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Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

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Despite its privacy issues, Facebook clearly has a key role in global Internet activity. It has become a kind of universal social network, being used for both personal and business needs. For many individuals, companies and organizations, Facebook has become an integral part of their branding strategy and promotional campaigns.

Facebook provides many tools for maximizing the effect of your presence on the social network, most of all by means of business pages, also known as fan pages. Using a variety of applications and Facebook API tools, one can get creative not only with the page content, but with the design, too.

In this post, we’ll give you an idea of how to use Facebook for your business and self-promotional efforts. Below, you will find best practices for custom Facebook fan page designs, with various approaches to creating an attractive, descriptive and engaging Facebook business page. In addition, the selection of tutorials and resources for Facebook fan page development might help you get started with your own effective Facebook presence.

By the way, it’s been two years since Smashing Magazine’s Facebook fan page launched (now with 18,500 fans). We have worked hard to integrate discussions, useful tips and give-aways to make the fan page more appealing and engaging.

[Offtopic: by the way, did you know that there is a Smashing eBook Series? Book #1 is Professional Web Design, 242 pages for just $9,90.]

Showcase Of Well-Designed Facebook Fan Pages

Giants of the Industry

Big brands demonstrate the best use of Facebook by far. Getting millions of fans may not seem like a big deal for Coca-Cola or Victoria’s Secret, but these companies managed to create fan pages that engage users on a much deeper level than by just asking them to click the “Like” button. An interesting trend seen across this category is of large companies taking Facebook to a new level, putting it at the center not only of their social media campaign, but of their entire online presence.

Starbucks
Currently with the number one fan page for a brand on Facebook (with almost 8 million fans), Starbucks takes a distinctive approach, focusing less on loud entertaining apps and more on high-quality content and beneficial offers for its fans. Starbucks has learned how to effectively use status updates and how to share a lot of interesting, useful and engaging material aside from its product updates. The company also offers a couple of interactive apps that not only are fun (e.g. the Instant Story tab) but that offer tangible benefits (e.g. discount coupons, and functionality that allows fans to manage their Starbucks accounts right in Facebook). The fan page also has an interactive map that links to the company’s regional Facebook pages (just as BlackBerry does, as we’ll see). With no unusual visual indicators on its fan page, Starbucks demonstrates that functionality is at least as important as aesthetics.

Starbucks in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Red Bull
The fan page for Red Bull is by far one of the best on Facebook. By implementing a number of innovative ideas and engaging apps, Red Bull makes the best of its Facebook presence and thus stands out from business pages for other brands. A good example of this is its Twitter stream, which, instead of featuring just Red Bull’s corporate feed, assembles tweets from sponsored sports athletes and allows fans to connect with them beyond Red Bull’s domain. Live Web TV that anyone can view right on Facebook and a variety of fun games also encourage users to interact with the brand. While the welcome page is not in the default menu bar, it’s quite informative and serves as a compact graphic map of the entire Facebook page. Red Bull is also a pioneer of using Facebook as a recruiting tool; adding a careers board to a profile with so many fans makes sense indeed. Bravo Red Bull!

Redbull in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Skittles
Although Skittles’ fan page features two brightly designed, eye-catching tabs (one a graphic presentation with links, the other promoting its “Mob The Rainbow” campaign), the company has set its Wall tab as the default. This is typical of popular brands that don’t require an introduction. It allows fans and visitors to the page to immediately follow the company’s updates and join the conversation.

Skittles in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Coca-Cola
Another giant with a million-plus Facebook fans, Coca-Cola has a fan-centric Facebook page. It encourages active user participation and interaction between the brand and its fans. The landing tab is set to the Coca-Cola introduction, which contains a dynamic box with latest updates and a “Like” button, links to other social network profiles for the brand, a fan highlights strip, and info about the product and the page’s creators (by the way, this Facebook page was created by two Coke fans and then later supported officially by the company). Another highlight of the Coke fan page is photo albums: in addition to some standard product shots and event photographs, many other albums are included, presenting Coca-Cola not only as a popular beverage but as a multi-generational icon. Here is a good example of how to make use of photos on Facebook.

Cocacola in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Twilight Saga
The default tab for the official fan page of the blockbuster series Twilight Saga is a large graphical tab promoting the latest episode, Eclipse. The custom tab incorporates elements of the movie’s website and the trailer, live Twitter updates, links to official websites and other info. Two other custom tabs are dedicated to the second film, New Moon, and the official movie soundtrack. The entire page is rich in content and delivers its information effectively.

Twilight in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

More Beautiful and Engaging Facebook Pages

Room 214
A nice approach to the Facebook welcome page is demonstrated by social media agency Room 214, based in Boulder, Colorado. The default tab, with its nice duo-tone and sketchy font, looks minimalist and attractive, and it focuses on introducing its team members. The “About” tab has a clean two-column layout, with some basic info about the company in the left column and cute roll-over links to the staff’s Twitter accounts, official website, blog, contact page and corporate Twitter page. Another graphic tab covers the agency’s clients. A simple yet well-executed fan page design.

Room214 in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Porsche
The ColorStyler tab on the fan page for Porsche is so darn great that one immediately wonders why on Earth they didn’t make it the default tab? The pure FBJS tab allows users to select a Porsche model and customize its look in a live preview mode, with a nifty color and rims picker. One then can send the Porsche image to a friend or publish it on the page’s wall. This hidden gem makes the entire page shine.

Porsche in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Digital Turf
The fan page for Digital Turf is an interesting and rather confusing case. The page design itself is wonderful: the excellent company presentation, two-level sub-navigation, diverse data and cute style is a feat of FBJS and makes this one of the most attractive business pages you’ll see on Facebook. Here’s the confusing part: Digital Turf specializes in developing Web-building and media solutions for political campaigns and organizations (maybe not exclusively, but that does figure prominently in its list of services). The question is whether this design style communicates the company’s strengths well enough to attract its target audience. If it solved this concern, Digital Turf could turn its fan page, which is awesome as it is, into a Facebook promo bomb.

Digitalturf in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Revision Eyewear
The main tab of the Revision Eyewear fan page features an impressive Flash intro, with bold photographs and transitions and a dynamic “Become a Fan” link. The eye-wear manufacturer also uses Facebook for its charity work; a custom graphic tab on the page explains its causes and displays donation links (the “Become a Fan” button turns into a donation button—very clever).

Revision-eyewear in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Thurston & Betts PLLC
The Facebook page for law firm Thurston & Betts is notable for its “Like Us!” tab. A simple informational scheme in the center, with nice roll-over buttons leading to the company’s website, is a clever solution: neat yet substantial. The tab also includes the firm’s main contact info and a map of its location. It’s difficult to imagine a better Facebook page design for a law consultancy.

