Facebook How To | Cheryl Waller

Create Facebook Business Pages with Youtube Videos (NO FBML Required)

April 25, 2011 By Cheryl Waller Leave a Comment

Setting up a custom Facebook business page with YouTube is a little more difficult now that Facebook has removed the ability to add the FBML application to your business page. While it may be a little more entailed, it is not impossible to add an application for the purposes of a business page. You can still create your own custom page by using free templates through companies like Lujure or you can build a wholly custom page using Facebook apps if you know a little about building web pages.

Creating Facebook Business pages Using Facebook Applications.

I have created this post to help those of you that would like to ‘do-it-yourself’ and build your own custom Facebook business page. This requires that you know something about HTML, PHP, and can host a page somewhere on the internet. In other words this is a little advanced. So, if you find yourself getting frustrated with the following instructions, then I highly suggest you use a free template. At the same time, if you are familiar with building web pages, then this is a simple process that will give you more flexibility than the FBML application ever enabled.

If you are a consultant that builds pages for your clients, you will also find this post useful. However, I would still recommend Lujure for your use as they have a business edition that is quite affordable. If your clients require more versatility than the templates offered by Lujure, then this page will help walk you through the steps you need to learn to continue to make custom business pages for your clients.

Step 1.

Build a PHP Business Page on Your Server

While it is quite simple to just build the page in HTML, it is best to build a PHP page because FaceBook will post variables to the tab when it loads and you will most likely get an error with a index.html page. I have found that the best size for the page is 485×730, but you can experiment with wider and longer pages if you wish.

YouTube Videos: Go to YouTube and get the embed code for your video. You can find this under any video. Once you have the embed code you can place it anywhere you would like to place it on your page. See the image below for a quick glance at how to get the right sized code for your custom page.

Step 2.

Create an Application on Facebook

Now in order to develop applications, Facebook will require that you verify your account. Just go to http://Facebook.com/developers and click on ‘Set Up New App’ in the upper right hand corner. If your account has not yet been verified, you will receive a warning with links to verify your account.

Once your account has been verified by Facebook, you will be able to develop applications.

http://www.facebook.com/developers/createapp.php

Name the application whatever you would like. This will not affect the name of the page tab. Then, agree to Facebook terms and click ‘Create App’.

On the next page there are only a few changes that need to be made since we are only using this app for the purposes of creating a custom Facebook page.

Under the ‘About’ tab you should upload an icon (size doesn’t matter, Facebook will adjust the size of the image to the correct size) and make sure that the email addresses are correct.

Under the ‘Facebook Integration’ tab you will need to name the tab and provide the tab URL (the page that you created in step 1)

Click on ‘Save Changes’.

Step 3.

Add the Application to your Facebook Page

After you click on ‘Save Changes’ you will be taken to the application information page, click on ‘Application Profile Page’.

Then simply add the application to your business page on Facebook and you are done.

Step 4. (Optional)

Make the Custom Business Tab Your Default Landing Page

To make your new custom business page the landing page, simply edit the page and select it under ‘Manage Permissions’ ‘Default Landing Tab’

7 Reasons Your Facebook Page Needs an IMMEDIATE Face-Lift! Facebook business pages are different from your personal profile....
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Filed Under: Facebook, Facebook How To, Facebook Pages, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: apps, Blogging, Building Web Pages, Business Applications, Business Edition, Business Page, Business Pages, Business Videos, Custom Business, Facebook, Flexibility, Free Template, Free Templates, Php, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking, Step 1, Variables, Versatility, Web Business, Youtube Videos

Facebook Account Security | Here’s Your Sign

August 3, 2010 By Cheryl Waller Leave a Comment

Yes, I make most of my living working with Facebook. But, sometimes I just wish one of the little cyborgs would materialize in front of me so that I could smack it in the back of the head and say, ‘Seriously, WTF were you thinking?”

It used to be that to access your account from a new location you would need your access information and full birthday. That’s it. I originally thought that was stupid because there are so many people that display their full birthday on their profile and that it just wasn’t a security feature at all. So, then Facebook turned up the security half-a-notch and made it so that the user was notified when their account was accessed from a new location. Ok, I can see the point in that. Not exactly very secure, but ok.

Well, the cyborgs came up with a whole new security solution! Check it out! This is just pure genius in the making!

Facebook now has a new security feature where if you access your account from a new location you have to answer a few simple questions about your ‘friends’. Specifically, you have to identify 7 of them (you can miss two) from images that they (or anyone else Facebook-wide) has tagged of them. Seems like a pretty good idea right?

Yeah, if you have 50 friends that you actually know, that each has maybe 50 friends that they actually know. And ALL of those friends ONLY tagged pictures of them with their actual face in them, not their childhood pics, not their dog, not their kids or what-have-you. Come on Facebook, really? They allow 5,000 connections and THIS is a security feature?

Seriously now, why wasn’t I invited to the 4:20 meeting where the Facebook security expert team sat up and said, “Hey, if they want to access their account from a new location just make them identify 5 images of 5,000 random friends to get back into their account!” BRILLIANT!

So basically, if you take a vacation and try to access your Facebook from a computer that you have never used before, then you are going to be in friend-hell until you can identify 5 of 7 random pics. Oh, and did I mention that if you get it wrong the first time you have to wait an hour to try again? And don’t think accessing it from your computer at home is going to unlock your account, because your account is LOCKED buddy! You are not getting in until you identify 7 random people period! Enjoy your vacation!

