23+ Essential Facebook Page Applications to Improve Fans Engagement in 2012
Update: Don’t forget to check out 7 Killer Facebook Applications to Create Impressive Custom Tabs and cover photo for Timeline brand Page too!
Greetings and Happy New Year! To kick off 2012, some of you may think of giving your Facebook Page a facelift. There may be some features you wish to add such as custom iframe tabs with fan gate option or ideas to encourage fans engagement on your Page. If you do, you’ve come to the right place! Every year I will compile a list of cost-effective facebook apps you can use not only to improve your fans engagement but hopefully enhance your brand visibility at the same time. Without further ado, let’s get to the list.
This review is based on my personal opinion only and has nothing to do with affiliation or app sponsorship whatsoever.
To Encourage Fans Participation and File Sharing:
#1 FriendCard
FriendCard is a smart way to make your brand go viral by allowing fans to send customizable branded greeting cards to their friends. Upload your logo and replace the default message with your own to fit your brand image. Your fans can then schedule to either send out their card immediately or later, what fun!
#2 Coupon for Pages
What can be more exciting to offer fans some great deals on your Page? Coupon for Pages by Involver is easy to setup while allowing your fans to print the coupon or share the good news with their friends. Not only you can gain new fans out of this but existing fans will appreciate your special treat and support your brand continuously.
(Note: Transform the Coupon tab into a fan-gating tab to entice new ‘Likes’)
#3 File Sharing
File Sharing enables page admin to share up to (any) 5 files with fans on your Page. There doesn’t seem to be a way to delete the files though but uploading new files will replace the old ones. I won’t worry too much about this as you can always hide the tab and use it when necessary.
#4 Scribd for Pages
Scribd for Pages is by far the best file sharing app I came across with the ability to support various file formats (.doc, .xls, .ppt, .txt, .jpg, .pdf). When you upload multiple files the latest one will appear on top of the rest. Files uploaded to Scribd will have more sharing options including embedding and emailing.
#5 PDF Tab
If you would like to share only One PDF file (<10MB) with fans, you can do so with this app. Although it doesn’t have the ‘Download’ button, you can hover over the file to save it.
#6 Fotobabble
Fotobabble lets users add voice to their uploaded photos and share them on Facebook Pages! What a great concept where Page admin not only get to enhance their welcome tab with a ‘real’ call to action asking fans to Like the page, but can also plan a fun contest like ‘Tickle Me Baby’ here where fans can upload ‘baby-talk photos’ for others to listen to.
To Communicate with Your Page Fans:
#7 LiveChat for Fan Pages
LiveChat is a very useful Facebook application to provide real time customer support to your fans or potential customers. If handled well, you may even convert first time visitors into loyal fans too. Sadly, LiveChat is not free but you get to try it for 30 days with no credit card required.
#8 TinyChat
TinyChat provides free video chat rooms for you to setup video conferencing with fans. After you created a chat room, just share your Tinychat room link with fans on your Page wall so they could enter. Bear in mind, since you are using TinyChat’s Facebook app your name will appear as your personal profile in the chat. For now there is no way to change the name yet so make sure you are comfortable with that.
#9 Forum for Pages
Ever since Facebook removed the discussion board from pages, Forum for Pages becomes one of the best alternatives to fill in the spot. You will be asked to authorize the app in order to post or comment; and ‘Like’ the discussion post to subscribe to the topic. Page admin can edit, delete or ban the user from the forum. Best of all, you can even lock a thread or make it a ‘sticky topic’ so it always stays on top.
#10 SupportTab
SupportTab creates a tab for your fans to ask questions. This app is great for those who don’t feel like installing a forum on the Page but still wish to communicate with fans about brand-related topics.
