Free Pinterest Tab App for Facebook Pages

Posted on April 16, 2012 by Aanjulena

Woobox just launched a free Pinterest Tab App to showcase your Pinterest boards and pins on your Facebook page, just as they look on the actual Pinterest site!

If you’re an avid Pinterest user like myself, I’m sure you have no trouble imagining how excited we are about launching this app. Here’s a link to install a new Pinterest Tab, and it only takes a minute: http://woobox.com/pinterest/install

Sephora Pinterest Tab

Over the past few months, there have been a number of blog posts with instructions for how to add a Pinterest tab to your page.  While some of them worked to an extent (albeit not as aesthetically pleasing as the ‘real’ Pinterest), most recently, those methods have stopped working altogether. Whether or not you noticed, Pinterest broke the method most people were using to put their Pinterest boards and pins on a Facebook page. It’s a little technical, but basically Pinterest stopped allowing their pages to be loaded in an IFRAME, which is required for it to work on Facebook.

The visual aspect of Pinterest is one of the biggest draws for users, and this new app allows brands to display their pinboards on Facebook just as they appear on Pinterest. This app is completely free and very easy to use; in fact, the only requirement for set-up is a Pinterest username.

Jillian Michaels Pinterest Tab - Pinspirations Board

How To Set Up Your Pinterest Tab

  1. Install the Pinterest Tab App to your Facebook Page by clicking the Install link: http://woobox.com/pinterest/install
  2. Input your Pinterest username, which is the last part of your profile URL;  http://pinterest.com/username/
  3. To display the pins from an individual board, just select the second option “Show Pins from Selected Board,” and input the board’s URL; http://pinterest.com/username/board-name/
  4. Click Save Settings and you’re all done!  Enjoy the app!

The new Pinterest Tab App for Facebook Pages has a number of features that optimize the user experience:

  • Ability to display all boards from a profile, or just the pins from one board
  • Hourly updates of pins, boards, and follower counts
  • Links out to Pinterest website to repin, like, and comment on individual pins
  • Connection to Pinterest profile making it easy for users to follow pinboards
  • FanGate option to requires visitors “Like” the page before they can view the tab
  • Optional display of Facebook’s “Like” and “Send” buttons for sharing individual pins with friends

Although it’s only been available for a short time, the Pinterest Tab App has already been installed on thousands of Facebook Pages.   Check out live examples of the app from early adopters such as Sephora, Jillian Michaels, ULTA Beauty, Cinema Blend, The Dallas Cowboys Fan Club, and FreshDirect.

Find out more about the new app at http://woobox.com/pinterest.   Plus, make sure you don’t miss out on our future announcements by following @Woobox on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in Launch, New Feature | Tagged , , , , , , , |

How to stop your Facebook Page tab images from randomly changing

Posted on March 16, 2012 by George

We’ve had numerous Woobox customers tell us that page tab images are randomly changing to another page’s custom tab image. This is happening without any interaction. After a tab image is set, sometimes when you go back to it later the image that appears is different.  We’ve tried to figure out what is causing this bug on Facebook’s end and how you might be able to fix it.  With think we have answers to both those questions.

Why are your tab images randomly changing?
Here is what we believe is happening:  There appears to be a limit of 10,000 tab images for a Facebook app.  When a tab image gets uploaded a number between 0 and 9999 gets assigned to the tab image to use in the image URL.  The last part of the image URL is what seems to be randomly allocated and limited from 0 to 9999. For apps with large numbers of users like the Woobox Static Iframe Tab, users quickly fill up the allotted 10,000 slots and when new tab images are uploaded, it overrides an existing tab image which then changes the image on the original page.  It also prevents you from seeing the new image you upload since it is cached on their servers with the old image for a period of time.

How can you stop tab images from changing?
The only solution we’ve come up with is to set up your own custom Facebook apps hosted on our system. When you set up your own apps, only you are uploading tab images for that app reducing the chance of this happening.  Every Facebook app can be installed once for each page.  Using these instructions, you can set up as many custom page tab apps as you like, hosted on Woobox servers.  It’s completely free to set up and use a custom app, and you can even change the tab icon when you do it this way.  It’s currently the only way to reduce the possibility of your custom tab images changing.   The other option is not to use a custom tab image until this Facebook bug is fixed.

We’ve submitted a bug report and you can subscribe to it here to ensure that you are notified when Facebook fixes the issue.

Check out this and more with your own Woobox account; and keep yourself up to date in the future by following @WooboxApp on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in Uncategorized |

New Shareable Tab URLs Send Users Straight to Your Facebook Page Tabs

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Aanjulena

With the new Timeline for Facebook Pages, you’ve lost the ability to set default landing tabs.  This makes it more important to drive users directly into your FanGate tabs and we’re announcing a feature to do just that.  Every Woobox HTML Page Tab now has its own unique shareable URL to bypass the Timeline and take a user straight into a tab.  Unlike Facebook’s long tab URLs, Woobox tab URLs let you customize your Open Graph data to select a title, description, and image for each page tab.

