Working with Tabs on Author Facebook Fan Pages

Facebook made some big changes not too long ago to both profiles and pages and predictably there was a lot of yelling about both. But actually along with making things a bit more difficult for awhile as we all relearned the Facebook ropes, we also gained some cool new free tools.

Today, I’m talking about a few ways to get more out of tabs.

Tabs appear right beneath the header on your Facebook fan page. The defaults are photos, likes, notes, etc., but you can add new ones, you can rearrange (with one limitation) what is there and you can set your most important 3 so they show most prominently.

- Change Favorites (those visible to visitors) To add a tab or change your favorites,  click on the downward arrow next to your existing tab row. On the first blank box, click the plus sign. Here you can:

– Add to Favorites This is for apps that you have installed but are at this time inactive. By highlighting them under “Add to Favorites” they will be visible to others. Once visible you can reorder them.

-Find More Apps Click on this and you can search through the thousands (I’m guessing) of apps available for Facebook tabs. You can check for ones your friends use and you can see how others have rated the app. Personally though I find it easier to find the kind of app I want to use simply by Googling “Facebook tab Pinterest” or whatever.

I’m not going to into how to set up apps, as that varies by app, but let’s assume you have that working.

- Rearrange Tabs Now you want your new tab/app to show in the first row. To do that, hover your mouse over the new tab box. A pencil will appear in the top right hand corner. Click on that. (NOTE: in my browser to get the pencil to show I have to have clicked the downward arrow first, even if the tab I want to edit is in the first row.)

You’ll see “Swap Position With” and a list of all your “favorite” apps/tabs. Simply choose the app that is in the position where you want the new tab/app to appear.

You will also notice in this same way you can edit the app, uninstall it or just inactivate it (for most practical purposes) by taking it out of favorites.

- Set Custom Image and Name Now your new tab is where you want it to be, but you really hate the default image. You can change that too! Go back to the pencil and select “Edit Settings.” You will see three options: Tab (to remove the tab), Custom Tab Image, and Custom Tab Name.

To change what it says below the tab, type whatever you want the new tab name to be and hit save.

To change the custom image, hit change and upload a new image. You will need a file that is 111 pixels by 74 pixels and 72 to 96 dpi. Here are examples of some custom tab images I’ve done.

   

To see them in action, visit my Facebook pages: Lori Devoti | Rae Davies

Now, at the beginning I mentioned one limitation with rearranging your tabs. That seems to be Photos. It stays in that first position with no option to move it. If, however, you go to Edit Page (In admin view)/ Update Info/ Apps, it appears you can DELETE this app. I haven’t wanted to do that so I haven’t tried it, but if those Photos are bothering you, the option does appear to be there.

I hope this little course on Facebook fan page tabs has been useful. Time to build some tabs!

Lori Devoti is the multi-published author of romantic comedy, paranormal romance and urban fantasy. She also writes the Dusty Deals Mystery series under the pen name Rae Davies. Look for her workshops at Write by the Lake (DCS University of Wisconsin), at various conferences, and here at the How To Write Shop. For more information, visit her web site.

1. Chihuahua Zero says:

   August 1, 2012 at 2:10 pm

   Unfortunately, I can’t really use this information, as useful as it is. I just made a page for my blog over at Google+, and I want to focus on that before putting some effort into Facebook.