Please note: This information will soon be outdated by changes that Facebook will be making to boxes and the boxes tab. Please read my new article Upcoming Facebook Changes to Boxes and the Box Tab that Will Impact Your Custom Fan Pages.
My friend Rick Morgan and apparently many searchers finding this site have asked how you can link to your Facebook Fan page from your Facebook profile. And until Rick asked me about this it didn’t even occur to me to create such a link but, of course, it’s an excellent idea.
Well, the short answer is that Facebook DOES NOT provide a direct way of doing this. This does not mean, however, that it can’t be done. It will require the use of a particular application and a teeny bit of html.
How to Do It
- Install the Custom Profile Box application.
- Add your code. On mine I added my 125×125 site ad linked to my fan page, some text, and linked icons for other social networking sites where you can fine me.
- Unfortunately, the name of the box can not be changed and is called ‘Custom Profile Box’. The Custom Profile Box also can’t go any higher on the left sidebar than right under your list of friends.
- Ok, and I kind of lied. The Custom Profile Box has a visual or WYSIWYG editor so you don’t technically need to know html to use the application. I do, however, believe you will have better results if you use some html so you can check and edit your code.
- So, I don’t know if anyone actually notices my Custom Profile Box but it has given me a way to link to my (Anti) Social Development fan page from my personal profile. Something that Facebook doesn’t give us a direct way of doing.
- And the very attentive and very curious might wonder why not just use the fbml application that I mentioned in my earlier article about creating a custom fan page. Well, the fbml application is only for pages. It can’t be used on profiles.
photo credit: zak_greant
Yes, thanks to Kim, I now have a link from my personal profile to my business fan page. – good stuff.
Rick Morgan´s last blog post – I’m Off to Camp
Hi Rick – Thanks for the idea :-)
Very nice as usual. I will have to try this out later today. I might have to rethink my two column layout, however. Too many cool things to add to WordPress…must have control…must have control….
Rick´s last blog post – NEW Live Radio & Web Show today at NOON – Mountain Time!
Hi Rick – This is for linking the facebook profile to the facebook fan page – I think based on some of the comments I wasn’t very clear about that.
It’s all the slamming doors while I’m trying to concentrate on writing ;-)
I don’t have a fan page for MomGrind yet because I’m not sure I need one. I’ll think about it. :)
Vered – MomGrind´s last blog post – Frosted Cupcakes
Hi Vered – I wasn’t sure if I needed one either but I learned a lot about
facebook. It is starting to help me get more clients though.
Even I don’t have a fan page.. I should first learn how to create one and whether it has some good benefits (like traffic may be)
Will comment more after studying facebook well – right now, I just have a profile and some friends there but not much of activities.
Ajith Edassery´s last blog post – Deep Linking – The most important aspect of Link Building & SEO
Hi Ajith – I’m getting a little bit of traffic from the fan page and from
networked blogs on Facebook. I’m starting to get some clients from it,
which to me is better than traffic.
Hi Kim – I’m not sure I get this. Am I understanding right – I need to use this one for facebook and check out your other article for making one to use on other places, like Twitter? But does this just link to your facebook fan page?
I don’t have one of those, although I’ve noticed some people have one as well as a normal facebook page. But I’m not sure if I’d manage to update two seperate accounts.
Hi Cath – I think the confusing part is the Facebook terminology. The page you made on Facebook is your profile page. If you made a page for your business or website that would be your fan page. You can only have one profile page but you can make any number of fan pages – for example, I could have one for this site, one for Doctor Who, and one for Beckham ;-) A fan page doesn’t require a separate login – when you create one you are the Administrator of it and you have full access to it through your regular login.
Facebook doesn’t have a way though for us to make a link from the our personal profile pages to our fan pages. This article is about using the Custom Profile Box to make our own links.
I hope that helps :-)
I think I have two similar applications that allow you a custom HTML segment… does this one allow the column to be longer, or is it still standard size?
I still think it’s odd that Facebook won’t have some special “Pages” tab to highlight all of your pages created by a Facebook member.
~ Kristi
Kikolani´s last blog post – Elements, Benefits & Tips for a Successful Weekly Blog Series
Hi Kristi – Somehow I missed this comment earlier. There is more
that one application you can use for this. I’m not sure about the size – I
didn’t try to make a longer column.
I wish we could still rename tabs too.