Thurston-and-Betts in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Daddy Design
The fan page of Miami-based Web design studio Daddy Design includes two custom tabs: “About” and “Portfolio.” Both tabs use the page’s entire width, which, along with the striking orange color scheme, makes this page hard to pass by. The business page is tied closely to the company’s official website design, and it highlights a neat FBJS portfolio, with links to Daddy Design’s social profiles. It actually creates the feeling of a website within the Facebook page. Great work.

Daddy-design in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

1-800-Flowers
In our opinion, this is one of the best uses of a Facebook business page for e-commerce. By becoming a fan of 1-800-Flowers on Facebook, you can access up-to-date content, send virtual gifts to friends and shop for flowers right on Facebook (via the Flash-based application Alvenda). The company’s “Welcome” page has a simple and attractive grid, consisting of four sections that engage visitors with various activities. Also, the cool promo code field offers a discount to anyone who hits the “Like” button.

1800flowers in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

The Game – Team A
The Game, for the Sony PS3, has two beautiful fan pages on Facebook, dedicated to each of the two teams in the game. The two pages have a similar design, featuring beautiful graphical tabs (and especially fine typefaces) that link to the interactive Facebook applications. The “About” tab includes an interactive worldwide game stats map, which is a nice touch.

Thegame in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Oxelo
Oxelo’s fan page would be rather generic if not for the inventive Diabolo Roller tab, which promotes its new model of roller blades. Built with a Flash app, it allows a nifty 360-degree view of the product.

Diabolo in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Teesey Tees
Teesey Tees use its Facebook presence effectively: it partially implements an e-commerce element from its website that allows Facebook users to browse t-shirt designs in a sleek FBJS gallery, directing them to the regular store for purchases. The fan page also includes a blog and a charming fan-only tab containing a discount code. There is no “About” or “Welcome” tab, and the default tab is set not to the product gallery (which one would expect) but to the Wall. While this is normal for big brands, it’s not so clear why a company with a smaller audience, such as Teesey Tees, would do this. Still, this is an attractive and well-executed fan page.

Teeseytees in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Threadless
Popular t-shirt producer Threadless takes the e-commerce on its Facebook fan page to the next level. Here, the native Facebook tee design gallery is supplemented by a size-selection menu and shopping cart buttons, which direct the user to the cart on Threadless’ website. The customer review section, with its “Share” and “Like” buttons, enhance the shopping experience of this fan page. Threadless also makes good use of the video and photos tabs, which, along with the live webcast section and active discussion board, make for an engaging, community-oriented Facebook presence.

Threadless in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Cranium
Board game Cranium has a beautiful Facebook fan page, which includes several promotional FBML pages. It doesn’t have any JavaScript gimmicks, just cutely drawn illustrations and cheerful colors that make for a positive visual experience.

Cranium in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Mark Meyer Photography
Mark Meyer’s business page is a good example of how to promote one’s personal brand effectively on Facebook. Using FBML and FMJS, the Alaska-based photographer outfits his custom tab with sub-tabs for his blog and photo gallery and an exquisite image slideshow. Status updates are also cleverly done, so that the Wall (the default tab) takes on the appearance of a photoblog.

Markmeyer in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Livescribe
The “Buy Now” tab on the Livescribe Smartpen fan page has an Amazon-ish design: it’s rich in content and options, but may require the touch of someone like Jacob Nielsen to be truly usable. Livescribe effectively uses multimedia on its Facebook page, which certainly presents its product favorably and is good for fan interaction on the page. But we would suggest that the company rearrange the position of its tabs, putting some interesting sections (such as the Pencasts, which are animated Flash videos of handwritten notes and audio captured by the Smartpen) in the main bar, instead of, say, the standard “Boxes” tab.

Livescribe in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Bodum USA
The highlight of Bodum’s Facebook business page is its excellent use of an iFrame to embed the company’s online store and interactive catalogue, which is powered by iPaper, onto the Facebook profile. In other words, Facebook users can shop for Bodum products without leaving the page.

Bodum in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Soul City Church
The “Welcome” tab of the Soul City Church Facebook page is by far the smoothest pearl in our collection of fan page designs. The clean layout, the neat typography and icons and, of course, the awesome combination of black-and-white photography and energetic green elements result in a stunning intro page. It portrays the church as a progressive and contemporary community. Credit for the great job goes to Monster Eyes.

Soulcitychurch in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Diesel
Famous apparel brand Diesel has three out-of-the-mold tabs, the most noteworthy of which is the one labelled “Sex Sells.” It is built on a Flash app and provides a stylish and original showcase for the denim collection of the same name.

Diesel in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Lancome Germany
This one will appeal to those who admire good typography. The “About” section of Lancome Germany’s Facebook page takes on a website-within-a-tab format. It features elegant and polished typography, accompanied by high-quality photography.

Lancome in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Eco-Artware.com
The Facebook business page for Eco-Artware.com features a nice FBJS “Shop” tab. It’s a pseudo-shop, though; in fact, it’s just a featured product gallery, in which both product thumbnails and catalogue categories are linked to the official online store. Nevertheless, the clean grid layout and nice roll-overs for the product images make this a beautiful and useful fan page tab. Eco-Artware.com also makes good use of the “Boxes” tab by setting it as the default.

Ecoartware in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

311
The official Facebook page of music band 311, particularly the “News & Multimedia” tab, is eye candy. Designed in a cool retro poster style, it contains basic info about the band and a built-in multimedia player. A large “Fan Photos” section reflects the band’s commitment to communicating with its fans. Well done!

311 in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Rei
Outdoor gear and clothing provider REI uses its Facebook profile to foster strong interactivity, rather than merely to present a plain front. Its fan page is basically a community portal where the company engages people with its social campaigns and projects. The fan page includes two Flash tabs that feature community pictures, links and fun family games.

Rei in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Desigual
The fan page for Spanish apparel brand Desigual is bursting with color, freshness and style. It is versatile, with various types of promotional and entertaining content, yet not overwhelming. The mood is set equally by great content and classy design elements. Desigual points out that the page was started by fans and then made official by the brand; this is clearly illustrated on the Wall feed, where user-created updates are set to default along with the company’s messages.

Desigual in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Volkswagen
Currently featuring its soccer fan campaign, VW shows amazing use of FBJS on its page. Rich in content, up to date, well designed and heavily supportive of user-created content, this is the best Facebook business page that a popular automotive brand could have.

