I pondered over the title of this post for a while because my original draft was “Why Most Of What You Have Been Told About Facebook Custom Tabs, Reveal Tabs and Fan-Gating is Bogus and Flawed” but it was too long (or so the ‘rule’ book tells me).
Let’s face it, unless you have a massive amount of time to spend on Facebook, there’s a good chance you’re not getting out of it what you expected. No matter how much you spent on your fan pages or ‘fan gating’ to bring in the fans.
There’s a reason for that.
You’ve probably already read numerous “how to” guides that explained the magic formula for building relationships and getting known, liked and trusted via the world’s biggest ‘social’ network and still you scratch your head because all that extra business you expected never materialised.
There’s a reason for that too.
You were probably convinced that having custom tabs and reveal tabs etc., was the way to go and that by doing that you’d get bucket loads of people clicking “like” on your business page and the business would flood in… But it didn’t happen?
There’s a reason for that, too…
I know a lot of businesses that have gone down the “Get 10,000 Fans” route and still see only a few hundred ‘fans’ and still wonder what the magic formula is – or if, indeed, there is one.
With a swift shot in the foot for my own business (I build websites, content management systems and custom Facebook content), I’m going to tell you some of the things I have learnt over the years of using Facebook and observing a lot of business activity.
Did Your Facebook Page Cost You a Small Fortune?
If you are spending more than a few hundred dollars or a few hundred pounds on Facebook tab creation, you are being conned, fooled and tricked.
Tricked into believing millions of people will see it!
I have a hard fact for you…
Most people, and I emphasis MOST people, will never see your Facebook Custom Tab(s).
And most of the Facebook users who do see your custom content will only see it ONCE.
Most, and again I emphasise MOST people DO NOT click on Tabs unless you link to it or ask them to (go on, please click over there, please, pretty please).
And even when you ask them to click the link they are still reluctant to do so because many of us expect it to be a sign-up, a “like us to get our (not so) free gift in exchange for a like or an email address” (annoying stuff that has turned many off the idea of custom tabs).
Facebook Tabs Do NOT Appear On Mobile Apps!
A MASSIVE percentage of Facebook users are using Facebook via mobile devices and they DO NOT display custom tabs. They display your Wall, your Info and your Photos tabs – in most cases, that’s IT.
If you are putting your time and money into creating wonderful custom tabs, you are wasting your time and money!
FACT.
The reason: Too many so called marketing experts have misled Facebook users, tricked them into “liking” a page, conned them into parting with an email address, filled them into believing there was content there that could not be found without subscribing or “liking” which, in 99% of cases, is simply not true and a 2 minute search would find the “hidden” content or answers -
the result: the average Facebook user has become cautious – VERY cautious.
Most Facebook users use Facebook as a social platform – which it was designed to be.
Most Facebook users do not go to Facebook to looking for your Custom Tabs!
FanGating & Reveal Tabs; an even bigger con!
Almost everyone who sees your reveal tab will never see it again (unless they have spent too much time watching paint dry) and therefore will never come back to see the “liker only” content!
So that money you paid or the effort you put in to code a reveal tab is largely wasted!
I’ve seen Internet Marketing Gurus with TENS OF THOUSANDS OF “FANS” buy PPC (Pay Per Click) Facebook ads to drum up business.
If that isn’t enough proof that the numbers game does not guarantee revenue, I don’t know what is. No, I am not going to say who – I don’t wish to name and shame said guru. Maybe one day.
The number of social media marketing experts and gurus grows every single day and they each have their own “magic formula”!
Bottom line; it is not fan gating or custom tabs or “please like me” requests or subscribe forms that get people to pay attention to what you say. It is the content you share, the relationships you build and by being genuine, honest, sincere and helpful.
Being, as they say; Known, Liked and Trusted.
Have a welcome tab for your new visitors to your Facebook Page, sure, but chances are, anything else is wasting your time and confirming you have been tricked into believing what clearly isn’t true about the 800 million people who could see your wonderfully annoying Reveal Tabs.
Remember, all this is only going to be seen by the shrinking percentage of Facebook users who still use Facebook while chained to their desks and invisible to almost all of the users who use the platform on mobile devices, via custom ‘social’ apps and to the millions who use Facebook in the way it was designed to be used – as a social platform.
#JustSaying…
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