Hi Kim – Thank you. I get it now. The fan page sounds like something worth adding but you’d have thought facebook would have made it easier to link them wouldn’t you. It’s lucky we have you to explain these things.
Hi Cath – A lot of things about Facebook customization are unnecessarily
difficult. I’m not sure why – it’s very possible the site grew faster than
the features for it. Glad that helped :-)
Thanks Kim. I tried the custom profile box several times and it tells me it was updated successfully each time, but when I check my profile, it’s not there! I’ve looked in each tab. Very frustrating!
Hi Atoussa,
Make you add the application and then go back to your page before putting
any content into it. Then select Edit Applications from you list of apps. Try it again – it should work now. It may also go to your Boxes page and you will need to move it to the wall. I’ve had similar problems with facebook apps.
Thanks Kim. I was able to set up the box as you explained. But now my link to the page doesn’t work. It keeps taking me to the FB home page instead of the Page I created. I verified the link. Weird!
Plus if I want to share anything re: my company, it gets posted to my personal profile not my company Page. Trying to figure that one out too!
Hi – Ugh … sometimes facebook is buggy. When I have trouble with it I leave it again and then try again later…
I don’t know what the deal is, but the application is not working and I do not see a wysiwyg editor at all.
Jenna
Jenna Ryan´s last blog post – How to Get Your Blog Posts to Show Up on Facebook
Hi Jenna – Facebook can be buggy. Whenever I have trouble with an
application I try again later and then it usually works.
Hmmm, I’ve done exactly as above, but the box doesn’t appear yet in my profile. What did I do wrong?
Oh, it’s embedded in the BOX tab. I just need to MOVE TO WALL. Thanks for this.
Lex dePraxis´s last blog post – Pengunjung dengan keywords aneh
Hi Lex – I’m glad you found it.
Facebook profile urls can be difficult to remember (so you cant recall or print them on visiting cards) – you need to meddle with account settings before you get a pretty url like
facebook.com/myname
There are more facebook tips here
20 facebook tips and tricks
Hi Huang – Thanks for the info :-)
Hello,
I have a question that i trying to have answered, perhaps you smart people can help me out.
When I signed up for a facebook fanpage for my business it automatically had it linked to my personal page which was fine in the beginning but not anymore.
When i want to make updates from other sites via tokens etc and have to give my login only my personal page updates NOT my facebook fanpage which was the intent.
So – is there anyway to create a separate login form my fanpage when its already under my personal login?
All help would be very helpful.
Jonas
Hi Jonas – Unfortunately, the answer is no. All fanpages have to be associated with a profile page and don’t have their own logins.
Hi Kim,
Thanks so much! I’ve been looking all over trying to figure this out and now I’m grateful to have landed on your lovely green site! I’m going to tweet this article now!
.-= Dan Ronken´s last blog ..Missed Simple Branding Opportunity in Email Signature =-.
Hi Dan – Thanks! I’m glad the article helped you out.
Strangely enough, I took all the steps and when I clicked ”profile is updated,’ But I still don’t see the box in my profile. Not sure what I missed, but I’ll have to re-visit.
Dan
.-= Dan Ronken´s last blog ..Missed Simple Branding Opportunity in Email Signature =-.
Hi Dan – Check the boxes tab. It may be there. You then click on the little pencil/edit icon and select move to Wall. On the wall you can move it around on the sidebar but it has to be lower than the list of friends.
Ok there are a few more steps to do this. After you setup the custom profile box and put in the content you want publish it. Then go back to your profile and click on applications, click on edit application. You’ll find the custom profile box application, click on edit settings then click the add button then click okay. Now go back to your profile and click the boxes tab then add the box to your wall. I just did this today and it works great.
Hi Noah – You’re right. It ends up on the box page and needs to be moved to the wall. It can get confusing.
Yeah you just have to add it before it shows up on the boxes tab. Drove me crazy for a while until I figured it out.
Dear Kim,
Thanks for the useful information. I tried a while to read it through, found the “Application Edit”, moved the it from “Box”, and finally had it shown on my facebook profile. HOWEVER, it’s not well box, but all codes. So my question will be very simple and in the beginning level: What code you mentioned to add on the “Custom Profile Box”? I pasted the same code from the page “Add Fan Box on You Site” of Fan page, and it worked well on my blog. Thank you!
ps: Is it allowed to have some Chinese in the custom profile box?
Hi Amy – I used html. Is there are scripts in the code because that won’t work. Also, if code is showing there might be an error in the code. One thing to test is a simple link to your website to make sure the box is working properly.