Vw in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Living Proof
The fan page of cosmetics manufacturer Living Proof is all about interactivity and dialogue between the company and its customers. Chief among its many features is the dynamic Flash introductory tab, containing basic info about the company,a lab tour,a mini blog, links to customer support services and a corporate Twitter feed. The business page also includes an interactive app that helps customers choose the most suitable products.

Living-proof in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Inspired Magazine
Inspired Magazine is one of the few Web design blogs that have customized their Facebook fan page. No fancy applications or high-volume presentations here; a minimalist FBML tab is quite enough to grab the attention of a random Facebooker and give them reasons to “Like” the page.

Inspired-mag in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Sony Ericsson
Current Sony Ericsson promotions are presented via beautifully designed tabs, with videos, contest forms and interactive applications inside.

Sony-ericsoon in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

BlackBerry
Besides its several promotional tabs built with Facebook Javascript and Flash, the BlackBerry fan page features a nice FBJS map with links to local Facebook business pages. This does a good job of integrating the company’s Facebook presence and promoting its local pages.

Blackberry in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Resources And Tutorials

Here is a list of websites and tutorials to help you understand the basics of developing and promoting your Facebook business page.

Facebook Developers
This is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to take advantage of the variety of opportunities offered by Facebook. Related documentation, forum discussions, wikis and a showcase of best practices for Facebook integration are all aggregated in one place for both beginners and advanced developers.

Hyperarts
A lot of excellent tutorials related to Facebook fan page development can be found in the Static FBML & FBML archive on the Hyperarts Blog. The tutorials are geared to both beginners and advanced developers. The blog also features a series of video tutorials, which we’re sure will come in handy for many of you. Some of the most interesting tutorials from Hyperarts are highlighted below.

All Facebook
On the unofficial Facebook Blog, you will find news, articles, tips and stats related to the world’s fastest-growing social network. An extensive guide titled How to Develop a Facebook Page That Attracts Millions of Fans addresses its subject well.

How to Use Facebook for Business and Marketing
This guide takes a look at the potential of Facebook for business and reviews the various options business owners have in order to be effective with Facebook business marketing. Recommended reading.

Reeses-facebook in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

How to Create a Facebook FBML Template
In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a Facebook fan page in Photoshop. It uses a page for a photographer as an example. This is the first in a series; the second lesson covers the coding part. The source files, including the code, are available for download.

Photographer-fan-page-tutor in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Facebook Programming step-by-step tutorial
This tutorial series consists of 22 lessons and covers all aspects of Facebook programming, including application development, displaying fan-only content and creating an interface for a Facebook page.

Static FBML: Not Every Facebook Fan Page Needs an Application
In this tutorial the well-known blogger Alison Gianotto walks you through what a Static FBML is and why it’s sometimes quite enough to create an attractive and efficient Facebook fan page.

Extending Facebook Static FBML Tabs with Dynamic Content
Continuing from the previous guide, this tutorial explains how to add some spice to your Facebook fan page using the DynamicFBML function. You can build an image or video gallery or even a micro-site inside a Static FBML tab quite easily.

Taking Your Static FBML Microsite to the Next Level

Learn how to create sub-nav tab navigation within your Static FBML microsite using only DynamicFBML.

Creating a Custom Facebook Page
This useful guide gives you a head start on building your own fan page on Facebook. The tutorial includes such basics as Facebook page creation, restrictions on Facebook, creating tabs and displaying navigation and content elements using FBML and FBJS.

Google Analytics for Facebook Fan Pages
Another great post by Webdigi.co.uk, in which they show you how to get around Facebook’s limitations. Even though Facebook supports only restricted JavaScript, which is usually not enough for Google to correctly track visitors, the guys from Webdigi.co.uk successfully managed to get all functions of Google Analytics working on their fan page. You can learn how they did it by reading this tutorial.

How To: Build a Facebook Landing Page for Your Business
This is Mashable’s brief guide on how to add and configure a Static FBML tab on your Facebook fan page.

Mashable-image in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Internet Explorer and Static FBML: Using External Style Sheets for CSS
This insightful article discusses aspects of applying CSS styles to your Static FBML application in Internet Explorer versions and other browsers. The post includes an important update that takes into account changes in Facebook’s API that affect the implementation of CSS styles in static tabs.

8 Essential Apps for Your Brand’s Facebook Page
This article suggests a number of Facebook apps you could use to attract fans to your brand’s landing page and to make them return repeatedly.

Add a Custom Tab to Your Facebook Fan Page (Starter Template Included)
Like some of the aforementioned tutorials, this one teaches you how to embed a custom tab in your Facebook fan page. But this tutorial is a bit more detailed than previous ones, explaining how to build HTML and CSS that adheres to the new 520-pixel width requirements set by Facebook, how to add a YouTube video and how to avoid using iFrames. Also, it contains a starter template code with comments.

Facebook Best Practices for Non-Profit Organizations
This Facebook fan page guide is written by Diosa Communications, a company that specializes in social-media consulting for non-profit institutions and small businesses. It’s not exactly a list of best practices in the traditional sense, but rather a number of recommendations on how to set up and promote a fan page to the best effect.

How To Create the Perfect Facebook Fan Page
Some tips you can apply to your Facebook marketing strategy that will put your Facebook Page leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

Adding iFrames to Your Facebook Applications: 2010
Recent modifications in Facebook’s API further restricted the use of iFrames. For instance, you can’t embed one in Static FBML anymore. iFrames can still be used in the Canvas Pages application, though, which is the topic of this tutorial.

Developing a Facebook Application for Absolute Beginners
Applications have proven to be an essential component of successful Facebook fan pages. They’re an effective tool for enhancing interactivity and engaging users. Fortunately, creating a Facebook application is not that difficult. Learn how to do it by reading this thorough tutorial by Emanuele Feronato.

App-tutorial-image in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Showcase

Not many galleries of Facebook pages exist yet. Still, the ones that do give us a pretty good idea of trends in this area.

Facebook Designs
This gallery is rarely updated, but it features some really cool Facebook page designs that we haven’t seen in other showcases.

Facebook-designs in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Custom Facebook Page gallery
Custom Facebook Page is run by the social media marketing group North Social. The gallery contains over 60 Facebook page designs, sorted into several categories. The most recent showcase is dated December 2009.

Custom-facebook-page in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Facebook Showcase
Facebook Showcase is the most frequently updated gallery of the ones covered here. A lot of inspirational Facebook page designs can be found here.

Facebook-showvase in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Facebook Platform Showcase
This showcase is slightly different. Here you can explore how companies around the world integrate Facebook on their websites.

Platform-showcase in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Customize Your Facebook Fan Page: Tips, Tricks, Applications
A quick overview of basic tips and tricks for customizing and improving your Facebook fan page.