I am no security expert, but I have to say that there are other ways of securing accounts. Even Senators are complaining that Facebook APIs leak all kinds of personal information about you and your friends, but if you want access to your account from a remote computer…. Well THAT’s secure now… even from you!

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Filed Under: Facebook, Facebook How To, Social Networking Tagged With: Facebook, facebook security, Social Networking

7 Reasons Your Facebook Page Needs an IMMEDIATE Face-Lift!

July 3, 2010 By Cheryl Waller Leave a Comment

Facebook business pages are different from your personal profile. Your profile should have a picture of you and information about you. Your real estate business cannot have a personal profile. In order to be on Facebook your business must have an ‘Official Page’ and can list and present everything that relates to your real estate business.

Also Read: Facebook: Profiles, Fan Pages, and Groups… Oh My!

On your Real Estate Business page, you should include (at minimum) the following information:

- Overview of your real estate business
- Website address and contact info
- Videos (listings and or/rentals)
- Blog RSS and your Blog URL
- Updated news and status

You can use up to 6 tabs (you can use more, but they won’t be readily displayed without clicking on the ‘>>’ tab). Your six tabs should consist of:

Wall Tab:
This is where you interact with your ‘fans’ and keep them up to days with current news and information.

Info Tab:
Fill this in with as much information as you can about you, your business, and what makes you different from other agents.

Welcome Tab:
A customized page that is very similar to your website, but within Facebook. This can be a single static page, a page with information and videos, or a fully customized mini-website. You should have at least one video embedded on this tab. If you don’t know HTML or FBML you can get a free real estate welcome page by ‘liking’ Social Networking for Real Estate Agents on Facebook. (Just click on the tab that says ‘FREE’.)

Real Estate Tab:
I recommend using Roost for this tab. It is very simple to configure and has a lot of features built-in.

Offer Tab:
Whether you use Market Snapshot, Constant Contact, Mail Chimp or any other form of keeping in touch with potential clients, this tab helps you collect information from potential clients so that you can keep in touch.

RSS/Blog Tab:
I recommend using Social RSS. You should keep you blog updated at least 2-3 times a week. Using the Socail RSS application, your blog will automatically update your Facebook business page.
So, what are the 7 reasons your Facebook real estate page needs an IMMEDIATE face-lift?

Reason # 1. Traffic

The Facebook statistics speak for themselves. Facebook now has over 2.6 billion monthly visitors and growing… with your real estate business page you can leverage the power of Facebook and drive more traffic to you site.

Reason # 2. There is NO COST

If you setup your business page yourself, you don’t have to spend a dime for this POWERFUL lead generator. If you don’t know HTML or FBML, you can get a free custom page just by ‘liking’ Social Networking for Real Estate Agents on Facebook.

Reason # 3. Viral Marketing

There are many ways you can use a Facebook business page as a viral marketing tool! Suggest your business page to all of your friends. Grow both your friend and ‘fan’ base and then give your ‘fans’ something to share. They will!

Reason # 4. SEO Power

Unlike a personal profile, business pages ARE completely public (there are some exceptions but that is beyond the scope of this post) and indexed by search engines. You will want to name your page something SEO friendly, keeping in mind that once you name your page you cannot change the name. Once you have 25 ‘fans’ you will want to customize your Facebook URL to something SEO friendly and you can also use anchor text linking (this is a huge secret, but I am revealing it anyway) to drive not only TRAFFIC but also relevant backlinks.

Reason # 5. Updates

You can update your ‘fans’ in multiple ways! You can post to your wall, share on your personal profile to attract new fans or send a mass update to all of your ‘fans’ through your administrator controls on ‘edit page’ (lower right hand side). You can also TARGET your updates to specific fans based on demographics.

Reason # 6. Unlimited ‘Fans’

Unlike a personal profile which restricts you to 5,000 connections (business pages and friends combined), your business page can have an unlimiteded amount of ‘fans’.

Reason # 7. Connects with Nearly EVERYTHING

Facebook business pages can be connected with twitter, linkedin, youtube and countless other social networking sites. You can also use the ‘like’ feature on your self-hosted WordPress blog using Simple Facebook Connect. (Simple Twitter Connect is another powerful plugin for your self-hosted WordPress blog)

Pretty soon, if not argumentatively already, Facebook business pages will become as important as having a website. If you want to stay ahead of your competition you will need to set up your page correctly now and secure your keywords in your Facebook URL!

-Cheryl

Cheryl Waller
Marketing Consultant SEO, SEM, SMM
www.CherylWaller.com

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Filed Under: Facebook, Facebook How To, Facebook Pages, search engine optimization, Social Networking Tagged With: Facebook, Facebook Profiles, Facebook Updates, Fan Pages, FBML, Official Pages, Profile Pages, search engine optimization, SEO, Social Networking

Video: How to Create Your Own Facebook Custom Fan Page

February 24, 2010 By Cheryl Waller Leave a Comment

Looking to create a custom Fan page on Facebook? Well I have two videos for you! The first one is shameless advertising for my custom Facebook Fan page service, but please watch it as I had a lot of fun making it and would love your feedback on the video.

The second video is a short video that shows you how to create your own custom fan page. Now, don’t yell at me here, you will need a good understanding of HTML and some FBML (Facebook Markup Language) to get your custom fan page working correctly and I do not go over that in this video. However, if you have a basic understanding of HTML, know a little about FBML, and you have a good HTML editor, this video will show you how to create your own custom fan page. Pay attention to the video as I give you a few tips on how to get HTML to work within Facebook by leaving out some common tags.