Facebook

Facebook

Here is how to build a Facebook landing page for personal or business purposes. However, I feel I should have started with reasons why your business requires social media presence and how facebook isn’t a bad starting point. Will do that later. As of writing this there about 160 facebook pages if you do a search on ‘Zambia’. Not bad at all when a similar search on ‘Canada’ brings about 500 results. Not an effective way of comparing results, but you get the sense. The figures in both cases are in fact higher than that – it’s just that the search is limited by the key term used.

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum and mashable covered it too.

Before we start you’ve probably seen custom Fan Pages like those of Best Buy and Victoria’s Secret. When you land there, you start on what is essentially a mini website within Facebook, instead of the Page’s wall or feed.

Check out our here.

1. Sign up.

You need to have an existing facebook profile prior to setting up a fan page. Without it you won’t be able to set up one. Most people find this frustrating because facebook always wants to tie your fan page to an existing profile. In fact most companies tend to use one of the employees facebook profiles to set up a fan page, but this is likely to cause disputes when the employee is either sacked or moves on. The main reason why some companies use personal facebook profiles is because facebook does not accept domain-related emails such as ‘xxxx@zedcloud.com’ to open up an account. So there is no choice, but to use an existing profile (in this case a personal one). Even if you say you don’t have an existing profile; facebook will force you to open up one anyway, before you proceed. So if you’re one of those people that dread opening up a facebook profile – at least do it for the existence of your business or fans. If you’re a business always remember to set up an agreement with the person with whom their personal account has been used to avoid future problems. You can start by creating a page as shown below:

2. Add the Static FBML App.

FBML is in essence a facebook mark-up language, which gives you the flexibility to add whatever content you want, including custom graphics and links via standard HTML. However, you need to be able to host the graphics yourself (on your server) and just provide a URL link to the FBML app.

The app you need for your custom page is called “Static FBML,” located here. If you’re logged into Facebook, you can simply click ‘add it to your Page’ to automatically pull up the page to your profile. In here there is greater flexibility, what you can do really depends on your technical skills – so take time and explore.

3. Set Up Your Tab (FBML).

Once you’ve added the Static FBML app, click “Edit Page” below your company’s profile image. This will bring up all your settings and apps. Look for the FBML app and click the “Application Settings” link.

As I said, FBML gives you greater flexibility, which means you can either set up your tab as a set of ‘boxes’ or as a ‘tab’ depending on how you want your page to look like. I hope this is not beginning to sound like a complex process because it’s not. The best approach is to experiment both ways and see which one suits you.

4. Add Your Content.

In whatever mode you chose (box or tab) , go back to your settings and click the “Edit” link under the Static FBML app. If you chose the ‘box tab’ note that the “Box Title” will be the name of your tab, so you’ll want to change it to something appropriate, like “This Week’s Deals,” “Special Offers,” or simply “Welcome,” depending on how you plan to use your Page.

This opens a standard text field which looks like this. You can add your content in this field.

IN THE FBML FIELD:

• Add your content in standard HTML. You can link graphics, text links, videos e.t.c.
• No need for HTML, BODY, or HEAD tags.
• As mentioned earlier your images must be hosted elsewhere (on your company’s website, for example) and only referenced in your HTML code.

5. Make Your Tab the Default Landing Page.

To do this head back over to your page settings and edit your “Wall Settings.” There is an option for “Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else.” From that menu, select your new tab. Whatever you select will be the “face” of your business Fan Page.

In our case we made the tab ‘zedcloud’ as our default landing page as below:

6. Summary.

• Sign up with Facebook first (or use any existing FB profile).
• Add the Static FBML App. (one click does it all).
• Adjust settings to your FBML app.
• Add your content (graphics, videos, text, links and whatever you like).
• Finally, greet your visitors with a personalised page that blends with the style of your business.

Images [mashable, laughingsquid]

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