Bye, bye Facebook Page Tabs! Here are 3 better ways to publish

Using Facebook's Page Tab Apps for campaigns has long been on the decline. Most brands don’t even bother with them anymore. Instead, folks are publishing campaigns in locations that are easier to access. Outside of Page Tab Apps, ShortStack allows you to publish campaigns:

• As standalone landing pages;
• By embedding on your website; and
• Using your own custom domain.

Plus, you can run contests on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook that don’t require you to publish campaigns at all using our feeds feature and comment importer.In this post, I’ll explain why Facebook Page Tab Apps aren’t the best option for your business, and the benefits of our other publishing options. Also, you will learn more about using feeds and our comment importer.

Why You Don’t Need to Publish to Facebook

Facebook Page Tab Apps had their moment. Truth be told, we’ve been working on steering folks away from publishing directly to Facebook for a long time. Why? There are a few reasons. Over the years, Page Tab Apps have fallen out of favor due to changes in how folks access the Facebook platform, updates to the Facebook algorithm and the popularity of social media sites other than Facebook.Facebook doesn't show Page Tab Apps on mobile devices; however, most people access Facebook via mobile. Reports vary, but 65 to 90% of people use Facebook on their mobile devices compared to 25 to 37% of Facebook users who access Facebook on desktop computers. This means that a majority of people visiting your Facebook Page wouldn’t see the Page Tab Apps. Because of this, you need to use a URL that displays a mobile version of your Page Tab App outside of Facebook and you need to post this URL in a place where mobile users can access it (often in a status update on your Facebook Page). This defeats the purpose of using a Page Tab App.

A majority of people visiting your Facebook Page wouldn’t see the Page Tab Apps.

Likewise, Facebook has updated how people interact with Facebook Pages and see your content. For example, in the past Pages could Like-gate content, but several years ago they removed the ability for pages to prevent folks from seeing content before they Like the Page. Furthermore, the Newsfeed algorithm from Facebook has changed numerous times over the years, keeping marketers guessing whether or not Page content will be seen by users.Changes in the popularity of Facebook compared with other social media sites has declined. According to one study, Facebook’s U.S. users have fallen by 15 million since 2017. This may be caused by users losing trust in Facebook due to security breaches or users finding content elsewhere more engaging. Instead, folks are moving to platforms like Instagram, which saw a 9% increase in users from 2016 to 2019. These changes make omni-channel campaigns more attractive.

Facebook’s U.S. users have fallen by 15 million since 2017

For all the campaigns published by ShortStack customers last year, only 0.2% of views received by those campaigns were on Facebook Page Tab Apps. That’s right—0.2%. Now, many brands are seeking alternatives to publishing marketing campaigns directly to Facebook as Page Tab apps.

Better Options for Publishing

If you don’t publish a campaign to Facebook, where exactly DO you publish it? ShortStack focuses on omni-channel publishing methods. Instead of Facebook, most of our customers are embedding campaigns on their websites and publishing campaigns as standalone landing pages. Likewise, the release of our custom domain option has opened new doors for folks looking for white-label campaigns and SEO benefits.

Landing Page

The easiest way to publish a ShortStack campaign is via a landing page. Each landing page has a unique Campaign URL assigned by ShortStack. Landing pages are:

• Easy to publish;
• Mobile responsive; and
• Available on all ShortStack plans.

However, landing pages don’t have the brand awareness and SEO advantages of the following publication methods.

Landing pages are mobile responsive

Embedding

Another publishing option is to embed your campaign. There are a couple ways to embed. You can either embed your campaign directly inline with the rest of your content on your website, or you can embed it as a popup. Embedding allows you to include your ShortStack campaigns on your website and promotes brand awareness.

Campaign embedded inline

Custom Domain

Using a custom domain is your best bet for a completely white-label campaign. Custom domains allow you to use your own custom branded URLs. They have SEO benefits and allow for seamless sharing of content via share URLs with your own domain. Even though custom domains require a bit of time for initial setup, they are easy to implement once the domain has been verified within ShortStack.

BONUS: Try contests that don’t require a campaign!

Not looking to create an entire campaign? A comment or hashtag contest might be up your alley.

Hashtag contests allow you to collect Instagram or Twitter posts as entries. To enter, folks simply post to Instagram or Twitter with the contest #hashtag. These entries are automatically pulled in via the contest feed.Comment contests pull in comments from your Facebook or Instagram posts as entries. This is perfect for someone who wants to increase engagement on Facebook or Instagram.

TL;DR?

Facebook campaigns are out. Greater flexibility is in. Try a standalone landing page, embedding a campaign on your website or using a custom domain instead. Otherwise, if you want to run a contest directly on a social media platform, Instagram and Twitter hashtag contests or Facebook and Instagram comment contests might be right for you. Questions? Just shoot us an email at theteam@shortstacklab.com

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