Facebook Pages - Learning to ‘Like’ Again

With more than 800 million active users, liking on average 60 pages each, making sure your Facebook page stands out from the rest should be top of the agenda for all businesses active on the social networking site. 

Too many companies simply create pages and then neglect them; perhaps they have felt compelled to jump on the metaphorical social media bandwagon but have no idea where they are heading.  And since Facebook is free to set up, companies don’t feel as obliged or committed to allocating the necessary resources.

With more and more businesses using Facebook Pages in their marketing strategy, an engaging Page is of paramount importance.

Facebook is actually quite intuitive.  Just like your website, visitors to your Facebook Page will come and go, viewing what is posted there and then until the next time they decide to visit.  Recognising this short span of interaction emphasises the importance of the user ‘Liking’ your page – a connection forged between your page and the user, keeping them informed even when they’re not on your page via status updates.

The all-important 'Like' Button.

Design efforts therefore should be directed to encouraging users to like your page.  With this in mind, when a user searches and clicks through to your page, by default they are directed to the Wall.  Comments posted from other users and your status updates might be an interesting read, however it’s not a particularly welcoming one to a first time visitor – you wouldn’t greet people with conversations you’ve had with others!

Creating a custom landing page is therefore crucial.  Adding new pages or ‘tabs’ within your business page can be achieved by installing specially developed third party applications available within Facebook.  There are a number of these available, each suited to varying degrees of programming proficiency.

One of the most popular, and reasonably straight-forward custom landing page apps is Static HTML: iframe tabs.  This app enables you to essentially build a website within your Facebook page using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript language.  There are a few imposed restrictions to be aware of; to display correctly within the constraints of Facebook’s layout, the page can only be 520 pixels wide, and following Business Page guidelines, no media content (music, video etc) can automatically play.    

Once added to your page you’ll be presented with two forms to enter your code into – one controlling what will be displayed to non-fans, and the other what fans will gain access to.  This reveal functionality (displaying new content to the user after they ‘like’ the page) within the application presents an ideal opportunity for encouraging ‘likes’ on your page.  Offering content such as exclusive videos, games, music, promotional codes, prize draws and so on, to users after they ‘like’ is an ideal incentive for users to begin following you.

So, of course, the design is up to you.  So what should an ideal landing page include?  The simple answer is a call to action, as per the principles of direct response advertising.  Ask users to ‘Like’ your page.  There are endless examples of this, and you don’t have to be particularly covert in your message either.

Not exactly discreet.

Offering incentives as already mentioned is a great way to encourage ‘Likes’, and lends itself to the sharing theme of social media perfectly.  Most importantly however, the page design should be fun, interesting and welcoming to users.  Therefore embellish your landing page with photos, videos, games, product information etc, keeping consistent with your company’s branding.  Make sure to adjust the settings of your page (not in the application) to direct non-fans to your custom landing tab/ page.

Remember that users will decide whether they want to engage with you on Facebook or not.  All good pages therefore should aim to make that decision a ‘Like-able’ one.  Good luck!

Of course you’d expect us to practice what we preach so Like our Facebook page and enter our 30 second Prize Draw Survey to win this year’s ‘must have’ gadget for Christmas, a brand new Kindle!  Hurry, the Prize Draw closes on the 15^th December!