Facebook Page tabs for service businesses

I am often asked, “Which tabs should I add to my Facebook page?” This really is a personal preference depending on what your business is about. I would say that you should only add a tab if you are actually going to use it. If you aren’t, then it is disappointing for people to visit your page, think “cool they have lots of stuff on here”, to then click on each tab and find it empty!

First some info on tabs:

1.     You have to have the wall and info tab.

2.     You can have up to eight tabs showing under your profile picture, to see the rest you need to click on MORE at the bottom.

3.     You can rearrange your tabs by clicking on EDIT (or MORE then EDIT if you have more than eight tabs).

4.     You can’t move any tabs above the wall or info tab.

5.     If you have the GETTING STARTED tab only page admins can see that, and it is counted in the eight tabs seen when you look at the page.

Suggested tabs to add to your page:

• WELCOME tab – There are various welcome tab options, which I explored a few weeks ago.
• REVIEWS tab – This is a Facebook app that allows people to give you a rank out of five stars and add text comments. It is great if people are using it, if they aren’t you can look a little sad with only two reviews. Try to encourage people to fill it in.
• FAQ tab – If you repeatedly get asked questions this can save you and your visitors a lot of time.
• BLOG FEED tab – If you currently write a blog, this will automatically feed your blog onto a tab and onto your wall as well.
• NEWSLETTER SIGNUP tab – If you have a newsletter then give people the option to sign up to it on your Facebook page, if you use Mailchimp there is an app for them, otherwise you can use an HTML app.
• APPOINTMENT BOOKING tab – You can let your clients book appointments with you right from your Facebook page.
• COMPETITIONS tab – Wildfireapp’s have cheap apps that you can use to run promotions, competitions, virtual gifting and more, plus you know if you use them you are not violating Facebook’s guidelines.

There are thousands of applications you can add to your page. Next week I will look at tabs for product-based businesses. If you have a favourite I would love to know, tell me in the comments below.

Lara Solomon is the founder of Mocks, mobile phone socks www.MyMocks.com, founder of Social Rabbit – your guide in the world of social media www.Facebook.com/SocialRabbit and author of ‘Brand New Day – the Highs & Lows of Starting a Small Business’. Lara’s business LaRoo was the winner of the NSW Telstra Micro-Business Award in 2008.