HOW TO: Create a Custom Facebook Welcome Tab [Simplified & Up to Date]

Listen up if you want that custom, sleek look on your Facebook Page without a lot of hassle. Making this will take you to looking more like a pro who knows what they’re doing without even touching that complicated HTML coding stuff.

 

1. To start off, you need to figure out your content.

• If you have a special promotion or sale, it would be ideal to advertise this here especially if it makes a difference if the viewer becomes a fan of your Facebook page (See: Pottery Barn). 
•  If you are not selling anything and simply want the viewer to become a fan, take some advice from a page like Red Bull and design a call to action image that will increase your numbers with a fun image.
•  Look at this opportunity as a premium advertising opportunity. Take your most important aspect of your company and promote it here.

2. Once you have figured out what you are going to have on your image, you will need to create the actual image.

•  Now if you have Adobe Photoshop and know how to use it, this will be easy.  You will need to create an image that is 540 pixels wide by any amount of pixels long (Note: length does not matter because it is on a web page and you can scroll down).
• If you do not have Adobe Photoshop, but have experience with the skills behind it, try out Aviary.com. It is a free online tool that allows you to create images with software that is just like Photoshop.  Use the image editor option and set your new document to be 540 pixels wide and how ever long you please.  Then design away!
• If you are completely clueless when it comes to computer design, you can make a simple image your tab by resizing it to be 540 pixels wide, or you will have to ask someone for help.  There are a number of websites that will charge you a pretty penny to design this or you can bribe a friend to help by making him/her dinner!  Use foodgawker.com to find a fun new recipe that will prove that your eyes can be bigger than your stomach!

3. Time to upload! So you have this 540 pixel-wide image and now what do you do? Well in my previous Social Media post you saw that I recommended Involver.com as a tool to download a welcome tab. Involver is great, but there is another app that I like use to enable having even more custom tabs (Involver limits you to two tabs without paying). PageLever.com is a great tool. It has a thumbs-up icon on the tab that to me sends subliminal messages to your viewers to “Like” the page. BUT here is the low down...

•  PageLever is now in “beta testing” and is super exclusive to admit new entries.  However! I am an incredible Google-r (and on a tight budget) and I found the Original Page Lever just for you that will enable you to create your Welcome tab without a wait!
• Once you install this on your page, it prompts you to upload the image, which you now can easily do!
• Then you will simply need to go to “Edit Page” and click “Manage Permissions”.  Then go to the “Default Landing Tab” drop down menu and click “Welcome”. Once you save your changes you are good to go! (See below for the example)

CONGRATS! You just made a custom tab!

Share your success story below in the comments! I want to see your creativity and "like" your page!

Glam Dream House

When it comes to dreaming about the “when I grow ups,” I’m not the typical twenty-something. Instead of dreaming about my wedding, what my dress will look like, whether my ceremony will be in a church or outside, what color the napkins will be, etc. etc., I prefer to fantasize about my dream house. Not just the people who will fill it, yes the dream husband and children exist but that’s not the focus of my dream.

I dream of the ultimate glam-house with an excuse to have a chandelier in every. Single. Room. I Stumbled long and hard to find my favorite images that show it is possible to be glamorous in every part of you house. Enjoy!

The Entry

The hallway

The living room

The Dining Room

The guest bedroom

Guest Closet

Bathroom

The master bedroom

The closet (via Christina Aguilera)

Patio Dining

One Facebook Update Your Brand Needs!

At the risk of sounding too “sales-y,” I’m going to shamelessly promote a website which I have no affiliation with but only because when I discovered the Twitter app last night I got embarrassingly excited! Here is a simple site of an upgrade you can make today to your Facebook Fan Page! I have been using Involver for quite some time now for the Facebook Pages I manage. If you’re not using it, you should be. It’s extremely user-friendly and allows you to upload 2 applications per page for FREE! After that, it can get a little pricey (starting at $99/month) especially for a smaller business.

Now you’re thinking well which two should I choose? There are over 20 different applications (not all free), but here are my top FREE picks with matchmaking criteria:

Upload the Welcome Tab IF:

1. You are trying to increase your Facebook fans aka “likes”.
2. You want to set your page apart from the others and look like an expert!
3. You have the capabilities to create a custom image that is 540 pixels wide (the size of the Facebook frame).

*Creating your image - This can easily be done in Photoshop and is the perfect tab to highlight a feature of your brand or a special promotion.

Upload the Twitter App IF:

1. You are very active on Twitter and having conversations with your followers that you wish you could simultaneously post to your Facebook page.
2. You are looking to grow your Twitter fan base.

*Cool feature - There is a button that says “follow” which creates a direct link to your Twitter page.

Upload the YouTube App IF:

1. You have a YouTube stream for your brand that you consistently update and would like to broadcast these videos to your fans through a tab.

*Insider tip - For the free version, you have to go in and manually update it. You simply click the YouTube tab, then click “Edit Tab Settings” (the orange button), scroll to the bottom and click “Save changes” (the blue button). Then go back to your page and voila!

Upload the Flickr OR Photo Gallery App IF:

1. You have a Flickr account and update it consistently.
2. Photos are extremely important to your business. You may be a photographer, event planner, florist, etc.

*The Difference - Flickr App will pull your stream directly from Flickr, but with the Photo Gallery app, you manually upload images from your computer.

Another awesome feature of Involver is that they have custom icons. This means that when you go to click on your tab you will see for example, the Twitter bird that livens up your page more than the gray arrow icon on the "Welcome" tab featured to the left that was custom created by Static FBML. 

Getting Things Started

What do you do when things you’ve dreamed about but doubted yourself on finally fall in your lap? Do you take charge and go for the gold without hesitation or do you step back in fear of failure?

Clearly people who know me read this and think, duh Chels, you do it! Why would you even hesitate? And normally my positive go-getter side agrees, except that I’ve always been the kind of person who wants to make sure I have everything planned out and prepared before I can go full force. Yes, I am the overly-cautious CRAWLED-across-the-moving-playground-bridge child that my mother still jokes about. Yet my boss’s Wednesday morning meeting mantra rings in my head, “I can accept failure. What I can’t accept is not trying.”

Today I was approached to be a social media manager for a children’s sports camp. Presenting what I thought would be a simple Facebook tutorial suddenly turned into a freelance opportunity. I almost didn’t know how to react feeling surprised and flattered I look to some of my local Social Media idols like Kirsten Wright and Mirna Bard and think I hope one day I can be as good as them, but how do you ever know when you’re expert enough to go for it? I wonder if I am ready to dive in. Is this my moment to begin a career in social media management? I mean I know the basics to getting started and how to compose marketing plans but the dangers of doing it wrong keep flashing in my mind. I immediately turn to Google to figure out answers to the questions I can’t answer and I discover a few what not to do’s.

This list includes:

- Horror stories of divulging the entire marketing plan and then having the company turn around and complete the plan with interns and staff. (That’s the jist of it, the stories themselves are much more painful).

- Not knowing how to create contracts and winding up without a dime and lost energy and effort. 

- Undercharging and spending too much time and energy without having the worth match the work.

Recalling the words of Seth Godin from his LinkedOC presentation, which made me think I could conquer the world, I find encouragement. He said, “Initiative isn’t something you’re given, you have to take it,” and with that I will proceed with caution hoping that I will eventually “Pass Go and collect $200.”

Is this my new direction I am supposed to take? I want to hear how most small business owners gained the courage to get started? Was there an “Aha!” moment?