Facebook Fan Page Templates

Many freelance designers and design studios offer customization services for Facebook pages. Standalone fan page templates are less widespread, at least so far. To provide you with the best possible starter kit, we’ve collected Facebook business page themes that you can get either free or at a cost.

Free Templates

Free PSD Facebook Template | Preview | Details
This 520-pixel Photoshop layout of Facebook fan page tab is available for free downloading. If you are looking for a simple graphical presentation for your Facebook page, this template may come in handy.

Layoutspacks-free-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Free PSD: Facebook Fanpage Template | Preview | Details
This is a free mock-up Facebook fan page with editable text, posting times and other elements.

FYC-psd-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Absolutely Free Cool Facebook Template | Preview| Details
This graphic FBML template, along with the PSD file, fonts and HTML mark-up, is available for free downloading. The package also includes an installation manual.

01-free-facebook-fbml-templ in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Free FBML Template | Preview | Details
You can use this multi-tabbed Facebook page template for free only if you maintain the links to its creators and the copyright info in the footer.

Homegainbusiness-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Facebook Template Page | Details
This is quite a different Facebook page template. Basically, it’s a worksheet available in text and PDF formats, allowing school students to construct a Facebook page for a character from a story or some other purpose. The template has been downloaded over 10,000 times and has gotten a lot of positive feedback because it is a new and exciting way for students to comment on their readings. You have to register to download the template.

Tes-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Commercial Templates

Photographer Facebook Template | Preview | Details | All FB templates
A sleek graphical FBML tab, with an image gallery, text sections, social networking buttons and a reminder to “Like” the page. The template package consists of source files and the Facebook installation guide. Price: $15.

Graphic-fbml-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Corporation Number 1: Facebook Tab | Preview | Details | All FB Templates
A minimalist Facebook page theme, with space for one main image, the company’s logo or tagline, two paragraphs of text and links to social media resources, including an optional RSS feed. The user can also add images, contact forms, videos and other elements to the template (no coding skills are required). Price: there are two subscription plans to choose from, although only one of them (Standard) is active at the moment – $14.99 per month. Free trial option is available, too.

Fan-page-builder-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

My Style Facebook Flash Template | Preview | Details | All FB Templates
Among the highlights of this Flash-based FBML template are diverse transitions, multi-tab sub-navigation and a large image gallery in the tab header (760 pixels in width, of course). Instructions on how to upload the template are attached; and the developer offers additional customization services. Price: $18.

Flash-fbml-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Website Image Gallery Template | Preview | Details | All FB Templates
This FBML template features a FBJS image gallery, horizontal top menu navigation, social networking links and side images. The website does not mention whether installation documentation is provided; perhaps it is provided upon purchase. Price: $20.

Image-gallery-template1 in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

Facebook Flash Template | Preview | Details
This is another version of the Flash-based “Welcome” tab for Facebook fan pages. It’s actually a mini-site, 520 pixels in width, with three sub-pages, including a slideshow and image gallery. It comes with step-by-step instructions on setting it up on Facebook. Price: $13.

Flashscope-flash-template in Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources

(al)

Julia May is a freelance writer now working with FlashMint, the top-class provider of Flash templates.

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  1. 1
    Arshad Cini
    July 7th, 2010 3:43 am

    The showcase inspired me so much.This week i’m gonna create one:)

    Thanks Julia..

    • 2
      em
      July 7th, 2010 8:16 am

      we are not amused.

    • 3
      Victor Martins
      July 7th, 2010 5:47 pm

      It really is inspiring. Awesome collection :)

  2. 4
    Jesse James
    July 7th, 2010 3:53 am

    Ah finally. After all these useless articles here is a great one.
    Please please keep publishing articles like these. We do NOT want to read about music, we do NOT want to read articles about military, we do NOT care about interior things.

    • 5
      Jesse Jamez
      July 7th, 2010 6:53 am

      We don’t?

      • 6
        Jessy Failz
        July 9th, 2010 9:23 am

        Who is this “we” you speak of? Smashing could post the 100 Top Inspiring Hubcaps… and as long as I find inspiration, it’s helpful. Luckily it’s the internets, so one can easily skip pages in less time than it takes to write up a bad review.

    • 7
      Eric
      July 7th, 2010 8:08 am

      Stop refferring to “WE”. Some people like the other articles. You aren’t speaking for me.

      • 8
        Misha Kvakin
        July 8th, 2010 12:39 am

        Maybe he has an Imaginary friend. Or friends. Legitimate reason of using “we”, ha?

    • 9
      Niki
      July 8th, 2010 10:35 am

      Er, I do. You can draw inspiration for design from everywhere. Design thinking is greater than a step-by-step tutorial.

    • 10
      Michiel Ebberink
      July 9th, 2010 6:09 am

      Please speak for yourself Jesse. “We” do like those other articles.

  3. 11
    Christina
    July 7th, 2010 4:10 am

    This is an excellent resource. Thank you so much for posting! I had no idea you could do so much with fan pages!!

  4. 12
    Dan Ware
    July 7th, 2010 4:13 am

    Fantastic article!!

    I’ve thought for some time that FBML was a real game changer for digital marketeers and this just proves it.

    The company I work for was a fairly early adopter of the potential of FBML, which for an organisation our size is quite surprising-

    facebook.com/DebtLineOnline

    We have a welcome page, analytics, click throughs etc. And the response from our customers has been positive.

    But we are a very UI focused organisation (functional not pretty is our moto! :-p) and felt that there was limitless potential to add value to our customers experience on Facebook.

    The main issue we have is increasing our fans without paying for advertising!! :-)

    Thanks Julia!!

    • 13
      Chris Nankervis
      July 7th, 2010 3:28 pm

      Thanks for the article Julia, and I truly mean it, several of the entries posted were bookmarked for later use, especially the Real Estate example, that will be very handy.

      @Dan Ware Agreed, it’s an absolute must for digital marketers. It’s also yet another way of branding your companies, otherwise lacking Facebook Fanpage. Many users below have talked about the importance of customization of a profile, and it was only a matter of time before people realized the benefits behind a Static FBML.

      Take a look at our companies FBML, we decided to turn it into a more folio based tab for new clients to view our work: facebook.com/digitalhive.

  5. 14
    Tim H.
    July 7th, 2010 4:17 am

    Custom Facebook pages are like HTML emails, i.e. mini-sites that are presented within the viewport of another site. I think Twitter is superior to Facebook in terms of visual customization because the former’s branding isn’t as obtrusive.

  6. 15
    Nathan Snell
    July 7th, 2010 4:23 am

    Hey Julia,

    Thanks for mentioning one of our FanPageBuilders templates and a white-label design of ours (Thurston & Betts)! We’re a big fan of SmashingMagazine, so it’s an honor to be mentioned!