All Woobox HTML Tabs now have Shareable Tab URLs

Have you ever tried to share a Facebook tab URL? By default, when users share a Facebook page tab’s URL (using the old, inconvenient copy & paste method with the full browser URL), the information posted is the page’s name and description along with the profile picture.  Nothing in that share post was specific to the custom tab.  Now, with the new sharing options for your Woobox Custom Tabs, you can input a custom share title, description, and image.  Use the shorter, easy-to-share tab URL and post a status update with a link to your tab that will show up in the News Feed of your page’s fans.  You can find your tab’s unique shareable URL under the Page Tab Share Settings section of your Tab Settings screen.

Share Dialog - Share Post

Add a Share Button to Let Visitors Share Your Tab with Friends

In addition to the new tab urls, make it easy for visitors to share the tab with their friends by including a Share button at the top of your tab content area!  Just click the checkbox for Show Share button at top of Tab.

Share Button

Setting up Your Share Button & Shareable Tab URL

First, if you aren’t already using Woobox’s Static IFRAME Tab App to add custom tabs to your page, install it now.  It’s totally free!  To configure your own custom tab’s Share Dialog, add a Share button to your tab, and get the Shareable Tab URL, go to your Tab Settings and edit the Page Tab Share Settings section (shown below).  Click the checkbox next to Show Share button at top of Tab to enable a share button that all visitors can use to share your tab with their friends.

Share Dialog - Edit

A lot of people are concerned about the lack of a default landing tab option in Timeline for Facebook Pages.  Because this is no longer an option, it is more important than ever to be able to customize the Share Dialog for your tabs, and to be able to easily share the individual custom tab.  This new feature set allows you to do just that, so when visitors want to share your custom tab with their friends, you get to dictate what will be posted with that link.

Check out this and more with your own Woobox account; and keep yourself up to date in the future by following @WooboxApp on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in New Feature | Tagged , , , , , , |

All Woobox Apps Now Support Wide Facebook Page Tabs

Posted on March 5, 2012 by George

Looking to run sweepstakes, contests, coupons, and giveaways that take advantage of the full width of Facebook’s new Page layout?  All Woobox apps now support 810 pixel wide format mode.

When creating a new offer or editing an existing one you’ll see a new option that lets you select 520px wide or 810px wide offers.  When you enable the 810px wide format, you can upload images for your offers or use HTML to create your own custom entry forms in the full width of the new Facebook Page tab format.

In addition to our offer apps (Sweepstakes, Coupons, Group Deals, Rewards, etc.) full 810px width mode is also supported on our very popular HTML fan-gate tab app (http://woobox.com/statichtml).

Enjoy the new wide format, or if you want to keep using 520px width go right ahead.  We plan to continue to offer the option for 520px mode.  The smaller size still works in Facebook Page tabs and is a nice size for mobile offers and website embeds.

Check out this and more with your own Woobox account; and keep yourself up to date in the future by following @WooboxApp on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in New Feature | Tagged , , , , |

Facebook: Like refresh issue will be fixed soon.

Posted on March 3, 2012 by George

Great news for everyone waiting to see what will happen with the Like refresh issue on the new Timeline for Pages.  Facebook confirmed today that this is a bug and the fix will be in place soon.

This Like refresh issue prevents the page from refreshing when the Like button is clicked on the new wide format page tabs.   If you rely on that refresh to show different content to users after they like your page, the user currently has to refresh the page on their own making for a poor user experience.  If you’ve already upgraded to Timeline and have live fangate campaigns, it shouldn’t be long before they are working as you expect.

You can subscribe to the bug here to receive an email update from Facebook’s systems when they mark the bug fixed.

Update 3/7/2012: Facebook implemented changes today to fix this issue.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , |

Don’t Enable Timeline on Your Facebook Page Yet. Here’s Why.

Posted on February 29, 2012 by George

Facebook has just started letting pages convert to the new timeline format.   In case you’ve missed the details here they are: http://www.facebook.com/about/pages We thought it would be a good chance to tell you how this will affect your Woobox tabs.

There are good things and bad things about the changes.  At this point we are telling customers not to upgrade. The bad outweigh the good.  Please read below.  Facebook will not force the upgrade until March 30th.  Perhaps by then the issues will be resolved.

The Good

Larger, wider tabs.  More space to work with.
Previously, page tabs were 520px wide, but with the new layout you have 810px of content area to use.  We’ve already enabled 810px wide mode on our HTML tab (install it here: http://woobox.com/statichtml)  This lets you use HTML, Images, or external URLs

for the content of your tab and lets you fan gate the content.

