Where’d I get 47%?
According to All Facebook Jeff Widman of BrandGlue did some A/B testing. He discovered…
We ran an A/B test just four weeks ago to guesstimate the efficacy of a landing tab. We drove visitors to the fan page of a major brand using ads. Those ad-driven visitors converted to fans at a rate of approximately 47% WITH a landing tab. When we turned off the landing tab, those same ad-driven visitors converted to fans at approximately 23%. A VERY noticeable loss in conversions over the course of the campaign.
That type of conversion coupled with the fact that Facebook continues to push the limits, innovate and grow at a staggering rate (they’re over 550 million now) should convince you to at least explore creating a custom Facebook landing tab for your non-profit organization.
As you explore, start looking at ways to make the tool work for you and check out how others (non-profits and for-profits) are getting creative with the capabilities Facebook gives them. I’ve been doing just that.
As I was looking for an example to share with you I ran across Ford Motorcars. I really was looking for a great non-profit example – promise – but I had to share this with you because Ford did such a nice job with their Ford Focus Facebook fan page.
Our Use Case: Ford Motorcars
Ford does a great job capturing the attention of first time visitors and/or people who have yet to “like” their page.
Call to Action
As soon as you get to the Ford Focus Facebook landing page you’ll see something similar to the above. Essentially it’s a huge call to action. Two things are happening here.
First, you’re being directed to a custom tab when you go to their Facebook fan page – Instead of going directly to the wall (the standard Facebook landing page). This way Ford can serve up the content they want you to see. In Fords case there’re putting a big call to action in front of everyone who visits. It’s sort of like asking people to subscribe to your email newsletter, but on Facebook.
Second, you’re seeing a limited portion of the content available on their custom tab. Ford decided to wet your appetite by only showing you what they want you to see, but not making it all available. You’ve got to “like” their page to see the rest.
Incentive
If you head over to the Ford Focus Facebook page you’ll notice a subtle effect – they’ve given you an idea of what type of content you could access, but you can’t actually get to it until you “like” their page.
Showing the benefit of what one would get when they “like” your page is a great idea. And it’s the key to the conversion.
What should I put on my custom Facebook landing tab?
Can you think of a way to do something similar for your non-profit organization? Here are a few nonprofit examples to learn from in case you’re having trouble coming up with an idea.
- http://www.facebook.com/worldwildlifefund
- http://www.facebook.com/actionalz
- http://www.facebook.com/redcross
- http://www.facebook.com/NationalWildlife
As you look over these pages as well as others, make sure to think about what compels people to engage with your non-profit. What makes people want to connect with you? What do you offer that people need?
Identifying these types of things is critical to your success. If the “offer” isn’t compelling or doesn’t meet a need then the chances of getting people to “like” your Facebook page, even with a cool new tab”, is slim.
I want to create a custom Facebook landing tab
If you’re looking to get started right now and you are somewhat familiar with Facebook pages you can follow the simple steps below to create and add a custom Facebook landing tab to your Facebook page. If you’re new to it all check out the resources I’ve given you below. They’ll give you more insight and better step-by-step instructions.
- Add the Facebook Static FBML application (FBML) to your page.
- Then go back on your page and click on the “Edit Page” link under your logo.
- Once you get to the edit page area click on the “Application” link in the left Colum.
- Look for the <FBML> application and click on the “edit” link below the logo.
- Edit the two areas you see “Box Title” and “FBML”. The title is the name your visitors will see on the tab. The FBML is everything that will show up on the tab.
- Once you’ve finished creating your tab make sure to save your changes and head back to your pages main screen.
- In the tab section where you see Info, Wall, etc … click on the plus sign (+), which should be the last tab in the row. You should see the newly created tab in the drop down.
- Click and drag your new tab so that it’s next to the “Info” tab. This way it will be visible to everyone on the screen.
- Lastly, make your new custom tab the landing page people see when they visit your Facebook page by going to “Manage Permissions” (you get there by clicking “Edit Page” found under your logo on the main page). Look for the “Default landing tab” drop down and select you’re newly created custom Facebook landing tab.