    Julia, I hope you don’t mind, but I just wanted to note that the cost of the Corporation Template has actually been very much reduced, and is now part of a Page Editor system we launched that lets users easily choose from a selection of templates, and easily add images, contact forms, videos, and much more (without having to know code).

    • 16
      Julia May
      July 7th, 2010 5:17 am

      Nathan, the article was updated, hope everything is correct now. Thanks for commenting!

      • 17
        Ekaterina
        July 7th, 2010 6:19 am

        Dear Julia! Thank you for great job! Could you take a look at my creation too, please?!
        I created this page 4 month ago for my company. I would be happy to get some comments and critique from you and your team!
        http://www.facebook.com

        NEW ENGLAND WATERPROOFING INC. (basement waterproofing, crack repair)

        Thank you!

      • 18
        Nathan Snell
        July 9th, 2010 10:48 am

        Thank you, Julia for the update! Just wanted to make sure people knew our system makes it super easy to create even complicated pages! And thank /you/ for writing the article :)

  7. 19
    Ahmedesign
    July 7th, 2010 4:26 am

    This is very useful. Thanks alot.

  8. 20
    Linda F
    July 7th, 2010 4:51 am

    Excellent resource, thanks so much for gathering all this in one piece, it was obviously a great deal of work.

    I’m not a fan of Facebook at all (I keep trying, but just don’t get the interest), but having a “page” there seems to be expected. I find it cluttered, hokey and totally gimmicky so seeing these makeovers is an enlightening encouragement.

  9. 21
    Ania
    July 7th, 2010 4:53 am

    Excellent!

  10. 22
    Rizky Syazuli
    July 7th, 2010 5:19 am

    ahhh.. facebook apps… in another 3 or 6 months, many of these resources will be obsolete. considering the way facebook keep changing their APIs and barely updates their wikis.

  11. 23
    Ryan Bollenbach
    July 7th, 2010 5:23 am

    HOLY SHIT! this is huge, I didn’t realize that you’d be able to design the pages… that’s really awesome! I’ll have to keep this in mind for the future.

  12. 24
    Jim Connolly
    July 7th, 2010 5:26 am

    Great article, the list of resources will be very helpful!

  13. 25
    Jack
    July 7th, 2010 5:48 am

    The LogMeIn fan page is pretty good too.

  14. 26
    Tina Zennand
    July 7th, 2010 5:52 am

    The article is amazing Julia, a great job!

  15. 27
    Jean-Francois Monfette
    July 7th, 2010 5:53 am

    I’m sure that the number of beautiful fan pages will increase by a lot following this excellent post. Thank you Julia !

  16. 28
    Chris Nager
    July 7th, 2010 5:57 am

    I know Little Debbie has quite an active Facebook account. They acquired over 500,000 fans recently with their Cupcake Share-a-thon Facebook campaign.

  17. 29
    Ekaterina
    July 7th, 2010 6:03 am

    Hi, there! The article is really interesting. I created a Facebook fan page for my company 4 months ago.
    facebook.com/#!/pages/Natick-MA/NEW-ENGLAND-WATERPROOFING-INC-basement-waterproofing-crack-repair/362249303032?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=7

    NEW ENGLAND WATERPROOFING INC. (basement waterproofing, crack repair)

    Now I understand that I can do even better than that! I would be happy to get some comments!

    Thank you, smashing magazine for good job!

  18. 30
    Dimi
    July 7th, 2010 6:08 am

    Great post, just what I needed this week!

  19. 31
    Cristina
    July 7th, 2010 6:09 am

    Muy bueno este artículo!

  20. 32
    Enver
    July 7th, 2010 6:44 am

    Great.
    I know most of them but still some to learn from this article.
    Here is couple of examples from my facebook pages :
    facebook.com/northernlandcyprus
    facebook.com/AlimSatimKibris

    We missed this kinds of articles.

  21. 33
    Duncan
    July 7th, 2010 6:45 am

    Very useful, Thanks

  22. 34
    veneratio
    July 7th, 2010 6:59 am

    What a breath of fresh design! A small design interface that can pack a big punch. Didn’t even consider that there would be galleries devoted to showing superb facebook design, but you learn something new everyday!

    Splendiferous article, Smash!

  23. 35
    James
    July 7th, 2010 8:04 am

    Thanks webdigi for the wonderful analytics tip!!

  24. 36
    Tim Ware
    July 7th, 2010 8:14 am

    Hello! Thanks for the shoutout to HyperArts for our Static FBML tutorials and other resources. And thanks, too, for the wonderful array of beautifully designed fan pages!

    I might add that we offer a number of excellent templates that are a good starting point for a great fan page, everything from multi-tabbed, website-within-facebook to AJAX forms that include validation. Here’s a link (if it’s okay): http://www.hyperarts.com/fbml

    Cheers, and keep up the good work!
    Tim

  25. 37
    Ricardo Rocha
    July 7th, 2010 8:56 am

    Very nice work, I’ll use this info to create my facebook page. I didn’t know that we could create our one pages on facebook.

  26. 38
    Glen Davidson
    July 7th, 2010 9:09 am

    Great article. The tutorials will be very useful for my clients the majority of whom are Realtors.

  27. 39
    Kate Dickman
    July 7th, 2010 9:28 am

    This is absolutely fantastic! What a great bundle of resources all in one place. It’s exactly what I’ve been looking for for the past 3 weeks. Thank you!

  28. 40
    36design
    July 7th, 2010 9:45 am

    Dropping people on just your wall stream doesn’t cut it anymore. You need more to build a solid community and a following. At the end of the day building your brand is whats important.

  29. 41
    Erick Alcala
    July 7th, 2010 10:08 am

    uhmm Cant you just make a normal landing facebook page and configure it in the backend??.. uhm I did it before, I mean if you already have a webpage Why bother and create another webdesign?? ..

    uhmm or is there any policy problem with that :P

  30. 42
    Jay
    July 7th, 2010 10:08 am

    Facebook fan pages are NOT customizable and cannot be designed. All they are is a big image that can have some links on it. Completely useless. Myspace was SOOOO much better in terms of designing to your target market.
    I give Facebook another 2 years before another player takes over and makes a much better social networking site. I don’t see the point of Facebook when you already have a website. You can advertise the same information on your site and send information to people who are interested in it. Plus a lot more. Facebook is restrictive to the user and the user’s “friends”. I have yet to see Facebook do anything that a regular site cannot do and yet to see it offer something valuable to its user base.

