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Creative Design For Your Facebook Fan Page

The Facebook Lowdown – Facebook is the second most visited website on the planet with 500 million active users. Fifty percent of those users will access their Facebook login on any given day.

However you care to look those figures, that’s a lot of traffic. If you can tap into just a small part of it, your business will benefit in leaps and bounds, and quite possibly hyper jumps.

If you’re already using Facebook for business, but are looking to reach out even more to potential customers and to drive more traffic to your website, a customized Facebook page is essential to help improve your visibility.

Recent changes to Facebook mean that you now have much more control over the creative design than ever before.

Design and Create a Customized, Personalized Landing Page

This is where visitors to your page will land first. Optimizing the design of this page will help create raving fans out of your visitors.

There are two ways to create custom pages: FBML, and iFrames. Of the two, FBML is the easier to use.

FBML stands for Facebook Markup Language. Simply put, it is one of the many Facebook apps available to you. Once you’ve added the FBML app, you’ll be able to use HTML and FBML tags to create a fabulous custom page.

A good example of a customized page is eOne Films (below).  By utilizing their logo on Facebook, the look and feel of the eOne Films landing page is consistent with their website. The page also links directly to their site. Keeping your branding consistent like this means you’ll be able to hold on to your message across various internet channels. You’re aiming for quicker and more widespread recognition.

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The more reasons you give potential customes to spend time on your pages the better. If you can providestimulating content along with a hook to lure people in, they are more apt to want to Like you and to spread the word.

The Source Code page below is a good example of both content and a hook working together. Source Code is running a sweepstakes that offers the chance to win a trip to next year’s film and interactive festival. This alone would grab some attention. But here’s the caveat: you’ve got to Like them before you can enter.

Facebook Design

Use The Reveal Tab To Tease Visitors And Create Interest

Facebook lets you create custom tabs. You can create something called a Reveal Tab using FBML. The Reveal Tab sets up a kind of force field around your content. It prevents users’ from viewing your content until after they’ve Liked you. If you’re going to use this, make sure you have something sexy waiting on the other side.

To see this in action, a good example is the Red Bull shot below. Look closely and you might notice their creative use of arrows encouraging you to Like them. Once you’ve done that, you’ll be allowed in.

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Engage Viewers With A Custom Photo Strip On Your Fan Page

The present Facebook layout gives you a row of five photos at the top of the page. These five photos will be the ones you’ve most recently uploaded to your page. They provide you with a great opportunity to support your brand.

The tricky bit is that they’ll show up in random order. What that gives you is the chance to flex your creative design muscle. Look at it as a good work out at the gym of graphic design.

Here’s a quick look at what others have doneto keep things interesting:

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Design Your Likes Favorites To Increase Viewer Interest

On the left side are your favorites Likes. Five will show, and you have control over them via the edit button. Use these for additional branding by promoting those pages that are going to benefit you the most.

Source Code uses this to their advantage by Liking the Source Code Arcade and other relevant favorites.

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Just as it is with your website, a well-designed Facebook page gives you the opportunity to attract and hold on to your customers.

You still get to tell your story on an About page, and you can utilize your logo in a number of different places: your profile picture, whenever you leave a commentbeside your page posts, and on all your posts on other pages.

The difference is that by creating personalized, stimulating content you get to build and hold on to a growing network of like-minded users. Users who will help to promote your cause by spreading the word to further flung corners of the web.

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