Facebook Custom Landing Tabs + Measurement = Best Practice

 
Facebook Custom Landing Tabs + Measurement = Best Practice
Why:  Custom Landing Tabs
The default welcome page for your Facebook Page is your wall.   There is a more inviting welcome mat. Facebook landing pages give people reasons to like your page.   Debra Askanese pointed to a study that shows Facebook pages with custom landing pages have a higher conversion rate than those without landing pages.
Principles
An effective custom landing page should support your SMART objective,  show value at a glance, and have a clear call to action.     A landing page without a strategy or good design will not  automatically make people like your organization’s page.    A landing page can reinforce organizational branding or promote specific campaigns, programs, or events.  It doesn’t have to be a static content either, it can change according to your organization’s activities.
Landing pages provide a fertile ground for testing and data collection much like nonprofits test their email newsletters.  While custom tabs might look nice and can be strategic, if you don’t measure – it’s a waste of time.
On my Facebook page, I asked nonprofit  people to show examples of customized landing pages.  Here’s a couple of examples.
Organizational Branding

Highlight A Program or Event


Promote A Fundraiser/Special Event


Renee Alexander Hamilton, who is the Social Media Manager for UNICEF USA, says that they used one of the DIY apps creators for the tab, but are fortunate to have an in-house designer to make it attractive.   Renee tracks the conversion rate including clicks to the tab, clicks within the tab, and the conversion rates (clicks to donations).  She mentioned that the app includes analytics, but prefers her tried and true ruler of choice:  Google Analytics.
Small Nonprofits Can Do This Too!

During the Leveraging Social Media peer session, which consists of small and mid-sized arts organizations, the Meridian Gallery showed off their custom tag that was created using a free version of one of the DYI apps, Pagemodo. Andrew Pulkrabek, the marketing director,  worked with a designer.   His words of wisdom:  make sure that people who are not the page administrators also test it.
The Techy Stuff
It used to be easy to create a custom landing tab with FBML, but you can no longer install that app and on June 12th those grandfathered using FBML will not be able to use it.   Now it takes some tech skills to pull this off because of the switch to iFrames.  If you don’t have those skill then there are some free tools (and low cost tools here and here) available to get your basic Facebook landing page up and running. You might need some graphic design skills though.  You can also build a Facebook Page using Word Press, here’s the video. Want to look at a few inspiring custom landing pages, check these out.  Here’s a wiki on custom landing tabs and more advice here.   Update:  (October, 2011)  Here’s a couple of popular apps for building custom content.   But, Facebook announced that all apps must use SSL – if you are hosting your own – here’s some tips.  Otherwise, if you are using a service, make sure it is compliant.
 
Earlier this week, Causes, the popular Facebook fundraising app, announced integration with Facebook pages, a featured long awaited for by many nonprofits.    While it is not yet possible to measure the donation funnel or conversion rates, those features are no doubt coming soon.
Does your nonprofit use a custom landing tab on Facebook?  How did you create it?  How do you test and measure its effectiveness to get results that support your objectives?