    • 43
      Julia May
      July 8th, 2010 12:04 am

      Jay, I agree with you that Facebook is probably not the most customization-friendly social network, still design options are not only limited to a big image with links on it (there are lots of good examples in the article). As for your last statement, I’m afraid I disagree about it. If a regular site can do anything, how did it happen then that social networking and social media in general reached such an overwhelming level of development?

    • 44
      Nathan Snell
      July 9th, 2010 10:54 am

      Jay, I am afraid you’re a bit off when it comes to the functionality available to Facebook Pages. Yes, the Page overall is not as customizeable as most might like, and the Static FBML App does provide limited functionality to users (for example. No RSS feeds/twitter, makes contact forms difficult, etc.

      But with systems (like our page editor system) we give users the ability to easily add that kind of dynamic content, images, and more without needing to know code. What’s more is the applications that can be built and integrated into a page are far and above better than anything MySpace ever allowed.

      The point of Facebook goes back to the old adage of “going where the fish are”. Even if your website gets thousands of unique visits a month, you’re missing out on potentially millions of users. Not to mention that it’s more acceptable to share updates via your Page multiple times a day, compared to say email marketing where that would shrink your list, and fast.

  31. 45
    Michael Vreeken
    July 7th, 2010 10:55 am

    well as far as I can see a lot of people a going into this business. So Facebook templates http://facebook-templates.net/ are being popular right now. anyway Julia well done! fantastic post. Useful resources for Facebook profile management.

  32. 46
    Adam
    July 7th, 2010 11:01 am

    Nicely done.

  33. 47
    Eric
    July 7th, 2010 11:26 am

    Wow. I seriously had no idea you had this level of creative control over Facebook pages. As soon as we launch our new site at work, I coming back here to brand our FB!

    Thanks for the inspiration!

  34. 48
    Eric
    July 7th, 2010 11:28 am

    Just as years ago many people considered AOL to be “the internet”, I think many people today see Facebook as their internet. This is why you need a FB presence even if you have a website.

  35. 49
    Leslie Mathis
    July 7th, 2010 11:49 am

    Really, Really, REALLY useful! Thank you for this great article.

  36. 50
    Dhaval Shah
    July 7th, 2010 11:53 am

    Fantastic!!

    Thanks a lot, I got this task from this week..
    worked with FBML
    you can check it on facebook.com/DiscountFlights
    This will really help us a lot!

    Dhaval Shah

  37. 51
    Srecko Bradic
    July 7th, 2010 12:03 pm

    Very good to know this, I have Facebook account but never take any attempt to change any regarding to design.

  38. 52
    Safi
    July 7th, 2010 1:01 pm

    great post
    thanks

  39. 53
    Editha Fuentes
    July 7th, 2010 1:04 pm

    EXCELLENT!! This is a great, helpful and very complete article. Thanks for your work. :)

  40. 54
    Niki
    July 7th, 2010 1:08 pm

    Just at the right moment! Thanks! The examples and the links at the bottom all are useful!

  41. 55
    TheAL
    July 7th, 2010 1:31 pm

    I actually started making these with FBML not that long ago. I didn’t even know you could do things like this on FB, and then I bumped into a fan page that had it and I’ve been doing it ever since. It’s one of the easiest things I’ve added to my list of services since Twitter backgrounds.

  42. 56
    Severus
    July 7th, 2010 1:35 pm

    Thanks a lot for such post. I am completelly newbie in FB topic. I have been going around with an old fashion FB fan page, since I did not know there was so much possiblities.

  43. 57
    Andre Novais de Paula
    July 7th, 2010 4:41 pm

    Great compilation! The best I’ve seen so far. Thank you for an excellent post.

  44. 58
    Peepshow
    July 7th, 2010 7:26 pm

    Awesome, been waiting for Smashing to do an article on FBML shiz!
    Here’s one I made if anyone cares to see facebook.com/ThinkBrickAustralia?v=app_4949752878

  45. 59
    James Oh
    July 7th, 2010 7:52 pm

    This going to be a very power communication tools for both personal and business world. We liftyouup.blogspot.com welcome this wonderful invention and hope it can facilitate to improve the world as a whole at a much faster speed.

  46. 60
    Richie
    July 7th, 2010 9:14 pm

    Great work with the article. It is so great to see how facebook has been so infuential in social networking and building a brand online. They are one step closer to the next big thing :)

    I’m off to creating mine now…

  47. 61
    sami
    July 7th, 2010 9:25 pm

    Now Facebook fan page width size has been changed from 750px to 520px.

    • 62
      Julia May
      July 8th, 2010 12:08 am

      Was it officially announced? As far as I know, this change is expected to be launched in “mid 2010″ http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Roadmap_Profile By the way, some of the resources listed in the post are already adjusted to the new width requirements 520 px.

      • 63
        Nathan Snell
        July 9th, 2010 10:56 am

        Not official yet (we have a small few fan pages we designed for clients in the 720 width as we adjust them and have been building all our others in the 520).

    • 64
      Tim H.
      July 8th, 2010 5:32 am

      That’s pretty lame. So Facebook pages are actually just glorified ads within a page?

      • 65
        Julia May
        July 8th, 2010 9:27 am

        Only if you regard a mini-site with sub-pages, image galleries and built-in application as an ad…

  48. 66
    Nalin Mittal
    July 7th, 2010 10:30 pm

    Hey guys, this is a FANTASTIC article on fan pages. Really well done.

    We’ve created a marketplace of tab application for fan pages at http://appbistro.com.
    Lot of the apps are free. We really want to make building fan pages easier.

    Check it out and feel free to reach out to me anytime.

    Take care,
    Nalin

  49. 67
    Ryan Yu
    July 7th, 2010 11:22 pm

    Wow it’s very awesome post,
    thanks a lot

  50. 68
    Dirmansuharno
    July 7th, 2010 11:46 pm

    awesome! it’s going to be a legen..wait for it dary!

  51. 69
    wwebz
    July 7th, 2010 11:56 pm

    Its on right time actually i was thinking to make my own Facebook fan page for wwebz.com. now i got some good inspirational material
    Thanks a lot

  52. 70
    Benjamin
    July 8th, 2010 12:38 am

    Thanks a lot for this very complete article!

  53. 71
    Catalin
    July 8th, 2010 3:24 am

    Another great post guys!
    Thank you very much for including Inspired Mag’s Fb page – mucho appreciadu!

  54. 72
    Dmitry Chebakov
    July 8th, 2010 3:46 am

    Thank you for both inspiration and tutorials! I think it’s the most comprehensive list about Facebook fan page creation process so far!

