This is a continuing post from How To Add Email Opt-in Options to Your Facebook Page

In the previous post, I went through exactly how and why to add an email Opt-In “Tab” to your Facebook Page.  The “Tab” is important for Page because it’s an easy way to let your fans know that you have an email list that you would like them to sign-up for.

The problem however, is that there is an extra step involed for them to do so.  Because your Opt-In box is located on a separate tab, people will need to click on the tab to locate it.

While this extra click may seem insignificant to you…it is a problem.  Any extra effort or steps what so ever…will create a barrier for some people.  Anytime you can eliminate steps for people, you’re in better shape.  Here’s how to eliniate that extra step.

Here I’ll be going through how to ad an opt-in “box”.  This box will be located on your Facebook page “Wall,” and for all fans to see when they’re on your page.  No extra effort required, no extra steps needed.

Luckily, this step is very easy to install and basically all of the hard work was completed in Part 1.

Step by Step Instructions – Facebook Email Opt-In Box

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Bring up your Facebook page.  On the bottom left of the Facebook interface you’ll see several options, and next to “application” you should see a picture of an “f” with what looks like a door.  That’s the “Ads and Pages” icon, click it.
3. A new page will appear.  Towards the top you should see “Ads Manager”, “Pages”, and “Help”.  Click the “Pages” link.
4. Locate the “Boxes” Tab and click it.
5. Scroll until you find the email opt-in box which you created.  Mine has been labeled “Get Discounts Via Email”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
6. Select “Move to Wall Tab”.
7. Click the “Wall” tab.  Scroll down till you find the box you’ve created.

And Boom, you’ve got yourself a new Email Opt-In box on your Wall.

Bonus:

If you have a personal blog or are a small business you may also want to include an opt-in box on your personal Facebook profile.

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Once you’ve logged in, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in “Profile Box”.
3. Locate the application labeled “Profile Box” app and click on it.
4. Locate “Add to My Page” on the left side and click it.
5. A new window will open containing a full list of all of your Facebook pages.  Select which page you would like to add and click the “Add to Page” button.
6. After you’ve added the app, it’s time to add your code.  You’ll see a large space available for your HTML, copy the exact same code you used for your Facebook Page.
7. Select “Submit”.  If you wish to see a preview you can click that too.
8. Now it’s time to go to your profile, select “Profile” at the top of the page.
9. Once your on your own profile page, find the tab that says “Boxes”.  Click it.
10. Scroll until you find the box which you created.  Mine has been labeled “Get Discounts Via Email”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
11. Select “Move to Wall Tab”.

Done.  You’ve successfully added an email opt-in to your personal profile.

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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The biggest social networking site on the Internet is Facebook.  After only 5 yrs, the site now has over 300 million users.  Your organization can not afford not to have a presence on Facebook for no better reason than…you need to fish where the fish are.  And this is where the fish are!

Many organizations have created Facebook fan pages, in fact , at the beginning of 2009 there were 620,00 pages.  You can view my FlashFiller page is HERE .

While a Facebook Page may be an excellent way to keep people up to date on what happens on their blogs or businesses, it can also be a fantastic way to way to add solid numbers to your email opt-in leads.  Most websites and blogs are designed to feature a section where users can submit their email address, but this strategy is often ignored on Facebook?

Why?  If you have synched your blog to Facebook, or inform “Fans” or potential customers with updates to your business…why would you also neglect to have your email opt-in option on Facebook as well?  The most common reason is simply that most users were unaware of this feature.

Since we’ve already established that this is where the fish are…Facebook can be a terrific source of new sign ups for your news letters, Free content, or whatever else you have selected to offer email subscribers.

I personally use Aweber for my business email list, but this particular service is not necessary for this post.  Any email subscription service with an HTML code option will work.

Of the few Pages I was able to find Email opt-in options, most were only used as a “Tab”.  Meaning, that Fans needed to click on the “Tab” in order to be taken to the opt-in box.  While I think this approach is sound, I think the better option is to place the email opt-in box on the main page.   I will provide instructions for how to do both.

In order to keep this post a manageable length, I have decided to make it two parts.  This is part 1. (Update: Here is Part 2)  We’ll focus on how to add an email opt-in option to a tab on your Facebook Page.

