PhotoShelter member David Calvert stops by to teach us how to pimp our Facebook ride with large-format slide shows and customized landing pages.We gave it a test-drive on the PhotoShelter Fan Page. Don't be afraid of the code - it's not that hard!
By David Calvert
I was an early adopter to Facebook. Just out of high school, when most of my friends were following bands on MySpace, I was embracing the simple user interface, white space and uniformity of Facebook. Like most teenagers, I viewed the site narrowly. It was strictly social.
I'm now 24, and like many of you, running my own photography business. In the past few years, Facebook has exploded, becoming much more than a place to share embarrassing photos of friends. Today, it's the most powerful social network on the web. The Facebook network represents huge amounts of social capital, capital anyone can tap into to grow their photography business and brand online.
Aside from having personal profiles, many of us small business owners now have a
Facebook Fan Page as well. They come with familiar standard features like a wall, an info tab, photos, video, links, etc. Most are uniform, but some Fan Pages:
Best Buy,
Victoria's Secret,
Nokia for example, offer a unique customized experience that starts on their landing page. When you arrive, instead of a wall, you see a mini-Web site within the Facebook interface.
Anyone with a Fan Page can create a customized landing page. Here's how...
Adding The Static FBML AppThe tabs atop your Fan Page
are apps. Some are built into Facebook, like the wall, others are
developed by third parties to promote their service like YouTube.
To create a custom app, install the
"Static FBML" app 
Click "Add to my Page."
From
there, a pop-up window will open asking you which Fan Page (if you have
more than one) you'd like to add the FBML app to. After you choose, the
pop-up window will close and you'll need to access your Fan Page.