If you read information on best practices for Facebook business pages, the creation of a custom welcome tab is usually one of the first things mentioned. A welcome tab is a special tab created to greet new visitors to your page. Welcome tabs are usually set as the default tab for people that have not Liked your page; meaning new visitors are automatically taken to the welcome tab rather than your Wall. Once someone Likes your page, the next time they visit, they are taken to your Wall.
Without a welcome tab new visitors are taken to your Wall, which is generic (all Walls look the same) and not very welcoming. A welcome tab addresses these issues. It gives you a dedicated space to communicate with new visitors. The question then becomes how will you use this space? What will be your Facebook welcome tab strategy? After viewing many welcome tabs for small and medium-sized businesses, I believe an effective welcome tab should do the following:
- Welcome new visitors to the page
- Explain what your company does and the value it provides
- Offer reasons why someone should Like your page
- Invite visitors to Like your page
How you incorporate these elements is up to you, but the key is to keep it simple. Take the Berry Network welcome tab. We use a combination of text and video to welcome new visitors, explain the value we offer, and encourage them to Like our page. The tone of the writing is relaxed and inviting. We are not trying to sell anything or trying to impress someone with corporate speak or buzz words. We don’t use gimmicks or offer rewards in return for a Like.
Unfortunately, many welcome tabs fail to use this simple approach. Many companies still dump new visitors on their wall. Others use reveal tabs that hide content that is only revealed after a person Likes the page. Why should someone have to Like a page before they can see the content? Since a Like is equal to an endorsement, how can someone endorse something they haven’t seen? You might get a few more likes because of the curiosity factor, but it won’t help with engagement. Still others welcome tabs are cluttered with so much content they leave you scratching your head wondering what they are trying to communicate.
So what is your Facebook welcome tab strategy? How do you use your welcome tab to turn visits into Likes? Please share your comments.
