Like with many things in life, you can get people to do things that you want them to by offering an incentive. Any parent knows how to use positive reinforcement with their children – “once you finish your homework, you can watch a show on television”.
And the same works when you want to get more fans on your Facebook page – offer the visitor a deal or some content that is only available to fans.
This can be done with an fbml tag called visible to connection.
This tag is wrapped around the special content that you want to only be available to your fans. It can be a video, a free ebook, a coupon – anything that you can think of that people will want.
Here’s how you do it.
<fb:visible-to-connection>Super hidden content here </fb:visible-to-connection>
Only fans can see the content within the tags. Super easy, right?
Keep in mind that this is an incentive. It is not to hide sensitive information. If someone views the source code of the page, which is a huge mess on Facebook, they will be able to find it. It’s an incentive and will encourage people to become fans but isn’t exactly the height of security.
photo credit: Grahford
I do suppose, sooner or later, I should have you optimize my Facebook page for Design Resumes too… You know me and code! LOL! Great tip, only question I have is, do the FCC rulings on disclosure have any part in doing this? I don’t know, I know endorsements have to be shared. I still see 20% off offers on FB by major corporations all the time.
.-= Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s last blog ..Fear or Strategy in a Job Search =-.
Hi Julie – It’s my understanding that the guidelines for promotion where you are collecting user data are pretty strict but making content available to just fans isn’t a big deal.
I know the disclosures were for blogs and websites but am not sure how they would relate to Facebook. You aren’t really advertising or using affiliate links – you are just offering something to only fans.
I was planning to incorporate this into my fan page but postponed it for a better cause. Personally I think it’s a good strategy to attract. People always get fascinated with ‘secrets’ or hidden tips. For now I’m opening all tabs but one day it will be there. :-)
@wchingya
Social/Blogging Tracker
.-= Ching Ya´s last blog ..How to Improve Facebook Engagement by Decluttering News Feed =-.
Hi Ching Ya – Same here. I know how to do it but I haven’t done it yet. I am coming up on my first year of full time freelancing so I might try to do something at that time.
I just recently found this code somewhere and decided it’s worth it; like Ching Ya wrote, it takes time. I just have to find time to do it and actually put together a real FB strategy, which I have yet to do. :) Thanks for the cod
Hi Tia – Same here – I don’t know what I want to offer yet. And I need to some other work on my fan page anyway.
Getting FB fans for my clients is often a big challenge. Great tip – thanks!
.-= vered – blogger for hire´s last blog ..I Saw The Rose. And I Smiled. =-.
Thanks Vered!
Great article. Thanks for posting this one. I kind of having troubles on exposing my Fan page in Facebook. This is really great help.
.-= bigjobsboard´s last blog ..Testimonial =-.
Great! I’m glad it’s useful.
Very cool Kim; like password protecting blog posts. Thanks. :)
.-= Dennis Edell | Direct Sales Marketing´s last blog ..Do You Have 5 BURNING Questions? =-.
Hi Dennis – Exactly – it’s like content that is only available to registered users.
I didn’t know that you can do such thing with Facebook, but I think your idea is really effective :) In this way people will become your fan voluntarily. Great tip! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kay – Facebook has some custom tags (FBML) that can be really useful on custom pages.
As usual, great tip! Now I just have to think of something to entice! thanks again Kim!
.-= Christine´s last blog ..How About Radical Tolerance =-.
Thanks Christine! I need to find a use for it too :-)
Thank you for the heads up about Visible to Connect. I had no idea that feature existed!
Hi Carla – You’re welcome. It’ a good one.
I think I am missing something – how does this increase – or get people to fan you if they can only see the content if they are already a fan? can you please explain?
.-= julie´s last blog ..SMALL QUOTE OF THE DAY: It’s a SMALL world after all… =-.
Hi Julie – They will become a fan so they can see the content that only fans can see. If someone is offering a free ebook or a coupon, I will fan that page so I can see the offer and download it. People always like free stuff.
Thanks a ton for that. I had been looking into various incentive information through Facebook for a little while and this is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks a ton!
Hi Jeff – Great! I hope it works out for you.
Is there any way to use this tag and leave certain parts of an FBML page open? For example, I work with a lot of musicians and it would be cool to offer up an incentive to fans, such as a free download, if they opted into something, whether it be a mailing list or just to become a fan.
What I’m trying to do is very similar to Metric’s “Music” tab, found here:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=1446235842404&saved#!/metric?v=app_192149036349&ref=ts
I can do a lot of the things within their tab, yet can’t figure out how they use the share feature to unlock a free track. Is there some sort of FBML tag for such an action?