I’m not sure about Chinese – I don’t see why not but I don’t know that answer for sure.
Thanks for your reply. I guess I should forget about this, because I can’t figure out the “html” and “scripts”. BTW, the link to my website works well. Thank you Kim.
Dear Kim, i tried it again. I used “html profile box” (instead of “custom profile box), then the link is created on my profile. Only link but good enough for you. Thank you!
ps: I don’t expect you can totally understand what I mentioned as above, but if you can, and it happens if you have the better solution, please let me know. Thank you!
Hi Amy – That’s odd – both applications should have worked. At least the link is there now.
Hello, thank u for the info! When I add custom profile box it doesn’t have a WSIWG editor at all? it’s just an empty box… How do I add an image or link text without knowing html?
thks!
HI Angela – Did you add the HTML profile box or the Custom Profile box?
There is a button on the far right called Source – if you click on that it should switch between the source code and WYSIWYG.
Also, Facebook is removing boxes soon and I don’t know if this application will continue to work. Please check this article
http://www.kimwoodbridge.com/upcoming-facebook-changes-to-boxes-and-the-box-tab-that-will-impact-your-custom-fan-pages/
Hi Kim, I know the box concept is going away soon, but I’ve just created our business Fan page and I’m looking for a way to get our existing customers to move from our old Profile page to our new Fan Page. In addition to just posting the news that we have a Page, I thought this link may help (even in the short run). If you have other ideas for getting customers to move from a Profile to a Fan page, I’d love the advise.
My question is about the simple HTML you used in your custom profile box. I’m not an HTML person, but can work through most things with a bit of coding help. Can you share the simple code you used in your Custom profile box to get me started?
Thanks!
Hi Caroline – The first thing I would do is invite all of your friends to join the new fan page. A lot of them will join.
I used html on the box. You just need a couple of html tags – link, image and table. The images you use also need to exist on another server – for example, where you have your website. Facebook won’t store the images for you.
Rather than using my code you will probably be better off looking up the html for links, images and tables. This site has great examples.
http://www.w3schools.com/html/default.asp
Thanks for the site link. While I was playing around with my CPB, I was “inspired” in a different direction.
I wondered why I couldn’t just add a FB Fan Button to the CPB that was linked to my fan page. I found iFrame Fan Box code and added it to my CPB and customized it with my ID, SRC etc. It renders perfectly in the CPB during editing. It is exactly what I wanted. But, when I save the code and view it on my profile, it doesn’t render the same way that it did in the CPB application box. Why would that be? I could just give up and put a plain picture in the CPB and link that to the Fan page (the link works), but the Fan Box looks so much better and conveys the idea so much better.
Hi Caroline – The fan box is a good idea. How is it not rendering properly? Does it not fit or is there a different problem?
Hi.
I added the app.
And then the code. The code shows up fine inside of the edit box, but when I hit update nothing shows up.
Here is my code http://magdalenamedia.com/facebookPage/sideAd
I tried this code both in the Custom Profile Box app as well as FBML app on pages.
On my profile page there isn’t any indication that this box is present.
At least on my facebook page http://facebook.com/fabgeekling the box shows up empty.
Is there restriction on length of html? or any restriction on syntax?
The code shows up just fine when I uploaded it to my server.
Any insight on what I’m doing wrong will be appreciated.
Thanks.
.-= Magdalena´s last blog ..Please don’t ask me if your #fugly boyfriend is cute. =-.
OK…. never mind I have figured it out.
starting the code at the table did the trick.
.-= Magdalena´s last blog ..Please don’t ask me if your #fugly boyfriend is cute. =-.
Hi Magdalena – Great! That’s just what I was going to suggest. :-)
Hi Kim,
I installed the application like you said. A little box appeared so I prettied it up with an image and a few words and and then clicked on “update custom profile box”
I then “went back to profile” but theres no box there.
I re-read your instructions. Step 2 says add your code. What code? I added a picture and some words with a link back to my page but still nothing appeared. Huh?
when I go to page SETTINGS and the fbml tab and click on “link to tab” is this the ‘code’ you are referring to?
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Focusing-On-What-Is-Preferred-Understanding-The-Law-Of-Attraction/100246353353890?v=app_4949752878
Magdalena’s code looks different to mine. I’m obviously doing something wrong. Yikes – No wonder I wasnt born a techie – lol
Hi Kelly – Your code is accurate. The issue is that the Custom Profile Box application doesn’t always work properly anymore. I believe that the problem is related to the fact that soon Facebook will be removing all boxes and box applications.