New Larger Tab Icons/Images
You can now set images up to 111px x 74px to promote your tab app.  You can change these image by selecting the Pencil in the upper right corner of the tab image and selecting Edit Settings.   Then simply change the Custom Tab Image setting.

Existing Tabs Display
While they don’t fill up the entire tab area, the old format 520px wide tabs still display in the new format.

The Bad

Default Landing Tab: Where is it?
It appears as part of the migration to the new layout, Facebook has removed the ability to automatically send a user to a specified tab application on your page.  All users now see your wall, both fans and non-fans.  It’s unclear if this is a permanent change or just an oversight, we’ll keep you posted.  Update: Looks like this is going to be a permanent change.

No Refresh on Likes
This is a very big issue for running fan-gated promotions and for this reason I would recommend you do not upgrade to Timeline for Pages early.  When a non-fan clicks Like on your tab, currently Facebook does not refresh the page so we can not automatically show the new fan content.  You would have to prompt the fan to refresh their page manually.   It is hard to believe this won’t be fixed, but currently it is the main reason not to upgrade.  Update: While not fixed yet (as of 3/2),  Facebook has confirmed this is a bug and will be fixed shortly!  Update (3/7): This bug is now fixed!

What’s Next?
We’ve already rolled out wide format tabs on our HTML tab apps and are finalizing the changes to the offer apps to enable wide format.  We’ll keep you posted but expect Woobox to take advantage of all the new opportunities created by these changes and try to work around the bad if Facebook doesn’t resolve those issues..

Check out this and more with your own Woobox account; and keep yourself up to date in the future by following @WooboxApp on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , |

Bonus Entries for Facebook & Twitter Sweepstakes via Shared Link

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Aanjulena

There’s a new option for Sweepstakes offers that doesn’t require Facebook permissions to award Bonus Entries!  Now, you can choose to “Award n bonus entries per user that clicks and enters from entrant’s share link.”  With this feature,  users share a unique tracking link to your sweepstakes and get Bonus Entries for anyone that enters after clicking their shared link.  The new Bonus Entries option is available for both Facebook and Twitter-based Sweepstakes offers; and it’s a great incentive to encourage people to share your promotion more often, in more places!

Bonus Entries via Unique Share Link

Awarding Bonus Entries for Facebook Friends Who Enter

This is the original method used with the Bonus Entries feature; and with this option, additional entries are awarded when a user’s Facebook friends enter the contest after them.  Because the Bonus Entries are based on an entrant’s Facebook friends, enabling this method requires a Facebook permissions dialog to authorize the Sweepstakes app.  This feature has worked very well to create a viral effect for offers, and the average share rate with this option is over 60 percent when used with the other viral features such as the automatic Share dialog popup window.   There are a number of benefits to this method, including a more game-like feel to Bonus entries.  Since everyone who is already entered automatically gets bonus entries from all Facebook friends that enter, it generates more Bonus Entries overall and creates more opportunities for entrants to get excited about inviting and sharing with friends repeatedly as they see their bonus entry counts grow fast.

Awarding Bonus Entries for Entrants via Unique Shared URL

The new option for Bonus Entries has its own benefits that we are very excited to announce.  First of all, using this option removes the need for entrants to grant any Facebook permissions to the app.  Because the bonus entries are based on a unique sharing URL, there is no need for the app to access a person’s friend list, as with the Facebook friends method.  This also means that bonus entries will be awarded for anyone who enters through the unique share link — they don’t even have to be Facebook friends with the person.  Additionally, this new method allows you to award bonus entries in your Twitter offers!

Bonus Entries via Shared URL on Twitter

How Does It Work?

Awarding bonus entries based on the shared link is done by creating a unique URL for each person who enters the contest.  This URL is automatically generated and simply adds a five character tracking code to the Woobox Shareable Offer URL.  For example, an offer with the short URL http://woobox.com/123abc would turn into http://woobox.com/123abc/456de — with the unique share code (456de) added to the regular short URL.  Bonus entries are shown in the Entry Export File the same way regardless of what option you choose to use for your offer (the from_email column shows the email address given by the person whose entry generated the bonus entry for the original entrant).

This new feature provides another great opportunity for maximizing the viral effect of your contests if you don’t want to require Facebook permissions, plus it works with Twitter sweepstakes!

Check out this and more with your own Woobox account; and keep yourself up to date in the future by following @WooboxApp on Twitter and becoming a fan of our Facebook page.

Posted in New Feature | Tagged , , , , , , |

Coupons Help Guide

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Aanjulena

Here’s the latest addition to the Woobox series of informational presentations; created to help users understand how Woobox promotions work, and to aid in maximizing the success of your offers.