If you’re looking for a more detailed write-up check out How to Create a Custom Tab For Your Facebook Page by Rosita Cortez. She does a nice job visually walking you through the process.
Then move on to creating incentive by making people like your Facebook page before they see all your content. Those are by John Haydon. And he’s got video!
Lastly, check out How to create a landing tab that converts visitors to fans for tip and insight on what will attract and convert your Facebook fan page visitors.
Your turn … If you’ve got a custom Facebook landing tab please share it with us in the comments. And for those of you who have done this I’d LOVE to hear how effective it’s been, what you’ve learned and what your future plans are.
I THINK I set up a custom landing page for Ask Without Fear! Not noticing a huge increase in fans yet but it’s still early. http://www.facebook.com/AskWithoutFear
I THINK I’ve created a custom landing tab for Ask Without Fear!
http://www.facebook.com/AskWithoutFear
Not noticing a huge increase in fan conversions but it’s still early.
Thanks Marc. Just checked out what your custom tab looks like. Well done. I like the enewsletter sign up on it.
Thanks Frank! I’m glad it worked! It seemed much harder than just typing in some HTML. 🙂
HA, yea. That’s true. I guess if you just said “Hi” it would be as simple as just some basic HTML.
I loved, loved, loved what IAVA (Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America) did with their Tab around Veteran’s Day. It still looks cool now, but they had a whole custom integration where you could select which days you wanted to “march with IAVA” and donate your status update to them. It was several custom tabs that walked you through a multi-step engagement: http://www.facebook.com/IAVA.org?v=app_161804360517967
Also, to toot the Facebook horn a little bit. I really like our “Take Action” tab – http://www.facebook.com/Care2?v=app_4949752878 …
That’s a great idea. Bummed I missed it, but thanks for sharing it. I just went and check out what’s there now.
Oh, and that’s a cool “take action” app. How do folks use it?
So, we have two places where people can take action on Facebook.
We have the Take Action tab, which lists some of our top actions happening on Care2.com. Those link directly back to Care2 actions.
http://www.facebook.com/Care2?v=app_4949752878
We also have the Care2 petitionsite application (http://apps.facebook.com/petitions/) that allows someone to sign a petition without ever having to leave Facebook.
– Sue Anne Reed
Care2 Communications Manager
Fantastic article. One of my favorite examples of a custom tab is on the ONE campaign page. Makes it easy to draw folks into a simple action to make for deeper connections, membership that extends beyond just facebook.
http://www.facebook.com/ONE
Hey Ash. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing the ONE campaign example. I’ve always liked their “Join ONE” custom facebook tab. I think they did a great job making that look good.
Hi Frank!
I couldn’t agree more. I have the custom tab for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network page set as the default page nonfans land on. On the page, one of the 1st things nonfans see is a suggestion to “Like” the page. I have seen a big increase in fans due to the suggestion. I think if the custom tabs doesn’t add value to fans and nonfans alike, it may not be effective.
Great post!
Hey there! Thanks for stopping by.
What’s the link to your FB page? … and I’d be super interested to hear what exactly you saw in terms of jump in “likes” … do you know what that looked?
Hi Frank,
Here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/JointheFight
Since I launched this tab in middle of September as part of our Be A Hero campaign, the page acquired about 5,000 new fans
That’s awesome Allison. Thanks for stopping by and for sharing!! I’ve since gone out and “liked” Join the Fight 🙂
DO I HAVE TO WAIT FOR TAB TO APPEAR BECAUSE I DON’T SEE IT YET?!
Thanks for this instruction. I could know how to change the landing page on my face book fan page. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Happy-Kids/178296978880416
This article makes a great case for landing tabs on Facebook Pages. However, it references FBML as the tool to use, and Facebook has actually discouraged Page admins from using FBML for many months now. Might I encourage you to update the post and refer to the new standard tool for custom tabs: iFrames? I love the examples in this post, I would love to share it with our followers.