge your fan page using WordPress
New timeline interface is more powerful than ever!
Ever since Facebook changed the fan pages to the new Timeline interface earlier this month, people have argued that the new Facebook Apps (previously known as Facebook Tabs) wouldn’t be as valuable anymore. Some people even exaggerated and said the Facebook Apps/Tabs are dead…
Fortunately, this is far from true. Facebook Apps are now more powerful than ever!
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Welcome Pages still exist
The most commonly argument that people use when they say Facebook Apps became worthless is because Facebook “killed welcome pages”. You better get your facts together!
Yes, it is true that you cannot configure a default landing page anymore. This means that all visitors that will navigate to your fan page will automatically land on your timeline page, not on your welcome tab…
However, only a small percentage of your fanpage visitors will land directly on timeline page. Most visitors to your fan page will be generated using external sources such as:
- PPC ads (Facebook ads)
- Your website
- Email list
- Viral Facebook Apps such as ShareGate
Guess what? You can send all visitors from these sources directly to your Facebook Apps (instead of your Timeline page), this way you can make sure that all traffic from viral applications is send directly to your welcome custom page.
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Fan gating still works
This is actually a prolongation of the previous point. Even though Facebook killed the default tab (which we can get around in most cases, see point 1), fan gating still works.What is fan gating? Fan gating is simply showing different content to a visitor that hasn’t liked your page yet, compared to visitors that have liked your page already (e.g. your fans). By excluding valuable content, giveaways and other freebies for fans only you can make sure that the conversion rate from visitor to fan will improve big time.
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55% more space
The old apps (tabs) were only 520 pixels wide. With the new Timeline interface, we can use the full width of Facebook: 810 pixels. That’s an increase of 55%!Think about it for a second. This is going to have a huge impact on the user experience when people visit your application. All web designers will remember the shift from 800×600 screens, to 1024×768 screens, to the screens we’re using today. More space simply means you can put more stuff in it while keeping it organized.
Simply put, this means we can create much richer applications for our users. Start thinking big. Whatever you can do or show at your website – you can now do within a Facebook Tab as well. I would never argue to replace your website entirely, but some features could fit better inside Facebook because of the viral options it has to offer (when executed properly).
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There is no distraction
Before there were many distractions. On the left you had the profile picture and the menu to other tabs. On the right hand side you had all kinds of ads and friend-related info.
Even though some functions were quite useful (e.g. the profile picture), they also distracted your visitor when you’re trying to convince them to do something (e.g. leave their email address, use a specific function of your app or simply like your page).
New apps don’t have all these distractions. They simply have a Facebook bar in the top (from where they like your page or navigate to other pages within your fanpage). What do you think this is going to do with your conversion rates?
Exactly. This is a good thing. With the new interface you can center the whole screen around your CTA (call to action) without having to fight for attention.
Of course it’s the question for how long Facebook will keep these pages ads free, but as long as they are we should all profit from it!
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Bigger thumbnails
Whenever users are visiting your fanpage outside your Facebook Applications, you can confront them with big 110x75px icons in the top of your fan page (just below the cover photo). Before you could only point to your apps using small icons in the menu under the profile picture.
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Applications are more powerful than ever
Applications are now more powerful then ever! Especially now, when many people don’t know how to use it to it’s full advantage, you have the chance to stand out from the crowd and do some cool stuff with the new Facebook Applications. Get more fans by having a NEW custom Facebook page.
Supercharge your fan page using WordPress NOW
Source: WP4FB
