So, how do we go about setting up the page so that the user must become a fan/like it before they can view the content? Well, just follow these simple steps…

1. Setup the Facebook Page
If you have not already got a page setup, simply goto Facebook.com/Pages and hit the “Create Page” button. I’d suggest taking some time to consider the best name for the page, because once its chosen, you cannot change it at a later date (I’ve found this out the hard way, gaining hundreds of fans for a page, then realising I’d have been better off with a different name!). