On Feb 1, 2012, Facebook is eliminating App Profile Pages, so this will soon be a moot point. For pros and cons in the past though, see Should you create a fan page for your Facebook application or use the app profile page?
If you want to see the likes, you can check a like button or box linked to the app url. If you aren't already using one somewhere, you can go to the "create a like button" (or like box, etc.) page and just type in the URL and it will render one right there that you can check.
https://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
And regarding switching the app, changing where it's pointing, code, etc. - all should be doable. You are the one who controls the app; Facebook is just there to redirect to your code and provide a platform to serve that code on. Obviously users don't appreciate if you go too crazy with the bait-and-switch, but switching out a pre-reg seems very understandable.
Both strategies have their own pros and cons. My personal experience says that if your app has big user base then you should go for fan page. However, for small apps, application profile page is enough. Here are pros and cons of having fan page along with Application page:
Fan page cons and App Page pros:
"Go to app" button is not available on fan page. Though you can make custom tabs but of course it's not the same thing.
When user types in app name in search input, they generally see the application profile page at the top. And in this case if you're engaging users on fan page then many will b
Both strategies have their own pros and cons. My personal experience says that if your app has big user base then you should go for fan page. However, for small apps, application profile page is enough. Here are pros and cons of having fan page along with Application page:
Fan page cons and App Page pros:
"Go to app" button is not available on fan page. Though you can make custom tabs but of course it's not the same thing.
When user types in app name in search input, they generally see the application profile page at the top. And in this case if you're engaging users on fan page then many will be confused.
You have to place a link on your app for fan page to point traffic to fan page, similarly you have to make a custom tab on your fan page to point traffic to application. ( In case of applicaiton profile page, you don't need to do that since "Go to app" is enough)
If both app page and fan page are active then you have to update same statuses on both places.
Fan page pros and App Page cons:
If your app gets deleted, hacked or get down you can still keep in touch with your app users through fan page. On the other hand in most cases app page also gets down. Or, it's not easy to find app page when app gets down.
On fan page you can view exactly who like your fan page by clicking "like" link just beneath the fan page count on the left column. On application page, you can't do that.
On application page, you can't get to know how many people actually like this page unless you see like button count because it shows MAU(Monthly Active Users) instead of number of fans.
Application profile page doesn't tell you how many people are "talking about/mention" your app. Fan page shows this data just beneath the number of fans.
In order to add one more admin to app page, you have to add that person as an admin in application which is risky. However, on fan page you can make as many admin as you want with just one click.
There are in my opinion two aspects which prevents this from happening in a satisfying manner:
1. From a reader's point of view:
Do I want to mix in the same place content from my friends and content from my areas of interest?
The more fan pages I like, the less I see what my friends are doing.
I think Facebook pages are attractive to brands, celebrities and publishers in general because Facebook has such a massive audience but I suspect users will eventually hide or dislike overtime pages because it creates noise distracting them from their friends' signal.
Or I might be wrong and Facebook might
There are in my opinion two aspects which prevents this from happening in a satisfying manner:
1. From a reader's point of view:
Do I want to mix in the same place content from my friends and content from my areas of interest?
The more fan pages I like, the less I see what my friends are doing.
I think Facebook pages are attractive to brands, celebrities and publishers in general because Facebook has such a massive audience but I suspect users will eventually hide or dislike overtime pages because it creates noise distracting them from their friends' signal.
Or I might be wrong and Facebook might end up absorbing the whole Web and not just its friend/social aspects but then it will become a bit like Yahoo: a place to find everything which is not very good at anything in particular.
I think our areas of interest deserves something different and more specific, a platform that would really be good for discovering content in my areas of interest (working on that one...).
2. From a publisher's point of view
What you describe - or what could be achieved by a FB algorithm - is filtering and not curation. This is my answer that describes how both are different: Guillaume Decugis's answer to How is social curation different from collaborative filtering?
You could argue that owners of Fan pages could also be performing social curation on Facebook pages and yes, to a certain extent, they can.
However, we've found working on Scoop.it and deeply thinking about curators' needs and what should be done to make curation gratifying and simple, that it takes more than that and a dedicated platform. Here's why:
- Editorial control: posts on a Fan Page can not be re-organized. Once posted, they're only displayed in that order. You can't highlight a post you find particularly interesting or re-order to give a hierarchy to content other than chronology.
- Publishing control: anyone can post to your Fan page. A curator - or a group of curators - want to remain in control of what gets published.
- Format control: posts are displayed in always the same way without any chance to resize the post, the image, etc... It's like a newspaper where every article would have the same size.
- Look & Feel control: all Facebook pages look the same and customization options are limited.
- Content control: Facebook takes down pages that don't match their T&C's. I had an example of a Scoop.it user who was a History teacher that had a page on Mao Zedong's history that was taken down without explanation.
- Content sourcing: to be efficient, curators need to be inspired and have ways of identifying content on the topics they want to cover. Facebook doesn't provide any help with that.
The issue I have been having is that when I make the switch to using Facebook as a Page it won't allow me to do anything. For example, as a Page it won't let me like other pages. It also won't allow me to switch back to my personal profile.
Interestingly, I have found a solution. Went into Account Settings and changed language from English (UK) to English (US) and now everything works just fine. Quite bizarre!!
FB Pages should be "the place" where brands and fans engage. Thus, here are key things to improve on.
1) make Pages mobile-optimized and integrate well with FB Places. Consumers and fans want to access brand info when they are out shopping. The key use case is the following. A consumer is out shopping, use her phone to check what's interesting nearby (or at her destination). FB should give her relevant info, e.g. offers, new products from her 'liked' brands, organized nicely by distance.
It's really odd that many retail brands are promoting 'like us on FB' now. But it's so difficult to 'like' bc
FB Pages should be "the place" where brands and fans engage. Thus, here are key things to improve on.
1) make Pages mobile-optimized and integrate well with FB Places. Consumers and fans want to access brand info when they are out shopping. The key use case is the following. A consumer is out shopping, use her phone to check what's interesting nearby (or at her destination). FB should give her relevant info, e.g. offers, new products from her 'liked' brands, organized nicely by distance.
It's really odd that many retail brands are promoting 'like us on FB' now. But it's so difficult to 'like' bcoz FB Pages of brands are difficult to find!
FB should link Check-in with Pages. So ppl check-in and can easily 'like'.
2) provide filters. Most users just want to get offers; many want new product info. they don't want to get all info, even from their 'liked' brands; simply too much. an average person may have 10 'liked' brands; that's a LOT of see in 10 brands pages.
3) nice to integrate other discounts, e.g. credit card discounts, and deals, e.g. Groupon, etc. Consumers want one place that contain relevant info of their 'liked' brands. FB Pages can be that "one place"
4) FB should encourage more brands to create Pages.
I've been looking into this today and it does seem that the App page has less functionality. For example, I can browse FB as a Fan page but not as an App. Also, I can see how many people have liked a fan page, but not how many have liked an app page. Are there workarounds for these, or settings to make the app page work more like a fan page?
The biggest dominating force is YOU. People follow you for a reason. Perhaps you have seen profiles of cine stars and sports people with millions of likes of followers. People follow them because they get some sort of satisfaction in doing so and they get entertained. Can you help your followers? Can you speak to your social media audience and make them happy? Can you address their life issues and concerns? Can you help your fans in achieving their goals? If you can do all this then your facebook fan page shall never sleep.
The biggest dominating force is YOU. People follow you for a reason. Perhaps you have seen profiles of cine stars and sports people with millions of likes of followers. People follow them because they get some sort of satisfaction in doing so and they get entertained. Can you help your followers? Can you speak to your social media audience and make them happy? Can you address their life issues and concerns? Can you help your fans in achieving their goals? If you can do all this then your facebook fan page shall never sleep.
First go to the page you manage. Click edit page. Next along the left side of the page click apps. Now all the apps (tabs) on your page will appear. At the bottom of this page (if you don't already have a static FBML box) it will say browse more applications and add app (like below).
On this page you can also edit the applications you already have on your page.
If you do not see this Static FBML box click on "Go to App":
Next scroll to the bottom of the page where it says this: Click on "Add another FMBL box".
Otherwise you should be able to also search for Static FBML to add the application
First go to the page you manage. Click edit page. Next along the left side of the page click apps. Now all the apps (tabs) on your page will appear. At the bottom of this page (if you don't already have a static FBML box) it will say browse more applications and add app (like below).
On this page you can also edit the applications you already have on your page.
If you do not see this Static FBML box click on "Go to App":
Next scroll to the bottom of the page where it says this: Click on "Add another FMBL box".
Otherwise you should be able to also search for Static FBML to add the application to your page.
An app can definitely provide some different options that pages can't provide. If you wanted to run some sort of campaign or sweepstakes (or submit data to an external database), an app can be a great way to run the sweepstakes for your users, without them having to leave the Facebook environment. An app or tab can allow you to create custom areas on your page to deliver completely custom content.
But at the end of the day, a lot of companies don't actually need a custom tab or application, it really depends on your specific needs and strategy.
Step are –:
- Post the image or videos regularly.
- Post the image or videos when Your fans online.
- Go live to talk them and ask opinion .
- Always give more value through your posts.
- Always try to post videos because most of the people like to watch videos rather than blog post or written post.
- Sometimes you can boost your posts.
Before you begin
- You must be a business admin to add apps to the Business Manager.
- Only business admins can claim assets such as apps in Business Manager.
- You must also be an admin of the app that you want to add.
- The app must have an owner in order for the admin to access the app.
- The app must be set up on a mobile app platform in order for the admin to access the app.
- You need the Facebook app ID for the app you want to add.
Add apps to your Business Manager
Steps to add apps to your Business Manager:
- Open Business settings.
- Under Accounts, click Apps.
- Click the blue Add drop-down menu.
- Select whether y
Before you begin
- You must be a business admin to add apps to the Business Manager.
- Only business admins can claim assets such as apps in Business Manager.
- You must also be an admin of the app that you want to add.
- The app must have an owner in order for the admin to access the app.
- The app must be set up on a mobile app platform in order for the admin to access the app.
- You need the Facebook app ID for the app you want to add.
Add apps to your Business Manager
Steps to add apps to your Business Manager:
- Open Business settings.
- Under Accounts, click Apps.
- Click the blue Add drop-down menu.
- Select whether you want to Connect an app ID or Request access to an app ID.
- Enter the Facebook app ID.
- Click Add app or Request app.
Hope this helps!
source - Facebook business help!
In order for a fan page to be effective, it's true (as Nathan says above) that users need to return. But that's an effect, not the cause.
What compels someone to return? An engaging topic, or an interesting photo. The owner of a fan page must work consistently to produce and provide content. Posting videos from your (or someone else's if it's relevant) YouTube channel, photos from recent events or work you're performing, or articles from your blog are all good ways to get repeat visitors.
Using a reveal tab is a good way to convert a visitor into a fan, and linking between your website and
In order for a fan page to be effective, it's true (as Nathan says above) that users need to return. But that's an effect, not the cause.
What compels someone to return? An engaging topic, or an interesting photo. The owner of a fan page must work consistently to produce and provide content. Posting videos from your (or someone else's if it's relevant) YouTube channel, photos from recent events or work you're performing, or articles from your blog are all good ways to get repeat visitors.
Using a reveal tab is a good way to convert a visitor into a fan, and linking between your website and your fan page using the social plugins available are also great ways to engage your audience.
All of that being said, consistency is the KEY! Facebook is not a 'fix it and forget it' platform. It requires attention on a consistent, ongoing basis.
I've just opened up registration for a new site called 30 Day Fan Page Profits (http://fanpage.onlinesmallbizcoach.com) that consists of a bunch of videos designed to unlock the power of your fan page.
As Chad said, functionality should be the same. If you have a large, app, though, you should DEFINITELY have them fan your App Page in that it provides a "go to app" button front and center on the page. This way, you can re-engage users thorugh the Page more effectively than you would otherwise.
There should be no functionality missing. There are cases where functions seem to be missing, but are there in reality if you hack the URL with your app_id. If there is a more specific feature you notice is missing, just comment and I'll check into it.
Consolidate Facebook Fan Pages and Facebook App Pages -- they seem redundant.
To add tabs to a Facebook Fan Page:
1. Go to your Facebook Fan Page.
2. Click on the "Settings" tab.
3. In the left-hand column, select "Templates and Tabs."
4. Scroll down and click on "Add a Tab."
5. Choose either a standard tab from the list or add a custom tab.
6. Customize the tab's position by dragging and dropping it.
7. Adjust settings for each tab if needed.
That's it! You have successfully added tabs to your Facebook Fan Page.
They are basically the same thing.
For brands where a lot of the content generated by their fans lives outside of Facebook, it's actually a great idea for the brand to act as a curator and pull in the best of that content to a fan tab for the benefit of their Facebook followers.
Take for example, Sephora – a brand with a lot of enthusiasts saying great things about them on Twitter and posting fun and colorful photos to Instagram. For special promotions like Fashion Week and their partnership with Pantone (company) for the color of the year (Tangerine Tango), they launched fan tabs that pulled in a best-of curated feed of near-re
For brands where a lot of the content generated by their fans lives outside of Facebook, it's actually a great idea for the brand to act as a curator and pull in the best of that content to a fan tab for the benefit of their Facebook followers.
Take for example, Sephora – a brand with a lot of enthusiasts saying great things about them on Twitter and posting fun and colorful photos to Instagram. For special promotions like Fashion Week and their partnership with Pantone (company) for the color of the year (Tangerine Tango), they launched fan tabs that pulled in a best-of curated feed of near-real-time content from both Facebook and non-Facebook social sources.
Sephora fans who only follow them on Facebook got to see all of the great external content being generated – served up nice and neat right within Facebook. They use FeedMagnet (full disclosure: I founded FeedMagnet) to pull in social feeds, curate the content, and push it back into their Facebook tabs.
Citigroup (company) does something similar on their Facebook tab for the Olypics, Citi Every Step (https://apps.facebook.com/citieverystep/), curating Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and other social content from olympic athletes, then displaying it in the fan tab once you've joined.
Facebook fan tabs are like canvases (Facebook actually calls them that) for a brand to paint on – filling them in with the things they believe their fans will want to see. Curated social content is great way to do that.
It's important to note that curation requires a curator. If Facebook were to blindly aggregate content from outside sources, it is unlikely that it would actually be relevant. More importantly, the act of curation – separating signal from noise – is the critical step to end up with a stream of content interesting enough that people actually want to see it.
Bottom line: curated social content on fan tabs is a great thing for brands – but it should be a proactive curated approach, vs. the simple aggregation that Facebook could do automatically.
An email list has the advantage of allowing direct communication with subscribers and targeted marketing. On the other hand, a Facebook fan page has a wider reach, allows for easy sharing and engagement, but can be affected by algorithm changes. Email list requires opt-in and can have higher unsubscribe rates whereas fan page can be followed without any action.
A Facebook Business Page is like the Yellow Pages listing for a business. You have to have a personal account to create a page. You can invite your friends to like your page. You are not publicly connect to your page unless you want to be. Pages are easy to create.