Step by Step Instructions – Facebook Email Opt-In Tab

1. Log into your Facebook account.
2. Once you’ve logged in, go to the search box in the upper right hand corner and type in “FBML”.
3. Locate the application labeled “Static FBML”.  It should appear first on the list.  (If you have trouble deciding which is the correct app, it has around 3.7 million users.  No other app on your search should be anywhere close)
4. Click the icon or the “Static FBML” text link.
5. Locate “Add to My Page” on the left side and click it.
6. A new window will open containing a full list of all of your Facebookpages.  Select which page you would like to add and click the “Add to Page” button.
7. After you’ve added the app, it’s time to bring up your page.  On the bottom left of the Facebook interface you’ll see several options, and next to “application” you should see a picture of an “f” with what looks like a door.  That’s the “Ads and Pages” icon, click it.
8. A new page will appear.  Towards the top you should see “Ads Manager”, “Pages”, and “Help”.  Click the “Pages” link.
9. Locate the Page where you added the Static FBML app, and select “Edit Page”.
10. In the Applications section, scroll down until you find the section that reads “FBML”.  Directly to the right is a pencil icon, click it.
11. Administration options will appear, select “Edit”.
12. Change the “Box Title” to something appealing that will get your readers attention.  My page is designed to distribute Real Time promotions so I chose “Get Discounts Via Email“.
13. Now, add your email opt-in HTML (You will find this at the service you use, mine is Aweber).  Note: for Aweber members, be sure that you use”Raw HTML Version”. Copy and Paste.
14. Once you’re done, select “Save Changes”.
15. Now, go back to your page. (top right should be a link)
16. Once you get back to your page, click on the tab with the plus (+) sign.  It will be aligned with your “Wall”, “Info”, etc. and choose the name of the Box Title you chose.

Congratulations…you have now added a Tab to your Facebook Page for your fans to sign up for emails.
This concludes Part 1.  Tomorrow I will go into how to create a “Box” on your Facebook Page with the same Email Opt-In.  See ya then!

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Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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Sometimes you’ll run into a situtation where you’ll want to follow several people on Twitter at once.  Not in a spammy way, but let’s say someone posts a list of people you are interested in following.

This is pretty common on many blogs, such as 150+ Experts on Twitter ALL Job Seekers MUST Follow.  There are also many bloggers, such as PR Juggernaut, Gini Dietrich, who posts her #FollowFriday list on her blog Spin Sucks.  Take a look at that last recommendation!!

Rather than take 10 minutes or longer to click on each Twitter account, and then follow… there is a much easier way.  Ninja Follow is the Twitter tool I use.  Here’s how it works:

1.  Go to Ninja Follow (click link)

2.  Sign in using your Twitter login info (it’s secure, I’ve used this tool before)

3.  Copy and paste the Twitter handles you want to follow.

4.  Click “Ninja Follow” (*note: Do not worry if you are already following folks, it will automatically let you know)

5.  (Only if your Twitter settings are sent to receive updates via your phone thru SMS text)  You’ll need to go to the new folks you’ve just followed and off the SMS updates.  Go to Twitter and click button to see who you’re “Following”.  You will need to click on the settings tab and turn off the SMS button.  Otherwise (I learned the hard way), you’ll get 100 text messages in about 4 minutes and you’re phone may self destruct.

And that’s it.  A cool Twitter App to save you some time and hassle.

Additional Benefit:

I am a co-founder of Social Media Breakfast – Chicago (a social media networking group in the Windy City who discusses business challenges and social media trends in the wee bits of the A.M.).  I used Ninja Follow for our blog to let people instantly follow all those who attended.  See Here

Hope this little tool makes some of your tasks easier.   How can see yourself using Ninja Follow?

Scott S. Bishop is editor for Real Time Marketer and a social media and marketing strategist.  He also blogs about social media communities at AxeroPulse.com. He is @thescottbishop on Twitter

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The blogosphere was full of chatter yesterday when it was announced by Addtoany, a Web tool publishing company that lets users share content, that more people use Facebook as a platform to share links than any other option, including email, and by a pretty wide margin.
According to addtoany, Facebook now accounts for 24 percent of all items being shared.  Email finishes second at 11.1 percent and close behind at third is Twitter at 10.8 percent of all items shared.  See the full list here:

AddToAny’s widget is accessed over 1.5 billion times per month so although they are not the end all be all authority…they certainly have earned the right to make news when statistics like this are announced.  To add to the accuracy of this statistic, it is backed up by the AddThis (20 times larger than AddToAny) findings that Facebook accounts for 23.5 percent of shares on their platform, virtually identical statistics.

So, if everyone is now sharing the majority of their links on Facebook instead of email, I thought I’d review some additional Facebook Apps that you can use to share the more common information normally reserved for email.   I prefer a more dynamic and real time experience so I’ll try any attempt to draw me away from the static email platform.

I pulled some popular Facebook apps getting buzz and deciding whether or not I’ll use it.  Here’s my criteria:

• What does it do?
• Is it easy to install?
• Is it easy to use?
• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience?
• Does it integrate any other social networks?

PowerPoints / Presentations

SlideShare:

• What does it do: Share and publish presentations within your Facebook network.

• Is it easy to install: You need to sign up for an account, but they make it easy by allowing access directly on the Facebook page.  Signup took about 3 minutes.

• Is it easy to use: Yes.  Adding a slideshow is extremely easy and doesn’t take any time to figure out.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.  You can add a Slideshare page on your profile giving others an opportunity to see your work.

• Does it integrate any other social networks: SlideShare also works with Linkedin. Sync your account and all 3 areas can be instantly updated when uploaded to just one.