  55. 73
    Ignatius Mario
    July 8th, 2010 3:59 am

    Thanks you that what i looking for…

  56. 74
    steve85
    July 8th, 2010 5:42 am

    Awesome post! I am definitely bookmarking. I wish the FBML stuff was easier/less time consuming. Building an audience is tough. I am about six months into the process and only at 164 fans. I feel like the content is quality and I have some new ideas coming, so hopefully that will help. If you all are so inclined, join the page and help me build my page. Also any suggestions for things I can do to improve are greatly appreciated.

    You can leave a message on the fanpage or email me at steve at weltbranding dot com. Thanks!
    facebook.com/#!/pages/Cincinnati-OH/Welt-Branding/58012219459?ref=ts&ajaxpipe=1&__a=10

    -Steve

  57. 75
    Nikka
    July 8th, 2010 6:14 am

    Thanks for the post. Lots of great resources!

  58. 76
    NoelMcg
    July 8th, 2010 8:33 am

    Perfect timing, great resource, thanks a million for putting it together

  59. 77
    Cheshmehregi
    July 8th, 2010 9:17 am

    Thanks for the information
    awesome resources

  60. 78
    Rene
    July 8th, 2010 11:25 am

    i’m glad of this post because it will help me out a lot, petty much this is what i do at work. design facebook pages.

  61. 79
    DavSzym
    July 8th, 2010 12:35 pm

    I am not a fan of customizing FB pages. I get the whole brand identity thing, but I like that not matter who it is it looks the same in FB. Boo to custom pages.

  62. 80
    David Saigne
    July 8th, 2010 2:01 pm

    I made a fan page for a church here is the link, tell me what do you think ?

    facebook.com/iglesiakemuel?v=app_4949752878

  63. 81
    Anastasius
    July 8th, 2010 2:48 pm

    I know it may look like a shameless self-promotion, but we are truly proud of the way that we have integrated our Issuu titles on our brand new Facebook page. We haven’t seen this solution elsewhere. You are most welcome to check it out for yourself. It’s purely FBML-based, of course.

  64. 82
    thaddeusmt
    July 8th, 2010 3:08 pm

    Thanks for the mention of http://facebookshowcase.net! I see you selected many of the Pages from my site to feature here as well ;). Anyone interested in Facebook Page Design and the interesting things you can do with Custom Tabs should check out the Showcase for more examples – I try to update a few times a week!

    Also, anyone interested in customizable Tab Templates and “Tab CMS” capabilities should keep an eye on my next project due out later this summer, http://faceil.com … *wink wink nudge nudge*

    Thanks for the great post!

  65. 83
    Adegbenga Agoro
    July 8th, 2010 3:13 pm

    This is a great tutorial and wonderful resource tool.

    I recently tried my hands on FBML and was wondering how to extend my capabilities, this is all the information I need in one place, I’ve already bookmarked the page for future and continuous referencing as I continue my research.

    Thanks for the post

  66. 84
    TheAL
    July 8th, 2010 8:09 pm

    I’ve seen people mention the width is 750 and will be 520 soon, but I just made one today and it’s 760px. When will the 520 be official?

    • 85
      Julia May
      July 8th, 2010 11:23 pm

      first it was expected in “early 2010″, now it’s “mid 2010″ http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Roadmap_Profile

      • 86
        TheAL
        July 9th, 2010 1:52 pm

        Thanks. I personally don’t see what’s wrong with 760px. 520 feels a bit too cramped, and I’m glad people are speaking out against it in discussion area of that wiki page. I wonder what will happen to existing setups that are 760? Will they get crunched?

  67. 87
    Fahai Media
    July 8th, 2010 8:45 pm

    Left Facebook a month ago. They are racist.

  68. 88
    Grimur Fjeldsted
    July 9th, 2010 5:14 am

    Created one a few weeks ago. Check it out on facebook.com/eccoshoecompany/

  69. 89
    Julia May
    July 9th, 2010 5:54 am

    Thanks everybody for feedback! I appreciate all the kind words and glad the round-up was useful for so many people.

  70. 90
    Michiel Ebberink
    July 9th, 2010 6:14 am

    Only one really extend the facebook look and feel. All other fanpages are just simple landingpages. Very disappointing actually.

  71. 91
    Banhawi
    July 9th, 2010 10:40 am

    You reading my mind .. im going to create a custom fan page for a client and here you come , thaaaaaaaaaaaaaaanks

  72. 92
    @austinklee
    July 9th, 2010 12:21 pm

    Julia…sure with you would have seen a couple of ours: facebook.com/idrinc and facebook.com/valuemedical

    It’s not just the big boys that have awesome design!

  73. 93
    Jena
    July 9th, 2010 1:42 pm

    I’ve been hoping that Smashing Mag would do a post on this! Looking through the gallery you’ve put together is so much easier than typing random company names after facebook.com/ and crossing my fingers for a good example. Thanks!

  74. 94
    amit
    July 10th, 2010 12:18 am

    Though we would all like to be able to do website designing for own website, we all aren’t able to, whether we just don’t understand the various elements or we just don’t have the time or don’t have the required expertise; the use of a top website design company is a must have. Just any website design company will not do; there are various things that can make a web design company a best web design company who will provide the exact services you need to meet the exact specifications you provide and request.

  75. 95
    Muzz
    July 10th, 2010 2:29 am

    This is a great resource, thanks.

    –M

  76. 96
    Kristine
    July 10th, 2010 3:08 am

    WOW! lots of great info & ideas.
    must try to esign on too…thanks.
    Aloha…

  77. 97
    Jason
    July 10th, 2010 5:29 am

    Fantastic resource. Thank you for putting this together!

  78. 98
    TeddyRayon
    July 10th, 2010 11:54 pm

    This is really nice post…after reading this article ..i found out this company name Socioniks that helped me create a facebook fanpage at amazingly cheap price that all other people developing them… Facebook.com/clevertonmarketing is the page ..Also they helped me get additional facebook fans for my page..now i see more people liking my page rather than earlier..I guess i will now engage socioniks now for all my social media marketing needs..

  79. 99
    Moez
    July 11th, 2010 1:31 am

    thank you sooo much , its really Fantastic!!! good Job ;)

  80. 100
    Yahya Ayob
    July 11th, 2010 6:46 pm

    This article post has open up my eyes to more possible outcomes with FBML custom page. So many resources links to learn from. Kamsahamnida (Thank you in korean). I better start reading and learning! =D

  81. 101
    hemantech
    July 12th, 2010 3:05 am

    This is a grate article and useful article.

  82. 102
    john
    July 12th, 2010 4:47 am

    I created one for our church that aggregates live events, Blog, and the most Recent podcast:
    facebook.com/christian.life.center.williamsburg.va

  83. 103
    ADRIAN
    July 14th, 2010 9:06 am

    I like!