Hi Johnny – I’ve looked at Metric’s page before. They are using a custom application for the music tab created by – http://www.damntheradio.com/
It’s still private – I requested an invite to test it but haven’t heard anything and have no idea how much it might cost. But what they are doing isn’t possible through straight FBML.
It’s very cool though.
Hmmm…yeah, well, no worries because I can do something similar without the hassle of going through them. PS–they are a bit pricey
Oh…and I”m still not sure how this hidden code works. Do you have an example of how it works when incorporated into a page?
The best thing to do is test it. I didn’t make one on my own page and I can’t think of a site that is using it off the top of my head.
Actually this page might be using it on their free stuff tab.
I’m curious how you would do something similar without using a custom app. I couldn’t locate anything that would do quite the same thing.
Well…I don’t really have any way other than the idea in my head :) What I think I can do is utilize a widget from an outside source, say a mailing list sign up, and that would send a free download to the person’s email address.
I can figure out most of this stuff…adding the comments, music, video, etc., but what I’m curious is if there are any templates out there to use for the actual canvas or page layout?? I can tell from Metric’s page that the person used fbml and made the top and sides just images. I know it’s probably really simple, but I need to make something similar where I can also add content down the middle. Does regular html work for such and then I can use div tags to place content on top of the “canvas”??
Most html works and you can use div tags. I’ve found that using inline style works better than linking to an external stylesheet.
Wow, thats a really simple and easy to implement feature to use! How simple! Thanks for sharing!
.-= Robin Alley´s last blog ..Interesting Question to Ask – Create Your Future =-.
Hi Robin – Great! I still haven’t found a use for it on my page but it’s still a handy piece of fbml.
Hi Kim,
Yes, i have tried using this tag on my page, offering free movies for 1 month, and fan my send us the code to get the free movies, and this code is blocked if he/she is not fan.
I have also used on another tab on Movie Contest, guess the movie title given the movie still image, and this image is block if you are not fan.
I have a question on Invite Friends using fb:request-form, it seems able to send invitation but friends doesnt seem to receive the invitation. I heard that facebook has block this, is this true? This is the same as Suggest Friends which the recipients doesnt seem to receive the message. What your opinion?
Thanks.
Eric
.-= Eric´s last blog ..Contest: Closing date is on 6th June 2010 Sunday 12:00 noon. If you have not attempt yet, feel free to submit your answer. No harm give it a try. Your answer will not be published. Hurry and have fun… :) =-.
Hi Eric – This article isn’t about that fbml tag so I am unable to answer that question.
Very nice and simple post but also very helpful! I love the idea of being able to lead people to the facebook page and have them become fans and then rewarding them! Good stuff!
Hi Vernon – Thanks! I’m glad you found the article useful.
Suppose if i want to provide incentive to my fans who invite their friends to like my page, is it possible to trace this event in FB?
Hi Madan – I’m not quite sure what you mean by trace – I’m not aware of a way to keep track of this via Facebook. Usually the incentive is open to all fans so it’s easier to keep track of who is and who isn’t eligible.
If a fan of my page clicks suggest to friends link and invites a friend i need to keep track of that fan and provide incentive for him alone
Hi – I’m not aware of a way to track that via facebook.
thanks Kim for this article , very useful
Hi Daksh – I’m glad it helped.
okay, you provided the code, I added another fbml page, how do I position the content in the middle…I want to put my different tabs so that basically they have to ‘like’ the page to see any content…
Super hidden content here(if I want to hide my discussion tab and my wall, and other tabs, how do I list them here? So I use commas?)
Hi Lisa,
You can’t hide an entire tab – you can only hide content within the tab. For example, if you wanted to offer a coupon that was only available to fans, it would go in the super hidden content location.
Kim, I like what you’re suggesting here, but I’m just wondering how this is not a violation of Facebook’s promotion policy:
You cannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by liking your Page, checking in to your Place or connecting to your Platform integration.
http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php
Hi JD,
This example is for hiding a free ebook, coupon, or video until someone likes a page. It isn’t exactly a promotion because they don’t have to enter to be selected as one of the winners – everyone gets it simply by liking the page.
The text from the guidelines refers to be entered into a giveaway or sweepstakes by liking the page. It’s different – they don’t want the “like” to be the entry in the contest.
This will help so much with getting orders and becoming more and more popular around my local area. Thanks for the help Kim.