Learning Is Bettering

At some point in your online perusing, it can be almost guaranteed that you will come across an individual or an organization that is a self-claimed social "genius," or "wizard" or something along those lines. Most of us will pass them off as spam because, well, they usually are. Others will deem social media experts as baloney: "How hard can social media be exactly!?" they'll proclaim. Well, actually now, real social media experts do exist. Finding them simply takes a little research.

At Custom Fit, we pride ourselves on our ability to live up to the title of "social media expert." But a pundit does not simply absorb information and then calls it quits, they must adapt, learn, and grasp… and this exactly where we stand. We are constantly learning about new and better ways to improve our social media stance and relationship. And lately we've been taking extra notice; we've been focusing on our clients' Facebook pages. Specifically, Facebook page tabs.

An Introduction to Facebook Tabs

A tab is a subsection of a Facebook page that is used to display additional content. By default, a page will come equipped with the photos, number of likes, events and map tabs. These tabs are standard and cannot be removed, however the latter three can be pushed down by rearranging your tabs with your additional (custom) tabs. You can use custom tabs for almost any purpose you can think of. Contests, promotions, aggregations, displays, you name it. Think of them as mini one-page websites. Or better yet, think of them as areas of personalized receiving marketing.

Personalized Marketing

One thing to keep in mind when building your custom tabs is to consider your audience. As a page owner, your tabs are already in a magnificent position in terms of marketing: people are coming to you. You have been found! As people explore your Facebook page, you have already won half the battle. They know about you. The task now, if necessary according to your social media goal, is to convert those page views into hitting the like button (which happens to correspond with our convert pillar). Converting your clientele to do anything is a dark art that is rather challenging to achieve; since the birth of time (well, almost) marketers and the like have made this one of their main missions. There are no cut-in-stone methods to make your viewers turn to your product (in this case, your Facebook page), but one absolutely certain way that will always win you points is to remain true to yourself. Build genuine content, remain truthful, and you'll see you will be appreciated. Don't cater to everyone, cater to someone specific. Personalize!

Use Your Tabs Wisely

In our research we've found 13-15% of people trust online ads. Right off the bat, advertising has a certain stigma (I look forward to the onslaught of debaters) attached to it. However, approximately 90% of people will trust peer reviews. We're talking real people reviews. And we can see this with the popularity of review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor. Google is even taking reviews into consideration for search results.

So what does this mean?

It means that we strongly suggest using your tabs not as forms of advertisement, but as means of displaying more about who you are. Let people know who you are! Of course this not one of those "build it and they will come" moments, a little getting-the-word-out work may be needed, but it is much more productive to get started on the right foot.

Another suggested medium is to use giveaways. Everyone is excited by a contest or. Some people love the "free" involved, but it may have to do with participation. Social media is often neglected at its most core element: social. Get people involved and participating, it never hurts.

How We Roll

After all our discussion, research, and experience at Custom Fit, we've put together a Facebook Tabs Guide. This is by no means a set of rules everyone must adhere to; what it is five guidelines that we, as a company, choose to embody when building tabs for ourselves and others.

1. Build towards brand recognition
Tabs should be instantly recognizable as belonging to their respective brand. Use colour, imagery, texture, icons, and layout to appropriately convey.

2. Reviews are more trustworthy than ads
As we've stated, research indicates ~15% of people will trust advertisements, but ~90% will trust a peer review on Facebook. When possible, always use reviews.

3. Pages are personified marketing
Facebook pages must feel personal, and not a vessel to simply post automated text. Tabs must also reflect this sentiment. Be friendly yet professional, human but not erroneous, and direct but not aggressive. Use pages and tabs to market from one human to another (i.e. use a photo and not an ad for cover image).

4. Social media is about generating conversations
Engage users as often as possible. Ask questions and respond to comments, and share to others. Use a tab if necessary to help generate conversation.

5. Give, give, give… and give some more!
Offer reasons for people to participate. Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, games, discussions; use one or several activities to entice and keep people interested.

We will be applying our knowledge of Facebook pages and tabs to benefit our clients. Be prepared over the next couple of weeks to see changes-some major, some smaller-as we overhaul tabs in order to achieve peak results.

Filed in // Social Media, Brand Identity