OK. Thanks again Kim. Muchly appreciated!
Hello Kim, I added the new tab, thanks for that info and I also copy all the html you had for the twitter, linkedin etc it works but I get a blue box with a question mark insted of the logos?
Can you please help me solve this issue..
Thanks
Hi – What code did you copy? If you are getting the blue box with the question mark, it means the code can’t locate the images or that the links to the images are incorrect.
Hi Kim,
I’m at my wits end…I can only enter my business page via my personal page and I’ve attempted everything to change it. how will ‘fans’ find me when I can’t find my own business page in google??? Can you help? Many thanks in advance, regards, Peta
Hi Peta – Does you page have a custom name yet? They are easier to locate via search once they do. You can get a custom url once the page has 25 fans.
Hi Kim,
I’m so glad to have found this site.
I don’t know if you are still answering email on this thread, but I’m working with a company who wanted a fan page. I created one, but told them at some point a profile would have to be linked to the page. I created a “temp” profile with my name, but they now want to connect the page to the co-directors profile page. Will he have to recreate a new page or can we link this fan page to his profile?
Thanks, Kim.
Hi Parson,
Make the co-director’s profile an admin of the fan page. Then remove your temp profile from the list of admins. That should take care of this issue.
Kim, you are beyond awesome. Thank you so much. I’ve bookmarked your pages for the future. :-)
Hey Kim, I was soooo excited to find this post, but then I saw your comment about FB changing the box rules (and have already done so in some cases I believe). So I reluctantly accept I won’t be able to list my 3 fan pages on my personal profile as demonstrated above.
Now I have a question for you about HOW you have successfully managed to add your Fan Page into the INFO tab of your personal profile, so that the Fan Page link actually works :-)
I’m on this page:
— http://www.facebook.com/kimwoodbridge
— Education and Work
— Employers
— and your Fan Page hyperlink actually WORKS – woohoo!!!
I have spent the past 24 hrs trying to solve this – FB keeps suggesting which url (no http:// – no www.) but none of them work – grrrrrr
Would you be so kind as to let me know how you managed this amazing bit of wizardry, oh FB Master Magician??
thanks so much!!
Teena
ps – one of my fan pages is:
http://www.facebook.com/AbfabDesigns.Unique.Wearable.Art
Hi Teena,
I had a hard time getting the link to my fan page to work too. I think it finally did when I deleted my current or previous employer. You can also try putting in the name of the fan page rather than the link and Facebook might locate it that way.
Thanks!
OMG KIM!!! it worked!!!! of all the simplest things to try, I didn’t try the most obvious :-)
I removed the faulty one, and simply typed in the Fan Page name (without dots, or anything else) and IT WORKED!
I’m one very happy little possum — thank you sooo much!
Cheers
Teena
Excellent! I remember fussing with it and then it suddenly worked – so I wasn’t 100% certain how I did get it to work ;-)
Hey Guys… I would love to have a “badge” or a box, or something on the side bar on my main page here…
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000177962063
to my fan page here.. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ascending-Energy/138078209588502
I would also like to be able to see my main page, or give others the ability to see it, without having to log in. I see other pages that have that set up and I have done a lot of searching on FB and come up with no answer.
Can help me out here Kim?? Any help at all would be great.
Peace, blessings, and balance,
AscendingEnergy
Hi – Do you have examples of pages that are doing what you are looking for?
Hey Kim,.. here is one example of a page being seen without having to log in.. this is what I want for my profile page…
http://www.facebook.com/SurLaTable
Check the settings under Manage Permissions
Edit Page > Manage Permissions > Age Restrictions. If it’s set to anything other than Anyone 13+ the page will be visible when logged out of Facebook.
It’s kind of ridiculous that there is no easier way to link to a fan page from your profile page :/
I can’t disagree with that.
Kim this is very cool and really something everyone should do if they also have a business page!
Funny how difficult they made it years ago, and today its just as hard, from the 31st October they are insisting that people custom landing pages on their face book pages are SSL, silly if its just a page with pictures. The only privacy polices people should be focusing on is that of Facebook, which are know for sharing information freely without warrant to local authorities and governments.
That’s a really good point. Facebook is making us use SSL when the privacy issues on their end are a big problem.