How to Take Your Facebook Fan Page to the Next Level
Everyone wants to stand out from the crowd. With the ease, accessibility, and popularity of social media and Facebook, it seems that every company has their own ‘fan page’ or profile on the service. So how do you make people take notice of yours? Customized Facebook fan pages.
Make it truly your own
One of the most important tenets of social media is to be transparent; let your fans and followers see what you and your company are all about in order to build relationships and trust in your brand. With the updates that Facebook implemented this past February, you can do just that. Flash animation, external data pulls, and actual fan interaction are all possible with the HTML or FBML customization that can now be incorporated into your page design.
Surprisingly, not too many companies have jumped onto this fantastic opportunity for unique, commercial self-expression. A few have, and have done it right.
Examples of great custom facebook pages
The Facebook fan page for iTunes, boasting over 2million fans, opens directly to their customized page. Here users are encouraged to become a fan of the page by the promise of 15 tracks of free music from the service. That’s quite the incentive, and it’s seemed to work well so far. The page gives the general feel that an iTunes user would expect, with familiar color scheme, typefaces, search bars, and general formatting. In fact, the page itself has many of the features that make iTunes so popular (chart listing, podcasts, search/share, etc). This creates a unified overall brand presence between both the application and the fan page. iTunes users feel comfortable here.
1-800-Flowers takes it a step further. Not only do they have an incentive to become a fan through a ‘fan-only’ discount code, but they’ve included a shopping cart feature. Users can actually search, select, and purchase flowers directly from the Facebook fan page. Compared to the traditional method of directing the user back to the company websites, they use the fan page for the entire check-out process, never taking the user away from Facebook or away from the social media experience.
These are just two examples of effective customized fan pages. Plenty more are out there already, and many more are likely on their way. Now is the time to set yourself apart from the pack and make your company stand out from the rest.
Want more examples?
Check out what these brands have done with their fan pages:
Volkswagen
J. Crew
Dunkin’ Donuts
Macy’s
Best Buy
Red Bull
Skittles
Oh, yeah, and if you like what you see, we’d love to have you as a fan, too!