Update: Please note that there have been some major changes to Facebook’s process for setting up a page and a custom tab since this post was written in 2009. As such, most of this article is unfortunately no longer valid :(

In my last post on how to create a Facebook page, I mentioned that Facebook allows you to create a custom landing tab for your business’ page. This provides you with the opportunity to deliver a personalised welcome message to new visitors, highlight any current special offers you may have, and reinforce your branding.

Creating a custom tab is easy – as long as you know some basic HTML and CSS. While you can also include Facebook’s own markup language, FBML, to add extra functionality to your tab, this is neither required nor, in many cases, needed. Landing tabs designed using only HTML and CSS can be as simple or complex as you want.

Teaching the basics of HTML and CSS (not to mention FBML) are beyond the scope of this blog, I’m afraid (that’s a whole ‘nother blog entirely!). If you’d like to delve into the world of HTML and CSS, I’d recommend visiting W3Schools for their straightforward free tutorials. And you can find a reference to FBML at Facebook’s Developers’ Wiki.

Once you’re comfortable with HTML and CSS, here are the steps to follow to create a custom landing tab for your Facebook page:

Step 1: Add the Static FBML application to your page

Go to your Facebook page, and click on the link at the top left (under the picture) that says “Edit page”. Scroll down the list of applications to the very bottom, where there’s a box that says “More applications”. Click on the pencil icon to the right of this box and then click on “Browse more”.

Facebook More Applications Link

Type “Static FBML” (without the quote marks) into the search box to the top left of the “All applications” page.

Facebook App Search

Follow the Static FBML search result link to the application’s page. Here, click on the link to the top left (under the picture) that says “Add to my page”. When you do this, you’ll be presented with a list of the pages for which you are the administrator (it may just be one!) and confirm which page you want to add the application to by clicking on “Add to page”.

Facebook FBML Add To My Page

Facebook FBML Choose Page To Add App

Step 2: Open up the editing area for the Static FBML

Return to your Facebook page and again click on the “Edit this page” link in the top left. Scroll down the list of applications to find the newly installed Static FBML application. Click on the pencil icon to the right of this box, and click on the “Edit this application” option in the drop down list.

Facebook Static FBML Added To List Of Page Apps

Step 3: Title your tab

Enter the name of your tab into title field of the tab editing area. This can be anything you choose, from “Welcome” to “Special Offers”, “About Us”, or even “Competition” if you have one on the go!

Step 4: Add the tab content

It’s at this point that you get to use your HTML and CSS skills to create a design for your tab that is as serene or as fancy as you wish. My only recommendation here is that you stay true to your branding, and mimic the look and feel of your website to ensure consistency in your marketing message.

Facebook Edit FBML Box

There is unfortunately no preview option when you’re editing your tab’s content. You will need to save your changes and click the link at the top of the page to return to your page and view your custom tab. My own solution to this was to open my Facebook page in a new window and refresh it each time I had made changes that I wanted to preview – it saved me some of the frustration that I would otherwise have encountered through endless to-ing and fro-ing!

Step 5: Making your Static FBML box a separate tab

After you’ve entered some content, saved the changes and returned to your page for a sneak preview, you may notice that your custom tab is sitting as a box on the “Boxes” tab rather than being a separate tab in its own right.

In order to change this, click on “Edit my page” and scroll down the list of applications to the Static FBML one. Click on the pencil icon and choose “Application settings” from the drop down menu. On the pop up screen, click on “remove” in the brackets next to where it says “Box” and click on “add” in the brackets next to where it says “tab”. The settings will change to those illustrated in the image below, and your custom tab will be visible as a separate tab when you return to your page.

Facebook Edit App Settings

Step 6: Change your default landing tab for new visitors

Click on “Edit my page”. Under the second box (“Wall settings”), choose the name of your new tab from the drop-down menu to set it as the default landing tab for any new visitors to your page.

Facebook Change Landing Tab

Step 7 (optional): Change the order of your tabs

If you want to move your newly created custom tab to another position, simply click on it and drag it (while holding the mouse button down) to where you want to position it. The only limitation here is that the wall and info tabs are set in positions one and two and this cannot be changed.

Facebook Custom Tab

Please use the comment section below to ask any questions you may have (or contact me by email). And once you’ve set up your page and your custom tab, please share it in the comments below – I’d love to see what you’re up to and become a fan of your business!

Lastly, please visit our Facebook page – we look forward to welcoming you to our Facebook space!