We all have heard of Facebook at some point in time and most of us are using this social networking website to communicate with our friends over the internet. Facebook have started to build a community of developers whom are developing useful applications that are bringing news, events and people closer together.
If you are not aware Facebook have started Facebook Pages and Facebook Groups which have been around for while but are growing in popularity with businesses and individuals whom have websites that they want to promote online. The great thing about facebook Pages is that it is free to setup and it’s a wonderful free promotional tool that can drive a lot of free internet traffic to your business websites.
Facebook has surpassed the 500 million registered users mark and most of these users are actively using Facebook everyday, what a great place to promote your online business for free.
How Facebook Pages Work
Individuals or businesses can create Facebook Pages which are also known as Like Pages which allow users to “like” the individual, product, service, concept and blog post. Facebook Like Pages look and behave much like a user’s personal private profile, with some differences. Public Profiles are integrated with Facebook’s advertising system, allowing Public Profile owners to easily advertise to Facebook‘s users. One of the great features is that owners can send updates to their fans, which show up on their home page or Facebook wall. You will also have access to insights and analytics of your fan base. Early on, users had the option to “become a fan” it has now changed to “like” the page. While an individual with a personal profile can acquire up to 5,000 friends, a “Like Page” can have an unlimited number of “Likes”. “Facebook Like Pages” can also be customized by adding new Tabs using the Static FBML application. This powerful feature can bring additional functionality to a page such as e-mail collection, specialized content, or a landing page for sales activity.
Facebook Social Plugins for your website
Facebook have made available a Facebook developers page where you can customize various widgets and social plugins that interact with your website and Facebook Pages. Some of the social plugins include the following:
- activity feed plugin
- comments plugin
- facepile plugin
- Like Button plugin
- Like Box Plugin
- Live Stream Plugin
- Login Button Plugin
- Recommendations Plugin
