Top 10 Facebook Apps for Building Custom Pages

Top 10 Facebook Apps for Building Custom Pages

re you looking for an easy way to create attractive pages on
Facebook? Are you wondering how businesses are creating Welcome tabs?
In this article I’ll reveal a number of applications that make it very easy to add functionality to your Facebook page

Custom Tabs: What You Need to Know


You may have seen some Welcome pages on Facebook that encourage new
visitors to Like the page. You may even be given an incentive such as a
free reportor, in Tim Ferriss’ case, a free chapter of his book. This is sometimes referred to as fan-gating, meaning only fans see special content.
Tim Ferriss gives away a free chapter of his book to those who become fans.


A brand may also be using a Facebook custom tab in many different ways, as Social Media Examiner covered in the post 8 Powerful Ways to Use Facebook Landing Tabs.

But how do you create these custom tabs? You can create a custom tab on your Facebook page with an iFrame application.

First, what are iFrames?iFrame stands for Inline Frame
and is basically an HTML document embedded inside another HTML document
on a website. An iFrame pulls the content from one website into
another. So in the context of Facebook, an iFrame pulls the content of
another website into an area on your Facebook page.

iFrames are very powerful because anything you can create on a website, you can bring into your Facebook page, providing a unique and rich experience for your community.

How to Use iFrames


To use iFrames on Facebook pages, you have two different choices. You can build an application from scratch or you can use one of the third-party applications available. In this post, I won’t cover building an iFrame application from scratch. You can learn more about that on Tim Ware’s post: Tutorial: Add an iFrame Application to Your Facebook Fan Page – 2011 Edition.

In this post, I cover the top 10 iFrame applications
that you can use to easily create your custom Facebook tab. These
applications are available from third parties (i.e., not Facebook) and
make it very easy to create a professional Welcome page or whatever you choose to display.

Typically you’ll need your own graphics or HTML codeto
use these applications. Some are more customizable than others with
drag-and-drop features that allow you to easily add videos, pictures or
your email option forms.

Many of the third-party apps will “host” your content for you. Your
content in this case will be either your image or your HTML code that
you’re using to create your mini-webpage within your Facebook tab.

If you’re using an image, it’s best if it’s 520 pixels wide by 800 pixels high at maximum.

Many of these third-party apps also have the “fan-gating” or “reveal” option (also called “fan-only content”) where
you have to Like the page before you see the next page. Giving visitors
something for free (i.e., a coupon, a free chapter, a free report) is
an added incentive to Like your page.

How to Install an iFrame Application


Before we get into the various applications, I want to cover how to install an application on your page.

Some of the applications will be installed from the websites given below (and I’ll indicate when that’s the case).

Other applications can be installed from the Facebook App page (the
special page designed for the app you want to install). In those cases,
you will click the “Add to My Page” link in the left-side bar and typically a drop-down menu appears to select the Facebook page where you would like to add the app.
Use the drop-down menu to add this application to your Page


After you have added the application to your Page, navigate to the Page
and then it should be in the left side-bar. If not, you can go to the
Page dashboard by going to Edit Page and then select Apps and find it
listed there.

Top 10 iFrame Apps


#1: Wildfire


Wildfire has several Facebook applications, most notably their contest and sweepstakes apps.

Their iFrame app is currently free and works very well. But, per
their blog, they may start charging for the app at some point in the
future (if you install it now, you’ll be grandfathered in for the free option). Wildfire is easy to install right from their website and has the option for fan-gating.

Once you install the app, you’ll see this screen on your page where
you can either upload your custom image from your computer or add your
custom HTML code.
Add your Image or your HTML content within the Wildfire application on your Facebook Page


#2: Involver


Involver also has a suite of Facebook applications and their iFrame app is called Static HTML.

To install it, just go to the Involver website and click “Install”
next to the Static HTML app. Involver also allows fan-only content and
one of the nice things about Involver’s app is that you can easily add multiple custom tabs by clicking “Add a Second Static HTML Application.”
You can add additional custom tabs by clicking Add a second Static HTML application


Involver allows you to use two applications for free.
If you want to use more, you have to switch to their paid plan. So if
you’re currently using two of their other apps on your page, you’ll
have to uninstall one of them to add the Static HTML app, unless you
want to pay Involver.

#3: TabPress


TabPress
is a free iFrame application developed by HyperArts that can easily add
fan-only content. Install TabPress from the Facebook application page
by clicking the “Add to My Page” link on the left side of the page
under the profile picture.

TabPress does not host images, so you’ll have to upload them to a
site and reference them using HTML code such as <img
src=”http://www.yourwebsite.com/images/yourimage.jpg”> or wherever
you have the photos hosted. Or if you have HTML code, just enter it in
the boxes as shown in the image.
Enter
your HTML code within the application on your Facebook Page and then
Preview your tabs by clicking the Preview buttons at the top


#4: TabSite


TabSite allows you to create multiple tabs within your custom tab so that you can create a mini-website. You design your custom tab on their website and then load it onto your page.

You get two tabs for free. If you want more tabs,
there’s a monthly fee. You can see the app in action in the figure
below where each blue bar takes you to a different tab within the tab.
An example of a custom tab on Facebook with multiple tabs. Each of the blue bars navigates to a new sub-page.


#5: Static HTML: iframe tabs


Static HTML: iframe tabs is another free application and it doesn’t host your images similar to TabPress as mentioned in #3.

I found this app to be more accepting of some of the HTML and CSS tags
than some of the other apps. To install it, go to the Facebook app page
as linked and click “Add to My Page” on the right column. This app also
allows FBML tags if you used those in the previous Static FBML app that
came before iFrames.
Add your HTML code within the Application on your Facebook Page. If you have FBML tags in your code, check the Enable FBML box.


#6: iwipa


iwipa is a cool free iFrame application that’s somewhat easier to use if you don’t know how to do HTML coding.

You can add banners, slideshows, videos and pictures in a visual
environment. They have some nice video tutorials to help you out. To
add iwipa to your page, go to their Facebook app page and click on
“Click Here to Install” on the left-side bar.


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