  84. 104
    rahul
    July 14th, 2010 9:09 am

    A girl asked a boy:(Girl)Do you think I’m pretty?(Boy)NO
    (Girl)Do you want to be with me forever (Boy)NO (Girl)Would you cry if I walked away?(Again the boy said)NO
    She heard enough and waz hurt, tears ran down her face
    The boy grabbed her arm and said:(Boy)- You’re not pretty, you’re BEAUTIFUL
    (Boy)- I don’t want to be wi…th you forever, I NEED to be with you forever… See More… See More… See more… See More… See More… See More… See More
    (Boy)- and I wouldn’t cry if you walked away… I would DIE!!!!
    (Boy whisperz)- Plzzzz stay with me…(Girl whisperz)- I will…
    Tonight at midnight your true love will realize they love you. Something good will happen to you between 1-4 pm tomorrow it could be anywhere..Get ready for the biggest shock of your life! If you dont post this on to 5 other pages you will have relationship problems for the next 10 years

  85. 105
    Robert Creare
    July 15th, 2010 12:20 am

    Thank you for this very useful article. Social networking platforms such as facebook are really beginning to open new doors to online marketing by integrating web design within itself.

    These customisable fan pages can really capture and draw in possible custom and interest into a company or brand due to the high volume of facebook users browsing these fan pages. Having external links from a companies website directly to the companies facebook page gives the user a sense of comfort if they are familiar with facebook themselves feeling like they can relate to a facebook page possibly better than to a website.

    This is possibly due to the flowing trend that I have noticed of integrating Web 2.0 styling into these fan pages. The use of vivd gradients and minimalist text being easier on the eye really merges well with the facebook design style and can keep a user on the fan page.

  86. 106
    V
    July 17th, 2010 1:49 am

    You can see how customizable they are when using sliders,css tricks, and well commented code on the backend that allows the admin to easily update things like link blocks on a regular basis. This page we did serves as a monthly newsletter and introduction for this magazine:http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aves-Noir/350146477715?ref=ts

  87. 107
    nothingelseis
    July 19th, 2010 2:59 am

    Nice round up. I know Absolut’s Facebook page gets a lot of love round these here parts.

  88. 108
    vamshi
    July 19th, 2010 8:48 am

    thanks for info…now im gonna start designing my FB page in style

  89. 109
    Ricardo
    July 19th, 2010 6:06 pm

    Here goes another resource for designers who work with FB app design: http://surgeworks.com/blog/design/facebook-gui-free-psd-resource

  90. 110
    igotux
    July 20th, 2010 5:14 pm

    Awesome list, this must of taken a while to put together. You made a lot of people happy. Thanks and Keep up the great work! #igotux

  91. 111
    Fiona Bosticky
    July 25th, 2010 11:19 pm

    These fan pages look excellent. I think that having an amazing design, and effective facebook pages in your business profile is very important, and will only continue to grow.

  92. 112
    Sergey
    July 28th, 2010 1:45 am

    FacebookPageTemplates.com offers you unique absolutely for free. Our Facebook Pages are easy to install and can actually draw the attention of your page visitors. Owe to the unique design and the simple replacement of the content, our templates are very popular among facebook users. All the big companies have already created their own unique pages on facebook. Owe to these pages, users can buy your goods, exchange views and disseminate news about your business. So if you already have a website why don’t you create a page on facebook that will represent you or your company? Landing pages created on our Facebook Page Templates base will certainly attract the attention of the visitors and turn them into your fans.

  93. 113
    David Henderson
    July 30th, 2010 3:18 am

    WOW! This article was so inspiring, just so much we can do with FB fan pages! I’m inspired and encouraged to do so much now.

  94. 114
    Charlotte
    July 30th, 2010 6:14 am

    This may have changed, but FB told me in order to get a bespoke fan page, you needed a £50k ad spend with them. Then they give you an iframe from which you can link to your pages, which can be hosted on whatever server you like. It’s quite flexible if you have a big client.

  95. 115
    James McLeod
    August 8th, 2010 12:50 am

    Facebook pages are truly amazing. I’ve been creating them for ages and I’m still pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. This article is inspiring from a big brands point of view but it’s also possible for businesses to get a page on Facebook on a shoestring budget.

    Check out my blog “Your Facebook Customers Need YOU!” on the Narvi Digital Media website for my views : http://bit.ly/bPKzcb

    - James

  96. 116
    Phil @ Bravo Charlie TV
    August 9th, 2010 5:46 am

    Excellent resource, thank you so much.

  97. 117
    shobhna
    August 11th, 2010 3:48 am

    Thanks!! very helpful

  98. 118
    charityjayne
    August 13th, 2010 4:39 am

    Just in time. Thanks, smashing mag!

  99. 119
    Arun B
    August 15th, 2010 8:40 pm

    Hi,
    You may also want to look at http://www.facebook.com/thinklive

    thanks
    Arun

  100. 120
    Spyros
    August 26th, 2010 7:21 am

    Wow…I think I will forward to this post to our designer so he can redo our companys fan page. I still find it amazing how powerful and influential Facebook has become. It has a become a hobby for some people which is quite sad if you think about it. I can’t see it being replaced anytime soon…unfortunately.

  101. 121
    Biden Silars
    August 29th, 2010 6:05 am

    Many of these screenshots were made BEFORE Facebook changed the default page width from 760px to 520px. Facebbok wants more attention on their advertisments. I do regret this point of view…

  102. 122
    Jerky Oats
    August 29th, 2010 4:09 pm

    Thank you for this very useful article. Social networking platforms such as facebook are really beginning to open new doors to online marketing by integrating web design within itself.

    It’s not enough to just design websites anymore they need to communicate with their audience and perform.

    Jerky Oats

  103. 123
    njmehta
    September 1st, 2010 6:54 am

    Designing A Facebook Fan Page: Showcases, Tutorials, Resources – Smashing Magazine

  104. 124
    Shahnur Arefin
    September 2nd, 2010 9:36 am

    Hello everyone,
    I want to add twitter feed in my facebook fanpage.
    Like
    http://www.facebook.com/marismith

    Please need help asap.

  105. 125
    Syed Balkhi
    September 6th, 2010 9:12 am

    You missed two great ones:

    http://facebook.com/gary (Gary has a great fb page)

    and then ofcourse mine

    http://facebook.com/wpbeginner

  106. 126
    Michael Eh?
    September 6th, 2010 12:38 pm

    This is kind of moot since Facebook has changed to width of fanpage FBML pages from 780 to 520… got to have more room for ads. I did use the free template and played with it. Now the fun to rework it to the new dimensions.

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