As expected, Facebook changed the way small businesses generate leads from their Facebook Pages –err, Timelines. Timeline introduces many benefits in addition to changing a few rules of the game for capturing leads from their business pages.

Let’s cut to the chase. Here are five things that are different about Page Tabs on the new Facebook Timeline.

• Page Tabs have moved from the left side to the top of the page.
• Page Tabs have larger, customizable images to entice click-through.
• Page Tabs can no longer be loaded by default, unless you drive traffic to them specifically.
• Page Tabs have a larger width to accommodate up to 810px.
• Page Tabs are only visible via Web browsers and not mobile apps.

Okay, so you want to collect some leads, right? Before we dive in, I want to remind you to pause for one moment and think about two cold stats about Facebook Pages:

• In a report from comScore, a majority of engagements with brands occurs within the News Feed and not necessarily on a Page.
• Stats have shown that well-maintained Facebook Pages with Page Tabs outperform non-customized pages, of course many factors could relate to this. I know when I visit a brand that has invested wisely into their Page Tabs, it shows me they care. Perhaps your audience believes the same.

That said, adding your Page Tab with an Infusionsoft Web Form will not result in a flood of leads. You still need to earn the trust and response from fans on Facebook driving demand to visit your Page Tab. There are two ways for you to implement a customized Page Tab. Read through the instructions first to decide which one you are most comfortable implementing. They both help you reach the goal you have to generate leads on a custom Tab on your Facebook Page, but go about it in different ways.

Use a Page Tab App

There are third-party apps that you have to authorize and add to your Page. They have their own set of instructions and require a little experimentation for success. This is the easiest for Page owners to setup, but owners don’t really control their own Facebook App – they are using someone else to deliver their content.

1. Go to the Static HTML Plus Facebook App.
2. Click the button, “Add Static HTML to a Page”
   
3. Select your Facebook Page from the drop-down menu.
   
4. Go to your Facebook Page and click on the “Welcome” Tab on the top.
   
5. Copy and paste your Infusionsoft Web Form Code. You can use a Javascript Snippet, so your Web Form is always up to date and can be customized from within Infusionsoft.
   
6. Click the “Save Changes” button. You can preview what it looks like with the Preview button.
   

You may also want to try Woobox’s Page Tab Facebook App – a very similar process to the above with even more options for customization.

Create your Own Page Tab ‘App’

I prefer this method because it’s actually fairly quick to setup once you do it a few times. For a novice, this will be intimidating. The benefit is that the Facebook App is truly yours and you can do practically anything you want with it.

1. Visit developers.facebook.com, click Apps and click on “Create a New App.”
   
2. Give your app a unique name. Pay close attention to the text when you’re typing to determine if the name is available.
3. Click on the Page Tab section at the bottom of your Basic Settings.
   
4. Give the Page Tab a custom name and point it to the URL of your choice. Using a Hosted Infusionsoft Web Form would be a perfect candidate and click Save.
   
5. In your browser, visit this URL and replace the text with the information from your new app. The App ID is located at the top of the page. The URL is the Page Tab URL.
         https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=YOUR_APP_ID&next=YOUR_URL
   Example: https://www.facebook.com/dialog/pagetab?app_id=385054671533386&next=https://appname.infusionsoft.com/app/form/testing
   
6. You will now be prompted to choose the Facebook Page to add your new Page Tab.
   
7. Navigate to your Facebook page and you will see your new Page Tab.
   
8. Customize the Tab image by selecting “Edit Page” from the Manage menu at the top of the Page.
   
9. Click “Edit Settings” next to your new App and click the Change hyperlink next to “Custom Tab Image.” You can also adjust the title of the Tab from here, too.
   
10. Click Change again and upload an image that is sized 111×74 pixels.
11. Go back to your Page and look at your Tab!

Okay, okay… maybe that was a bit more complex than using a simple Page Tab app. It’s an alternative method to create your own Tab for your Facebook Page in case Facebook changes how those applications work. I can’t stress this enough: Facebook’s platform is very prone to change. They’ve never officially endorsed the use of their Page Tabs for lead generation and Web Analytics and it is very likely they will change the game again in about 6-9 months.

For many small businesses, those who have plenty of great conversations and interactions with customers and prospects on their Facebook Page, it is a good idea to invest the time and the effort to drive business value via the investment they’ve made in their Facebook Page.

Tagged as: Facebook Pages, Facebook Timeline, Featured Post, small business, social media, tutorial