Twelve Facebook Application Ideas for Your Fan Page

A list of Skype's different Facebook applications

Besides Facebook campaigns, your business should have some stationary Facebook custom applications which make the lives of your fans easier. Having some great applications gives you leverage which can be used to attract people back to your fan page and make them click “like” in the first place.

1. Welcome Page

This is an absolute must-have for your Facebook page. Include a call-to-action (ex: “Like our brand”) and a simple introduction about your business (ex: “We do X and Y for Z”). Don’t just stop there though, explain why they should like your brand (what additional value do I get from liking your page?).Here are 26 great welcome page examples for some inspiration. Example: Audi USA welcome page.

2. Exclusive Content

Provide your fans with exclusive content such as a special discount. This again gives you leverage and provides a reason for people to click “like”.

3. Newsletter Sign-up Application

Newsletter should be a very important channel for your business and this is why you want to make it available to sign up for your newsletter on your Facebook fan page. The application doesn’t have to be sophisticated at all. Feature the form, Unique Selling Proposition and a Call-To-Action. Example: our own newsletter sign-up form.

4. Contact Form

Suppose that your fans want to get in touch with you without leaving Facebook. This is the magic potion that solves the problem. Make sure not to use too many fields, just the necessary ones such as name, contact e-mail and the message itself.

5. Additional Content

Treat your Facebook fan page like a hub – if you think that some additional content would be extremely useful for your target audience, make a custom application and display it there. Such as the download links for ZARA’s mobile applications and Starburst’s iPhone application download.

6. Rules

Not everyone is good at communicating. Some use profanities, some spam too much, etc. To prevent offensive content, set some rules for communication. For example: Nescafé has set some house rules for communication.

7. Frequently Asked Questions/Customer Support

People might want to interact with your brand and some consumers might have a question or two regarding your product or service. To make sure that you wall is not bombarded with hundreds of questions, set up a custom application for FAQ and customer support. Take a look at Vodafone’s customer support tab.

8. Top Products/Services

Display your top products or services. Provide links to your online store or website for additional information. Example: FoodSaver.

9. Job Recruitment

Lately a lot of companies have started recruiting via Facebook. Maybe it’s time to consider adding a recruitment form or available positions. Example: Starbucks’ job search.

10. Product Integration

If your business is online, consider integrating your products with Facebook. For example Godaddy has a custom application for searching for a domain name.

11. Donations

Donations are extremely useful for non-profits, not so much when you’re a regular business. For example: American Red Cross via causes

12. Content/News/Blog

Besides posting content on your wall, it might be useful to make an application dedicated for your latest content. Example Appliances Online Australia.

Also make sure you read our post about how to set up your custom Facebook application.