How To Add A Facebook Fan Box To Your WordPress Blog

Facebook has an application that allows you to place a Facebook Connect widget on your website or blog that links directly to your Facebook fan page.

This Facebook marketing tip will show you exactly how to add a Facebook Fan Box to your blog or website. What this means is that you will be able to attract more Fans to your Facebook page and your prospective fans will instantly see your stream and your other Fans and get some idea about what type of content you will be sharing.

Set Up A Facebook Page

Now, you need to have a Facebook Fan page in order to use this application, so just scroll to the bottom of your Facebook profile and click on “advertising” and then select the “pages” tab and then select “Create A Page”. You will find full instructions on how to create your page there.

Once you have your fan page set up you can create your fan widget by going to your admin panel, from your page you just click the link Edit Page link that is below your Fan Page Image/Logo.

Select “Add Fan Box” Box from your Admin Panel.

Add a Fan Box

Now select your Fan page from the drop down menu and Facebook will show you a preview of what your Fan Box will look like. If you want to make it smaller just un-check the boxes that say “include stream” and “include fans” (this might be necessary if you want to improve the load time of your blog or website or if you are limited for space). Next…

Copy The Java Script Code and Copy / Paste the Code

Now select all the code by highlighting it (CTRL A, CTRL C (pc) CMD A, CMD C (mac)) and copy it to your clip board. If you are a techie and want to find out a bit more about customizing your widget, you can click on “advanced options” and you will be taken to Facebook developers, where they have detailed instructions on how to add a fan box.

Now, go to your blog and log into your admin section. I use WordPress, but the technique should be similar on other platforms.

Add A New Text Widget

From your WP dashboard, select appearance and then select “Widgets.” Now create a new text widget.

Depending on which version of WordPress you are using this will be slightly different. If you have WordPress 2.8 just drag and drop a text widget to one of your sidebars and place it where you want it to appear. If your blog theme is enabled with footer widgets, you might want to place it there, as Javascript and Facebook connects are notorious for slowing down your blog load times

Paste The Code Into Your Widget

Now paste the code from Facebook into your text widget and remember to click Save.

Now Go And See What It Looks Like! Click on view site and see what your new Facebook Fan Box looks like. That’s it, all done, and it wasn’t too painful was it?

The main advantage of having a Facebook fan box is that your visitors can become Fans immediately as long as they are already signed into Facebook. Before this, it was a two step process where you had to take people to your Fan page and then convince them to click on the “become a fan” button

What I like even more, is that I can see immediately what content is being shared on a Fan page and who the other members are. All the links are clickable, so some marketers might say this is a leak to having visitors staying on your blog.

I personally disagree. I think people are more likely to come back to your blog, engage with your content and be able to quickly scan your Fan page stream without having to visit Facebook. If they do decide to leave, you have some control over the links that they will visit.

Getting Your Community Connected

The advantages of having your community connected with each other are immense. The more networked your Fans are, the more effect any fan interactions will have on Facebook’s news feed. People will see if their friends are commenting or liking the content that you are publishing in your Facebook stream. Your aim is to create and own an integrated network of Fans where information and news spreads rapidly and your fan page is the center and hub that this revolves around.

Hope this Facebook marketing tip helps you grow your list of fans.

About The Author

Carol Hansen, a Twitter specialist focusing on building and monetizing your network. You can connect with Carol on Twitter or Facebook and follow her latest projects, blog posts and cool tips on building and monetizing your Twitter following.

About The Author

Dali Burgado, also known as "The Dali Blogger" teaches creative entrepreneurs how to carve a web presence that connects with their Inner Guru and their target audience. Her first online marketing love is SEO. She's an avid connector on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+. When she's not coaching or teaching, she's tweaking sites for Search Engine Visibility, working on her PHP and Javascript coding skills, Singing Opera, or learning about gardening. Circle Dali on Google+