WP4FB: Instead, they’re more powerful than ever!
Ever since Facebook
changed the fan pages to the new Timeline interface earlier this month, people
have argued that the new Facebook Apps (previously known as Facebook Tabs)
wouldn’t be as valuable anymore. Some people even exaggerated and said the
Facebook Apps/Tabs are dead..
Fortunately, this is far
from true. Facebook Apps are now more powerful than ever! You can read my
arguments below and let me know what you think in the comments (I’d appreciate
that).
[message_box
type="note" close=""]As a bonus, I’ve added some free PSD
files to this post. You can download them (and use them on your fan page) at
the bottom of this post.[/message_box]
#1
– Welcome Pages still exist
The most commonly argument
that people use when they say Facebook Apps became worthless is because
Facebook “killed welcome pages”. You better get your facts together!
Yes, it is true that you cannot
configure a default landing page anymore. This means that all visitors that
will navigate to your fan page will automatically land on your timeline page,
not on your welcome tab..
However, only a small
percentage of your fanpage visitors will land directly on timeline page. Most
visitors to your fan page will be generated using external sources such as
PPC ads (Facebook ads)
Your website
Email list
Viral
Facebook Apps such as ShareGate
Guess what? You can send
all visitors from these sources directly to your Facebook Apps (instead of your
Timeline page). For example with our WP4FB
plugin (but I’m sure other services do this as well) you can make sure that all
traffic from our viral applications is send directly to your welcome page.
#2
– Fan gating still works
This is actually a
prolongation of the previous point. Even though Facebook killed the default tab
(which we can get around in most cases, see point 1), fan gating still works. WP4FB
What is fan gating? Fan
gating is simply showing different content to a visitor that hasn’t liked your
page yet, compared to visitors that have liked your page already (e.g. your
fans). By excluding valuable content, giveaways and other freebies for fans only
you can make sure that the conversion rate from visitor to fan will improve big
time. You’ll find another explanation in this video. WP4FB
#3
– 55% more space
The old apps (tabs) were
only 520 pixels wide. With the new Timeline interface, we can use the full
width of Facebook: 810 pixels. That’s an increase of 55%!
Think about it for a
second. This is going to have a huge impact on the user experience when people
visit your application. All web designers will remember the shift from 800×600
screens, to 1024×768 screens, to the screens we’re using today. More space
simply means you can put more stuff in it while keeping it organized. WP4FB
Simply put, this means we
can create much richer applications for our users. Start thinking big. Whatever
you can do or show at your website – you can now do within a Facebook Tab as
well. I would never argue to replace your website entirely, but some features
could fit better inside Facebook because of the viral options it has to offer
(when executed properly).
#4
– There’s no distraction
Before there were many
distractions. On the left you had the profile picture and the menu to other
tabs. On the right hand side you had all kinds of ads and friend-related info. WP4FB
Even though some functions
were quite useful (e.g. the profile picture), they also distracted your visitor
when you’re trying to convince them to do something (e.g. leave their email
address, use a specific function of your app or simply like your page). WP4FB
As you can see in the
picture above the new apps don’t have all these distractions. They simply have
a Facebook bar in the top (from where they like your page or navigate to other
pages within your fanpage). What do you think this is going to do with your
conversion rates?
Exactly. This is a good
thing. With the new interface you can center the whole screen around your CTA
(call to action) without having to fight for attention. WP4FB
Of course it’s the
question for how long Facebook will keep these pages ads free, but as long as
they are we should all profit from it!
#5
– Bigger thumbnails
Whenever users are
visiting your fanpage outside your Facebook Applications, you can confront them
with big 110x75px icons in the top of your fan page (just below the cover
photo). Before you could only point to your apps using small icons in the menu
under the profile picture. To illustrate I’ve put 2 icons of the old layout
(left) and 2 icons of the new layout (right) together in one image. Can you
spot the difference?
Applications
more powerful then ever
Seriously, applications
are now more powerful then ever! Especially now, when many people don’t know
how to use it to it’s full advantage, you have the chance to stand out from the
crowd and do some cool stuff with the new Facebook Applications. Heck, you might
even want to consider downloading WP4FB
and implement some viral apps to get more fans
Free
bonus – free bonus – free bonus – free bonus (4x)
As promised in the
beginning of this post, I have something extras for you. For free. Or actually:
practically free. The only think I ask in return is some help in sharing this
post. Once you share this post using any of the buttons below, you will
automatically get access to the free downloads.
So, what do I have for
you?
