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Useful Facebook Tabs for Ecommerce Retailers

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Retailer’s are finding a lot of ways to use Facebook these days for presenting products and offers to their fan base. I’ve seen some really nice implementations over time and wanted to post a few links to tabs you might want to consider for your Facebook fan page.

Not all of these are free apps, yet if they fit your needs and budget, they could be more than worth the investment.

ShopTab

This application was developed by Shop Tab LLC. and enables you to add a store to your Facebook fan page. Your products are presented and when a purchase is initiated, the customer is take directly to your site to complete the order.

This application also provides an automated data feed feature (much like Google Base) for quickly updating the content on the ShopTab. To do this, simply log into the ShopTab admin and under the data feed tab you’ll be able to schedule weekly updates as needed.

Example Store: The Tackle Box

On YouTube: Sample YouTube Video

Shop Now Tab

Developed by Payvment, Inc., this option boasts features like easy setup (under 15 minutes), product management, admin interface built into Facebook, integrated payment / revenue system, integrated order management, as well as marketing and promotion options to name a few.

Example Stores: Payvment Sample Store, Game Intern
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Create Facebook Fan Page That is Welcoming to New Visitors

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Raise your hand if visitors to your Facebook Fan Page see your Wall comments when they arrive at your page. Now raise your hand if visitors see a well executed welcome page (and no, the Information tab does not count as a well executed welcome page).

If your visitors see a well thought out welcome page, then this post isn’t for you.

If you’re wondering how you can get your Facebook page to default to a tab other than the Wall and how you can use this functionality to keep new fans or customers, then this is the post for you.

With FBML and a few Wall settings, you can turn your Facebook page from a social media dumping ground into a fun (or serious) extension of your brand.

Here’s how:

Create your welcome page. Depending on the service(s) or good(s) you’re providing, your welcome page can include a brief introduction about you or your site. It can provide instructions for where else on your Facebook page visitors can get good deals, chat, download coupon codes or buy your products (Starbucks’ fan page does a good job of this). You can also point visitors in the direction of products they can purchase or how to connect with you in other ways (1-800Flowers.com fan page does a good job of this). Your welcome page will need to be created in HTML (which is what FBML supports). If you’re not familiar enough with HTML, you can consult with your website designer or use one of the Fan page templates available online.

1800-flowers-facebook-welcome

Add the Static FBML application to your page. (Click on the link to be taken to the page). A window prompt will ask you which page you’d like to add the application to. Select the page you’d like to add the app to.

FBML-for-facebook

Adjust the FBML Application. Once you’re back on your Facebook Fan page, you’ll need to find the “Edit Page” selection (usually directly under the image you have set for your site). Once you’ve arrived at your list of page applications, find the FBML Application and click the “Edit” option.

Change the name of the Tab. It will default to FBML; however, you can change it to something like “Welcome,” “Who We Are,” “Discounts,” etc. Paste your HTML code in the box provided and click save.

Once you’re back to your fan page’s edit page, click on the Application Settings option in the FMBL box (now called whatever you named it in the step above). Application Settings allows you set the your FBML up as a box and/or tab on your page. If you select Tab, it will stay as a Tab on the top of your page. If you select Box it will not.

Now that you have your FBML set up, you’ll need to make your new welcome page the default landing page.

To do this, head back to your page’s Edit page. Find Wall Settings and click Edit.

You’ll be given a number of options that you can select. To make your new FMBL page your landing page, select the FBML page you created. Once you’ve made your selection, hit save and voila. You’ve just created a new and improved landing page for your visitors.
facebook-wall-editing

Facebook’s New Privacy Settings: What Does this Mean for You?

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The social media world has been abuzz these past few weeks over Facebook’s recent unveiling of new privacy settings on its ever-growing popular social sharing site.

Facebook recently made the decision to allow different levels of privacy for its account users. From a “please just update my family members” option to a “let it all hang out” option, Facebook believed it had found a happy medium for those users who like to share a little or a lot.

Thanks to a few new Facebook APIs sites like Time and Pandora (among many others), are using new Facebook Connect-type options to allow brand fans to see what they have in common with other brand fans. Click on an article about The Fray on Time — plan to see all of Time’s other Fray Fans in the Facebook window.

As a e-commerce retailers, this could have some great implications. If you don’t already have a “see who else likes this” option on your site, these APIs could be the answer you’re looking for.

On the other hand, you could risk losing current or prospective buyers if they feel as though what they’ve bought or looked at won’t be kept private.

As a response to the new “lack of privacy” options, some Facebook users have taken down their pages, shuttered their accounts and returned to a Facebook-free world. Others are withholding information, such as which brands they like, while others are continuing on as if nothing ever changed.

What does that mean for you?

That all depends on what you’re doing with your Facebook brand page. You may notice a slight drop in fans due to the mass exodus of “We’re not going to take it” users. Then again, if Mark Zuckerberg is right and there really is no such thing as real privacy, you may start to see an increase in people liking your brand. Either way, I wouldn’t count on Facebook closing its doors any time soon. I also wouldn’t begin taking down my Fan/Brand pages anytime soon either.

Facebook appears to be having a bit of a midlife crisis right about now. Like any good partner, it’s best to just sit back and watch and intervene when things start to get out of control.