#11 Contact Forms
There are three types of contact forms you can choose from:
i) ContactMe
You can add business information including logo, address, phone number and social profiles. Customize your form with required fields and arrange them to your likings:
ii) Contact Form
Aside from basic configurations, you can add picture and message text separately as header; ‘send me a copy’ option is also available and you can customize your (sent) success message too. However you won’t be able to re-arrange your selected fields:
iii) Contact Us Tab – Improve Your Conversion Rate Form
Contact Us Tab is equipped with four general fields and you may set whichever as required fields.
To Acknowledge Loyal Fans on Page:
#12 Top Fans on Pages
Instead of checking through all fans activities yourself, here are several Facebook applications to help you decide who is(are) your superfan(s):
i) My Top Fans
After the results had been generated, you can publish it to your page Wall so everyone can celebrate:
ii) Booshaka
Booshaka tells you who is your superfan while rewarding the others in weekly basis based on their participation on your page – wall posts, likes and comments. What I love is that Booshaka shows admin the overall performance of a fan (Recent Activity) to confirm their qualification to be chosen. You can then recognize your top 10 fans on Page wall.
iii) Fan of the Week for Pages
Fan of the Week for Pages will feature one fan weekly. Although it is said that the result is based on fan’s activities but after compared the results with similar apps I’m not totally convinced. Either it’s random or based on activities, it’s still a good app to showcase your fan while schedule an automated shoutout at the end of the week (optional).
iv) Top Fans by SocialAppsHQ
Page admin can configure so top 5-15 fans are displayed. It is optional to link to fans’ profiles and place a Like Gate to this tab.
To Notify Events and Handle Appointments:
#13 Events Calendar
Events Calendar enables admin to create and maintain a list of events related to your brand Page and showcasing them in monthly calendar format to fans. You can set the event name, date, time and link to the contact’s profile Timeline or email. You may set so the calendar is viewable to admin/fans only.
#14 Genbook
Genbook is an appointment scheduling web service for small business. By installing Genbook to your Facebook page, you are allowing potential customers to reach you and gain more leads through confirmed appointments. You do need to register a Genbook account with your email address for 30 days free trial. When fans access your ‘BookNow!’ tab, they will be brought to the appointment page outside your Page:
To Encourage Invitation to View Your Page:
#15 Invitation Tab
Always make sure your fans are aware of this call to action to attract more ‘Likes’ on your Page:
i) Tabmaker Invite
For none-coders, this is an easy way to add an invite tab on managed Pages. Your fans can select who they want to invite to your Page or type their friends’ names in the search box:
ii) Invite Your Friends Button for Pages
– no longer available
This app makes it easy for fans to invite friends because all their friends’ names will be automatically added for invitation after the app is authorized. Of course, they can always choose to ‘invite (friends) one by one’.
iii) Smart Suggest To Friends – Invite Friends
Smart Suggest allows fans to include an invitation message not more than 255 characters before selecting friends manually.
To Create Tabs for Company Blog & Information:
#16 RSS for Pages
I have always loved RSS Graffiti for automated blog updates on Pages, but when it comes to creating a blog tab, RSS for Pages is my favorite. The tab consists of post image along with ‘Like’ and ‘Send’ buttons for fans to show their support.
#17 Extended Info
Not enough space in Info tab to describe your brand? Don’t squeeze everything on your landing tab, use Extended Info to add extra fields on a separate tab instead.
#18 FAQ Tab
Besides an appealing interface with your brand logo/banner, it attaches a form below for fans to reach you if needed.
To Showcase Other Social Media Profiles on Page:
#19 Google Plus Tab for Pages
Showcase your Google+ profile at your Page’s sidebar and configure the amount of Google+ updates (5-20) to display on the tab. Insert your Google+ Profile ID in the admin settings and you’re set to go:
#20 Twitter Tab
I prefer a (free) Twitter tab with customizable settings for brand visibility. This app allows you to insert banner image and provides customizations for the tab’s background, text and link color!