A Facebook app is a function that a developer creates to do something. For instance if you want to connect an email program to your Facebook page, you need an app to do so. Many apps already exist or you can create a new one if you don’t find one that suits your needs. You have to be a coder/developer to create an app.
A Facebook Business Page is like the Yellow Pages listing for a business. You have to have a personal account to create a page. You can invite your friends to like your page. You are not publicly connect to your page unless you want to be. Pages are easy to create.
A Facebook app is a function that a developer creates to do something. For instance if you want to connect an email program to your Facebook page, you need an app to do so. Many apps already exist or you can create a new one if you don’t find one that suits your needs. You have to be a coder/developer to create an app.
Hello!
I manage 4 fan pages B2C and B2B this what i noticed is knowladge about your community is really what you need. When you REALLY know who is your audience you can adjust content to the type of audience. If only you can say that your community consist of some people 20–40 y.o and that’s all, you completly don’t know them.
What they do everyday? What is interesting for them? What they love? If you will know the answers for these questions you will never hesistate what to post today.
I recommend you to post:
- many high quality graphic content
- polls
- videos
- 70/30 questions
- follow your competition and
Hello!
I manage 4 fan pages B2C and B2B this what i noticed is knowladge about your community is really what you need. When you REALLY know who is your audience you can adjust content to the type of audience. If only you can say that your community consist of some people 20–40 y.o and that’s all, you completly don’t know them.
What they do everyday? What is interesting for them? What they love? If you will know the answers for these questions you will never hesistate what to post today.
I recommend you to post:
- many high quality graphic content
- polls
- videos
- 70/30 questions
- follow your competition and learn from them.
- be there where you community is (use internet monitoring tools)
It helps a lot.
You can do a lot of stuff with it, which really helps your app.
- You can address customers complaints and queries openly and conveniently.
- You can post latest updates about your app
- You can also put on some tips about using the app
- You can even target a large audience as it's sort of advertising your app, more people will know about your app.
But most importantly, getting likes on the page is a bit tough task, especially if your app isn't amazingly popular or good.
Once you get enough likes, rest will go smooth.
Facebook is removing app profile pages on Feb 1, 2012 and built migration tools to turn them into fan pages. Glad I chose to create a fan page =)
https://developers.facebook.com/blog/post/611/
An application page is automatically generated when you create an application. A fanpage is where you would typically do the majority of your community management...such as interacting with fans on the wall. A fanpage is usually the primary communication channel to your Facebook fans or likes.
If you're a developer, it's a good idea to duplicate most of your fanpage content to your application profile page so that users can see you content if they visit your app. If you don't manage any applications, then focus on your main fanpage to communicate with your fans/likes
I have performed the Friend to Fan Page conversion for multiple clients with total success. In some cases, I had to convert the Friend Profile to a Fan Page and then Merge the converted Friend Profile Page with another Fan Page because the Business Owner was operating both a Friend and Fan Page for their business.
The process allows you to keep your followers (Friends & Fans) and utilize the benefits of a Facebook Fan Page. Personally, the Insights, Facebook Ads, and E-Commerce Apps are my favorites of a Fan Page.
Personal profiles are limited to 5000 friends. Most people are fine with that limit. You can also determine the audience (who can access) each post - some could be public, while others limited to friends or even a select group of friends.
Fan pages are public and are basically used by businesses or prominent figures.
Yes. This is a free way to engage with customers. Its also starting to be very weird when a company does not use facebook.
It is not directly possible, as Chad Little pointed out. By using the Facebook ad system it is possible to target ads promoting your application the the current fans of your page. Only fans of your page will then see the ads - but of course it does cost a few cents per fan "moved".
No, this isn't possible. Given you have a channel for distribution on your Page though (posts and updates), you have a significant start on populating your application.
I would use a fan page as a primary presence. You could then create some custom content in the app page directing users to your fan page. Having your main presence on a fan page will be easier to manage and maintain long term.