You can use the following link to view or share the presentation: http://portal.sliderocket.com/AZCEO/CouponAnatomy

Get started with your own Coupons promotions now by logging in to your Woobox account (or signing up for an account) and then adding an offer! You can create as many offers as you want, and even issue up to 50 vouchers per month for free! If you haven’t already subscribed to a Woobox Pro plan, make sure to upgrade your account and check out our other offer types, including Sweepstakes, Rewards, and Group Deals!

Still have questions? Check out the Woobox Community Support forum; and be the first to know about new features, updates, and helpful information when you “Like” Woobox on Facebook and follow @WooboxApp on Twitter!

Posted in Tips | Tagged , , , , , , |

Set Your Sweepstakes to Allow “One Entry per Email per Day”

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Aanjulena

We’ve expanded your options for Sweepstakes entry settings!  Now you can restrict entries for a Sweepstakes offer to just one entry per email address each day.  This setting is similar to the “One entry per Facebook user per day” option that many Woobox users take advantage of regularly within their contests.  You can change the One entry per User setting under the Entry Page section of the offer’s Edit Sweepstakes page.

One entry per User >> Options Dropdown

Probably the most exciting benefit of running a Sweepstakes with the “One entry per Email Address per day” setting is that it can help you drive more traffic to your page from both new and returning visitors!  It can be tough to get return visits to your page if you don’t have big news or changes every day, but this entry restriction gives people the encouragement they need to come back day after day throughout any given offer.

If you enable the automatic Share popup dialogue as well, entrants will be prompted to share a Wall Post every single time they enter.  The opportunity to earn bonus entries is also a great motivator for sharing, so you can see that there is a lot of added visibility and viral potential for offers that utilize all of these features!

TIP: Make sure to let your visitors and entrants know that they can submit an additional entry every day, increasing their chances of winning.  A great place to do this would be in the Post-Entry Page content.

Post-Entry Page for One Entry per Email per Day Sweepstakes

If you haven’t done so already, sign up for a free Woobox account; then create a Sweepstakes offer in Preview Mode, and when it’s ready to go, just upgrade your plan level to launch the Sweepstakes!

Follow @WooboxApp on Twitter and check out our Facebook page for future update announcements, and make sure to let us know what you think!

Posted in New Feature, Tips | Tagged , , , , , , , |

Introducing Custom HTML Forms for Woobox Promotions

Posted on January 11, 2012 by Aanjulena

Customizing your Woobox entry pages is now only limited by your imagination.  By using our new HTML Form option, you can replace our standard forms with your own completly custom input forms.  You can use any input fields you like, require them, and set custom error messages.   All user input will be automatically stored in the Woobox export file for your promotion.  You can still use all of our great viral features with custom forms such as bonus entries when friends enter, multi-page required liking, bonus entries for liking, and more.  The first campaign run with this new feature was the “Postcard from South Africa” Sweepstakes by South African Airways (shown below).  If you’d like to see some live examples try this Smoothie King Campaign or this one.

Custom Form in Entry Page

This new feature works just like FormGate in the custom tabs. You can follow these step-by-step instructions for creating and using HTML forms.  For those of you who want to get a little more complex with the in-offer forms, or if you just need a little more guidance with writing the basic code, you can also check out the chapter on HTML Forms & Input from W3Schools.com.  If you want to get really advanced, you can also use Javascript with your forms.

To add a custom form, in the Edit section of your offer, simply select HTML as the option for the Entry/Offer Page setting and add your HTML.  When you do this, the form input code will be automatically detected, and the default Woobox entry form will be hidden.

Example of Custom Form & Code for Entry Page

As with the usual form fields that you add to an offer, your custom HTML form fields and their details (rules, error message) will be shown in the Form Fields tab of your offer.  Additionally, the submitted information will be available in the downloadable export file that you can view with your favorite spreadsheet program.

Form Fields Tab for Offer with Custom HTML Form

This new feature provides an infinite number of options in terms of design, as you can see in the South African Airways Sweepstakes and live examples above.  You can use custom forms with any account level, and it’s available for use within all offer types.  Get started now by adding a new offer!

Remember, now that Woobox offers Preview Mode, even users with a Free account can create and test any type of offer (only available for viewing by admins) before purchasing a paid plan starting at $29.  So feel free to test out the Custom HTML Form feature within Woobox’s different offer types; then when you decide to run a promotion, just upgrade your account and your offer will be ready to go!

Want to know more about Woobox and be up to date on all future changes?  Just make sure to “Like” us on Facebook and follow @wooboxapp on Twitter to see our latest and greatest news, plus other tips and information to help you create and maintain successful social promotions!

Posted in New Feature, Tips | Tagged , , , , , , |