For Your Facebook Page Management:
#21 Post Planner
Post Planner lets you schedule your wall posts (text, links, images, videos etc) without leaving Facebook. This app is free for profile Timeline but costs $4.95/month to post on Pages (and Groups). Anyhow, it offers a 30-days trial for you to test it out.
#22 Static HTML:iframe tabs
Not enough iframe tabs on your Page? Now you can add up to 12 iframe tabs per page with Static HTML, find out where to get them. (More iframe apps to choose from, kindly refer to: 7 Free iFrame Applications to Create Welcome Tab (Custom Tabs) for Your Facebook Page).
#23 Selective Tweets
Don’t flood your Facebook page with Twitter stream. Use Selective Tweets to share info that matters to your page fans. When you post a full URL in your tweet that ends with #fb, it will appear as how you normally post a link on Facebook. Not to mention you will get a link below to be redirected to your twitter account for fans to follow.
Not enough Facebook applications for your Page? Get 14 more app suggestions here.
[Updated] Recommended Read: 25 Timeline Ready Apps for Enhancing Your Facebook Page!
Now Is Your Turn…
Do you have other facebook page applications to suggest? Which app do you think has the biggest potential to improve fans engagement on Pages? Kindly share in your comment.
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What a great compilation of Facebook apps that’s truly functional and relevant! Thanks for sharing this valuable post Ching Ya! ~Kathy (@2cre8)
Thank you so much Kathy for your kind words. I’m glad you find the post useful. 🙂
Hi Ching Ya.
And Happy New Year to you.
Great list of valuable Facebook Engagement apps.
There are a lot of great apps for Facebooks that allows us to find new ways to keep friends longer on our Fan Pages.
A lot of the feedback I get from my niche is that many loses guest after their first ‘Like’. And often all they need to apply is some simple Engagement Tabs plus some proper response strategies.
I am often looking into apps that brings out a Hotel Experience – either pictures or video. Sharing Memories and add touch points that help build a dream vacation is where I will add a lot of my Facebook attention in 2012.
Thanks for sharing.
Cheers..
Are Morch
Hotel Blogger
Hi Are, thanks so much for dropping by and I appreciate your feedback. It’s true, some page admins are not aware besides using these facebook apps, they still need to be responsive to their fans and not relying tabs to bring them leads and likes only. It is so much more than just apps alone – it’s how they are been used on Pages. 🙂
I sicerely hope you will achieve greater milestone for your business page (I’m sure you will). Speaking of sharing memories, maybe you can consider to use fotobabble, ask your fans to upload photos while adding ‘voice’ to explain how the dream vacation was, it may attract more views and participations from others too. Just a thought.
Are Morch – we’d be delighted to help you get the Fotobabble Facebook App up and running! I’m also happy to show you other businesses and bloggers in the travel industry are using Fotobabble to engage their Fans and attract new ones.
Ching Ya – thank you for the kind mention! We recently introduced a Social Media Marketing Suite that integrates our Facebook, web, and mobile marketing platforms. More details for your readers – http://www.fotobabble.com/s/products
Awesome job here, Chingya! Truly an epic post!
Thank you so much, John. It’s truly great to see you here and I appreciate your kind words very much. 🙂 Hope you had a good start in 2012! Keep up the fabulous work.
Great post, I’ll be sharing that with our Razoo Giving page fans. Quick question: do you know if #21 avoids Facebook’s penalty for using third parties to schedule posts? http://www.frogloop.com/care2blog/2011/9/6/study-using-3rd-party-apps-decreases-facebook-engagement-by.html
Hi Ifdy, appreciate your comment. Recently Facebook had announced that they will treat all 3rd party publishing apps equally, kindly refer to:
http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-pages-publishing-2011-11
Even so, I do agree to not overuse automated apps not only on Facebook but for all social networking sites as well. It’s all about ethics and how one is using the app. 🙂
You too!
Wow…. I didn’t realise there was so much more to Facebook til now! Thanks Ching Ya!
Now to find out which one/s will work best for me!
