5 Minute Guide To Facebook Custom Tabs For Business Pages

At the end of 2012, Facebook business pages morphed into something quite new with the release of the new page design that included the new Timeline feature. With this update, the usual way you customize business page tabs has changed. You already know that those tabs you use are important because they let you add your own customized content alongside the standard tabs used for your photographs and “Likes”.  Using custom tabs allows you the opportunity to offer your users an even better experience and let’s you decide what people see when they drop by your business page.

Let’s take a look at how these new custom tabs work so that your fans get an instant look at what your brand is all about as soon as they land on your page.

Google Ranks Fan Pages on Facebook so Do It Right

Because the top-ranked search giant Google ranks Facebook fan pages in its search results, having a well designed fan page is a great way to get your business seen. If you create a fan page using a custom tab with the assistance of HTML, you’re able to add your choice of text style, links, photos and buttons that will encourage your fans to interact with you. With a custom tab on your fan page, you can direct people to an event, toward an advertised product or service or to a video you’d like them to see. Considering that there is a great deal of traffic flowing through Facebook at any given time, you can actually get your fan page on Facebook ranked higher in the search results than your website when people search for products and services like yours.

Creating Custom Tabs can Be Easy or Challenging Depending Upon Skill Level

Custom tabs can be created via the “Views and Apps” section of your business page. You can think of a custom tab as a landing page that lives inside your Facebook page. While the new design on Facebook no longer lets you create a welcome page designed to generate leads, you can now use the Facebook Tab Customizer app to create custom tabs which contain lead-generating forms so that you can turn those page visitors into hot leads right on Facebook.

Learning how to create custom tabs can be a bit on the tricky side, but there are many tutorials online you can access which will walk you through the process. If you are good with HTML and CSS you shouldn’t have a problem creating your custom tabs. But, if you are not a coding geek, there are some 3rd-party apps out there which provide you with the option of installing images, videos, forms, contests, photo galleries and blogs.

Don’t Overwhelm Users – Instead Focus on Keeping your Page Engaging and Fresh

It’s best to keep your custom tabs somewhat simple. What you want to do is to increase your visitor’s overall engagement and not to overwhelm them by asking them to take multiple actions on your tabs. If you aim to keep your business page engaging and fresh using tabs which give your visitors a rich experience, you’re on the right track. You can drive traffic to your tabs in a variety of ways. You can buy Facebook ad space, post on your wall, send out email blasts, newsletters and post share buttons by articles you publish online.

Conclusion: It’s not necessary to hire a professional web company to set up your business page on Facebook using custom tabs. There are many how-to videos online you could watch for learning how to do this. There is also some detailed documentation and support available from Facebook itself. If you are familiar with HTML and CSS, you should be able to set up your custom tabs without running into any major issues. Do take advantage of this new feature on the #1 social networking site because if you get your custom tabs set up and designed well, you should reap the rewards which come in the way of viable leads and hopefully increases in sales.

Adam Clinton writes for Infogenix, a professional web design firm in Utah.

Post Tags: facebook, web design