• Additional Info: Slideshare supports formats ppt, pps, pptx, odp, pdf, doc, docx, odt, Keynote, iWork pages and can embed YouTube videos in presentations.  Audio can also be inserted to create and share a webinar.  The presentations can be tagged, commented, rated, embedded into blogs, and downloaded by others.

• Will I be using it: Yes.  Slideshare allows a bigger audience to be exposed to work you’ve already created.  Why not reach a bigger audience?  You can find my presentations at http://www.slideshare.net/thescottbishop

Bookmarking

Delicious

• What does it do: The Delicious Facebook App bridges your Delicious account with Facebook.  The app allows for your recent bookmark summary to be displayed in your Facebook Profile and or Show your in your Facebook News Feed

• Is it easy to install: Yes, but you need a preexisting account with Delicious.  Since I already had one, I quickly jumped to this link and filled out the appropriate info.  Total time took about 90 seconds.

• Is it easy to use: Yes.  It works on its own and whenever you bookmark a site with Delicious the app publishes to your profile automatically.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.    Displaying your recent bookmarks to your profile can let your friends see what interesting links you’ve been reading.  Exposing others to sites or articles you find useful can spur conversations, and ultimately help you find new information to subjects you are interested in.

• Does it integrate any other social networks: Yes.  It integrates Delicious.com .

• Will I be using it: Yes.  Since I already had a preexisting account, its really no trouble for me.  I also like the idea of link sharing and this does it with no additional effort.  I have chosen to display links on both my profile and news feeds.  Depending on how often I bookmark links, I may disable the news feed option so I don’t overwhelm my contacts with updates.  You can find me on Delicious at http://delicious.com/scott_bishop

File Sharing

Divshare

• What does it do: Quick & easy way to share videos, MP3s, images, docs, and any other file with your friends or post to your own wall or news stream.

• Is it easy to install: This is by far the fastest and easiest file sharing app.  I was up and running in about 4 steps.  All of the functions take place under the Facebook platform so no need to sign up for other accounts.  Total time to install was about 45 seconds.  In order for your friends to view your files, they will need to install the app, but since their is no need to fill out new account information the convenience factor is high.

• Is it easy to use: Very easy to send a file.  But when receiving a document, you are notified via the “Notifications” button in the bottom right hand corner of Facebook, not in the inbox which I can see as a problem.    With so many updates taking place all day long, it may be easy to miss your file.  to correct this, after installing, Divshare can be used in the email function, use the app there and it eliminates this problem.

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience: Yes.  Facebook makes it easy to post videos and pics on your news stream, but not to individual friends or groups or friends. Divshare allows virtually any type of file to be added, and more importantly, DivShare allows you to send files to individual friends that are not publicized on your stream.

• Additional Information: Downloads are limited to 200MB each so if you have really large movie files you may be seeking other options.  Storage is limited to 5GB and Downloads at 10GB, so for a free app, you should have plenty of space.  *Note: I did receive an error on both sending and receiving a document the first time I tried the app

• Does it integrate any other social networks: No

• Will I be using it: Yes.  The real time nature of Facebook is appealing so while chatting on Facebook, I can send files simultaneously.

Office Document Apps

Zoho Office Online Suite

• What does it do: Zoho is an incredibly robust and free online office suite.  This application has everything you could need, from a word processor, online spreadsheet, presentations, and document program to a full database and form creator.

• Is it easy to install: In order to access Zoho, you will need to sign up.  Creating an account took about 1 minute, and although they have a Facebook app, you cannot log on using your Facebook profile information.  Your Google log-in information does work so signing up is still a snap.

• Is it easy to use: It’s hard to complain about a free application, but many inconveniences do come with the Zoho app.  Each time you click on a link in the app…you’re taken to the Zoho website for access.  The biggest hurdle with Zoho however, is with sharing and collaborating on any of your documents.  While yes, you can select which of your friends can access the docs, they must also be signed up for Zoho.  So everybody better be on board or you’ll be sharing and editing docs by yourself. 

• Does the app improve the functionality of my Facebook experience:  No.  There is a lot of value to keep things centrally located and easy for others to locate.  Depending on where you work, most of your colleagues or contacts are already on Facebook, so being able to collaborate on a platform where everyone is already on is extremely appealing.  But as I mentioned earlier, a Facebook account is only the first step.  Anyone involved must also be signed up at Zoho.

• Does it integrate any other social networks? No

• Will I be using it: No.  While I do think it’s convenient to be able to access documents from within Facebook, if I’m constantly taken from the Facebook platform, why wouldn’t I just continue to use Google docs or Micosoft Office and then just use a file sharing system?  It just doesn’t seem convenient, Facebook access or not.  Overall I can find easier ways to complete the same tasks.

Project Management

TooDooz Project Management

I tried to review this app but each time I tried to access the application I received an error message.  So I will not currently be using this app.  Perhaps you’ll have better luck than me.

What apps are you currently using on Facebook to improve office functionality?  Which apps should I include for another review?

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