3 kinds of app every Facebook brand page needs

When deciding which apps to add onto your Facebook brand page the big question is what do you want that app to do, or what do you want that app to enable your fans and customers to do?

The thing to remember about Facebook users is that they see Facebook as the internet, and as such don’t like being taken away or redirected out of the platform. To win them over and build affinity I often tell my clients that you need to enable your fans and customers to do as much as possible without leaving the platform.

That said, whenever I meet with a client, I consider everything the business does holistically before jumping right onto a whole bunch of app ideas. It really depends on what you are trying to communicate and what you are trying to achieve.

There’s no point in getting fancy if you don’t have the basics right.

Here are my top three Facebook apps to get your brand page running in tip top condition.

1. Do you have a newsletter?
If so then I would suggest developing an app that allows your users to sign up for the newsletter directly from Facebook. I am not saying copy and paste your newsletter onto your Facebook page. What you want to do is encourage users to sign up and engage with you on an ongoing basis, so maybe you include a teaser – the latest product or competition from this month’s newsletter – and then provide the option for them to sign up directly from Facebook.

This is fairly straight forward to set up and doesn’t require a huge amount of customizations. Another great aspect of developing a Facebook app like this is that you can restrict it so that only people who like your page are able to sign up, this is called fan-gating, which means that you are driving interest prospects to like your page in order to engage with you.

This is a great example from City Lodge.

2. Do you want customers to submit queries or request quotes?
This is pretty much a no-brainer — today the majority of your leads will come from online search sources and considering that Facebook is one of the biggest search engines, including it as part of you strategy makes 110% sense.

By developing an app that allows users to either submit an enquiry, or even better still, fill specified fields to get a customized quote, is a great app consideration to build into your page, especially if your business is wanting to grow in the online shopping / ordering space. This kind if app makes it easier for customer to get in touch with you is a great use of the platform.

This does require a little more custom development; however is really beneficial and useful to customers. It can also work in collaboration with you other online ordering strategies and help increase your visibility. By allowing users to submit queries or place orders directly from Facebook you are allowing your brand increased exposure though the social element of the platform.

Users will be encouraged to share their engagement with your brand and also recommend or share it with their own communities.

3. Do you run competitions?
If you use Facebook to run regular competitions or promotions, my gut feeling is that you should create a separate app to house all of this. Yes promote your competitions, specials or promotions on your wall (without running foul of the rules), but as your wall’s conversations gets busy (which you hope it will) the competition information gets pushed further down and eventually becomes invisible.

Creating a dedicated app for competitions and specials means that your fans and customers know exactly where to go to get all the information or their daily competition fix. It also allows increased visibility and is prominently displayed at the top of your brand page – or should be.

City Lodge is a good example to see a brand doing this right from a specials point of view:

Groupon is a good example of a dedicated competition app working well:

Again, by bringing in the fan-gate mechanic means that only Facebook users that like your page will be able to enter the competition. By offering a dazzling prize, or incentive difficult to say no to, you are sure to increase your follower base, which means that you have a bigger audience to communicate with start a conversation in future.