Social Media Tip: Why Businesses Should Use Facebook Custom Tabs

In this social media tip we are going to talk about custom tabs on Facebook and how they can benefit your business. Every business on Facebook has an “about” section as well as a timeline, but not all of them utilise the tabs located under the cover photo. By taking advantage of this prime real estate space on the social media site, you can not only attract your fans to your branded site, but keep their attention as well. From special offers and free giveaways, to opt-ins and mailing lists, Facebook tabs can serve so many different purposes, but the end-result is the same: more fan likes and more engagement with your page.

Many businesses shy away from using Facebook custom tabs for a simple reason: Other than the ‘likes’, photos, and videos tabs, most now need to be customized and be created by a third-party developer. Don’t let this intimidate you, though. Rather, create a plan of action by first considering what’s most important to your business and what you’re looking to achieve with your social media marketing strategy.

Consider how you want to engage your users, as well as what you want them to know about you, your brand and your company, and work from there. The sky is the limit; since there’s a dropdown button for the tabs area, you can add however many tabs you want. Only the first four tabs are showcased when someone clicks onto your Facebook page, though.

Spur Engagement

Since your social media efforts should be all about spurring engagement converting people to your site, entice your fans with your custom tabs. Create contests for your products. Alternatively, discover what your fans care the most about by polling them. Both of these options require your fans to participate on your page.

Feature Your Services and Products

Tabs also offer a great way to inform your fans about what you offer and why you’re the best at it. Simple Q&A sections work great as tabs, as well as photos of your products. If you’re a restaurant, you can easily promote your menu and your food by creating a tab linking to your online ordering system. If you’re a travel agency, create a tab showcasing the tours you offer, along with pricing.

Build Your Email List

The more ways customers can sign up for your email list the better. Build a custom tab asking people to sign up for your email list in addition to asking them in store and offering a link to subscribe on your website. This way, they’re clearly opting in, and your Facebook page becomes more of a one-stop shop for everything you offer. Custom apps can be created whether you’re using an email service like Constant Contact or MailChimp.

Extend Your Customer Service Online

Since people spend much of their time online, many service-oriented businesses are finding success in giving their fans a way to reach them through Facebook. These tabs can be built so customers can connect directly to a service representative, much like they would if they called in, or by filling out a form for feedback purposes.

Fan-Gating Can Still Work

Facebook no longer allows pages to require a person ‘likes’ the page to view the content, but fan-gating can still work with a custom tab. Many third-party apps, like Thunderpenny, can assist you with a custom tab that requires users to like your page to “unlock” its content. The key to making this work is enticing potential fans to click on the tab, or by clicking on a custom URL that leads to the tab.

How to Create Custom Tabs

All custom tabs should enhance the user’s experience. As such, the kind of tabs you offer will determine how to best create them. While Facebook allows individual users to create tabs, if you don’t have a background in html and website development, it’s best to find a third-party source. Many third-party app developers will offer a free trial first to see how their apps work. Others offer some free functionality and the possibility to upgrade with minimal investment.

Since there are so many third-party app developers out there, do your due diligence. Make sure the app developer will provide a special URL to your custom tabs, mainly so you can promote these tabs even to mobile device users.

Whether you use a developer to make these tabs, or build your own, custom tabs are worth investing in, and not just because they’ll help you stand out from the crowd. Tabs make your page more engaging, and, in turn, your customer base will grow.

Courtney Gordner

Courtney Gordner is a passionate blogger with a love for social media and all things internet! Follow her on her blog, talkviral.com and on Twitter!

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