I’ve been mulling it over and would like your opinion. I’m considering revamping and offering a few different models of Custom Facebook Business Pages in 2011. Here’s a little of what I’m thinking.
The Template Custom Facebook Page
While I am not a huge fan of templates it’s better than having nothing at all. Please don’t send me to the Wall of your Facebook Page! There’s a very large chance it’s not going to coerce me to click that LIKE button.
For some brokerages (like Better Homes and Gardens) their URL structure allows me to create a template of sorts that can easily be adapted to each individual agent. The Custom Tab would consists of a header with contact info, “Calls to Action”, “Search For Homes”, and other items – all linking back to the Agent’s website. On this particular version I have room for a small bio on the left, a video (either the corporate or a custom one by the Agent), and six buttons below link back to lead capture pages not on the corporate site or the brokerage site but on his website. The cost? These would run only $150 customized and installed!
I’m not limited to just Better Homes and Gardens as other brokerages have similar setups for their agents.
The Reveal Tab
Have a free ebook or other item you want to offer to people who LIKE your page? A Reveal Tab shows one version to those that have not LIKED and a different version to those that have. “LIKE this page and you’ll be able to download my free 100+ ways to cook rice”. You could offer a coupon, a discount code, most anything. Want to see a dumb version in action? Click here. I warned you, my sample version is pretty simple and basic. I’m just using it as a way to illustrate how it could work, your version would of course be much better!
The Grid
The Grid is essentially a header, a menu bar, and then a 3 x 3 grid of buttons that direct the new visitor to various parts within your Facebook Page and/or your website, and then possibly a footer at the bottom. Write on our Wall, See our Videos, etc. Nothing says the grid couldn’t also contain a video as we did with Miche. The beautiful thing about the grid is that it keeps so much above the fold.
The Tabs within Tabs, Tab
Complicated to build yet simple for visitors to navigate. Facebook Pages have limited real estate when it comes to the tabs visible at any given time. The Tab within a Tab addresses this. One header, one menu bar, and then different versions of content when clicked. How could you use this? Let’s say you have Products and Services – The visitor could click between the two depending on their needs. Have a team? Each team members bio could be a different tab. You might also want to show close ups of 22 different dresses depending on the thumbnail clicked, or show a different set of pictures for each neighborhood.
Custom Applications
I’ve stayed away from applications for the general Facebook Page Owner for a couple of reasons. Cost and Ownership. Time is money and I charge accordingly. Applications take much more time to build. As for ownership, if I build you an App it lives on my server and any changes you might need there’s only one place you can come – to me. That’s great if I was looking to make money on residual maintenance but it’s not what I do. The tabs I build are yours. You own them, you can change them at will. So while Applications can do cool stuff, they will always be costly and someone else will own them.
So I need your help. Is this something you see value in? Would a template be something you would like? A Custom Built Facebook Application? Or maybe just a reveal tab?
Should I stick to hand building each one or just add these as needed? What do you think?
Mike Mueller
He's an avid hockey fan, rides a mountain bike, a few motorcycles (he had a really fast one,bought a cool orange one, and still rides a really slow one), he loves strong beer and good red wine.
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