Hi Craig, thank you so much for visiting. Be sure to let us know which apps worked well for your Page. 🙂 Happy 2012!
Wow!! This is Epic! Thanks for introducing me to a bunch of new Apps – I’m always looking for the most useful ones and you have a ton here! Thanks Chingya!
Hi Andrea, thanks so much for visiting. 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed the app suggestions. Appreciate your kind words.
Ching Ya:
This is a great post. Our company works exclusively with restaurants and we are always looking for tools that can help reduce admin time and increase engagement.
We have an application for restaurant chains (Like Us Love Us) that is a one tab solution that leverages website content and allows locations to include coupons with restricted usage. The franchisor can create a Facebook tab that presents customers with the information from the corporate website and can then automatically distribute the tab across hundreds of franchisee pages instantly. That allows the chain to present a consistent brand image across all Facebook pages.
Locations can then create their own offers if they desire. Coupons require a “Like” to access and the restaurant can choose to limit the offer by customer or total customers. Once redeemed it automatically drops from the Facebook users view.
Our Like Us Love Us tab gets as many views as the wall telling us it helps get customers to visit your page often.
You can see a sample at https://www.facebook.com/ROCPitaPit.
Dave Gonynor
CEO- That’s Biz
Thanks Ching Ya for the many apps you highlighted . Tell me , how do you able to get hold of them all ..The one I like best is the Video Chat …
You can contact Fotobabble via the form on our website here http://www.fotobabble.com/s/contact or via email at [email protected]. Thanks for your interest!
This is the most incredible list, Ching Ya. Thank you! I’ll be adding Booshaka to a client’s page tomorrow -it’s such a great idea. One thing that could be further integrated is the idea of custom tabs that welcome visitors.
Also, I love Livestrong’s Facebook welcome tab that asks visitors tell their story; submit the story and it appears instantly on the page’s wall.
Hi Debra, what a great idea! Over the years I had came across so many creative landing tabs but never occurred to me to write about them. I’ll be sure to give Livestrong a visit, sounds interesting. Thank you so much, Debra. So much we get to learn from Pages. 🙂 Appreciate your visit very much, hugs!
Hey Ching Ya,
Happy New Year and all the best for 2012.
I wish I could name a few applications for you but you know me, I know almost nothing about FaceBook pages. I’ve started one but just can’t seem to finish it. I really should start searching through your blog so that I can learn what I’m missing. I know I’ll find here somewhere.
Perhaps 2012 will be the year where I finally get to complete my FaceBook page 😉
Hi Sire, so happy to see you here, sure has been awhile. 🙂 No worries, if you have any questions feel free to drop me a message, I’ll be happy to help out. I miss visiting your blog too, need to find a day to re-visit all my favorite blogs. Now have to divide time between work and my new born baby girl, and funny how it’s so much different between reading about parenting and becoming one, SO MUCH to learn.
Wow! I didn’t know you were a new mom. Congratulations Ching Ya. Your going to make a great mom.
So far this is the most kick a$$ Facebook plugins I’ve encountered. I’ve seen a lot of facebook fanpages but those pages really bores me. By adding some of this I’m sure it can attract visitors and make them stay and comeback for more. Fan pages must be engaging and fun, I’ll try some of this into my fan page. Cheers Ching Ya!
Very useful and comprehensive collection. Thanks Ching Ya. I can’t imagine how long this post must have taken for you to write!
Hi Ching Ya,
wow…… i don`t know how many apps for FB give. I like the “direct chat” button, because, you can have great discussions and interacting right now!!! This is great!!!
i also wish you happy new year and thanks for sharing. What a post… so many things, it`s incredibly.
with best wishes from germany.
Off to check your FB page – would love to see RSS Grafitti and other apps in action!
Nice list of apps, its good to see some that are beyond the fold aka readily findable within the FB platform. Sometimes though some of them are a little intrusive as to what they ask for or TOS, so its always good to read those before hitting the agree button.