Tips for a "Fan"-tastic Facebook Fan Page

I'll promise you one thing. The content of this post will be better than that sad attempt at a witty title.

Customized Facebook Fan Pages are about more than just “the Wall” .

I kind of don’t want to admit all of what I am about to admit, but Jared is making me, I guess since we’re a non-profit, or something: The truth is that you really only need to know two things to make up a pretty neatly-customized fan page on Facebook. (Just don’t tell Rodney, okay, because he was impressed by my work; I’d like to keep it that way.)

Before I reveal the big secret, let me offer some general tips, while also expanding upon some of Jared’s earlier points.

Before you do anything, you’ll have to have, or set up, a personal Facebook account; you’ll need a personal account to administer a fan page. (I don’t get the impression that they’re calling them Fan Pages anymore, either; but, referring to them as such is just my throwback. Now, you’ll also note that the name you choose for your fan page cannot be changed. Of course, you could delete it and make a new one, if you’re just starting out, and haven’t created a significant branding impression; but, once you’ve put time into the creation of a page, published that page, and accumulated fans, starting over may be out of the question.

After you’ve created your page, you’ll use Account > Manage Pages, to get back to it, and for making changes.

You should make sure that your page remains “unpublished” until you’re ready to launch; that way, you can work in the background before your page goes live, so that no one will see anything but the finished product. Of course, the default is set to publish immediately. Crazy. Fix this by going to Edit Page (the link just below your page’s picture) > Settings > Edit, which will reveal the dropdown option for published/unpublished status.

Once you do launch, you’ll need only 25 fans in order to claim a vanity url (something like a username for your Facebook fan page, which will look like www.Facebook.com/MassLOMAP), which vanity url is also unchangeable, once you establish it. The vanity url makes referencing your page, and navigating to it, much easier, as Jared explained. To create your vanity url, make sure you are logged in as an administrator. Then, just type "http://www.facebook.com/username/" (exactly that—type “username”; don’t insert your username) into the browser. Under the box with your personal username, you’ll find the option to “Set a username for your Pages.”

And, before I forget to mention, you are not able to make comments from your personal account (i.e. under your personal account, via your personal name) on any other page that you administer; comments will be displayed as coming from that page. (We learned this the hard way, after much talking to ourselves on our own page, to start.) Join the crusade to have this remedied here.

. . .

Onto the bread and butter, then, of the customized Facebook fan page.

The Bread: Static FBML (Facebook Markup Language)

This is a Facebook application that allows you to create customized tabs and/or boxes, and is set up to use HTML. The application is available at http://www.facebook.com/apps/directory.php#%21/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&v=info&ref=appd. From the Static FBML Application Page, click “Add to my Page”, directly below the page’s picture.

Next, go to “Edit Page”, and find “FBML” now in your list of Applications, and click “Edit”. Put your content in there. Simple. Note that you can add more FBML boxes using the link, “Add another FBML box”, appearing at the bottom of this screen.

The (rest is all) Butter: Writing HTML.

It’s surprisingly easy to figure out how to do this, especially with the help of this website.

. . .

Some More Notes: Each application can have a box, a tab, or both. The default settings vary for whether an application will show with a box, a tab, or both. To change this setting on any given application, start, once again, at “Edit Page”, find the relevant application, and click its “Application Settings”, in order to reveal options. To change the order of your boxes and tabs, it’s just a drag and drop mechanism.

Assuming you’ve made a “Welcome” tab, as we have, you’ll want new visitors to land there, rather than to land at your wall. To change your landing tab, head back to “Edit Page” and then Wall Settings > Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else (dropdown). Note: this is the landing tab for everyone else. That means that, as a page administrator, you will still default on entry to your page’s wall (that’s supposed to happen). While you’re here (here being: Edit Page > Wall Settings > Edit), you can change the “Default View for Wall”, if you’d like wall posts from others to show as the default display (versus your wall posts only). Also, if you get fancy with promotions at any point, you may want to temporarily set your landing page to an FBML box that advertises such promotion.

Another thing you’ll definitely want to do is to import your blog to your Facebook fan page through the “Notes” application. Back to “Edit Page”, and then Notes > Edit. “Import a blog” is an option in the “Notes Settings” box in the top, right-hand corner. Click that, and in the web url field that appears, just type your blog’s address, and check the certification box. If that doesn’t work, run your blog through a feed validator, to check for issues.

Throw your Facebook badge on your blog, too: http://www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

To link a live stream of your Twitter feed at your Facebook fan page, grab the Twitter Tab application, and install it (Edit Page > Applications > Twitter Tab > Application Settings, then click “add” for tab and/or box). VIP access allows you to stream up to 9 Twitter accounts. But, check your budget first: this costs a whopping $10 for three years. I was pretty stoked about this feature, so, Rodney appeased me by giving me the green light to go ahead and buy VIP access. . . . But he said that I had to stop Bogarting the office supply of Poland Springs water to offset that huge cost. I’m so thirsty. But, that’s neither here nor there. If you do purchase the VIP membership, go to http://apps.facebook.com/twittab/accounts.php to set up additional feeds.

Google Analytics. Here: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/how-to-add-google-analytics-to-your-facebook-fan-page/. That’s all I know.

Finally, and probably most importantly (because, if no one reads your content, Did a tree really fall in the forest?), you’ll want to grow your Facebook fan (page) base. No one wants to be a one-man wolf pack. So, you’ll probably want tips for that, too, right? Or maybe you don’t need any, because you think you’re cooler than me. If you’re not, though, just read these ideas. I can’t offer much else here, either, especially as the growth of your personal brand is very much a personal thing, and must be in agreement with your personality and skills.

Incidentally, after I created our page, I discovered the following helpful articles (how timely!):

-“How to Create the Perfect Facebook Fan Page”
-“How to Customize Your Facebook Page Using Static FBML”
-“Build a Facebook Landing Page”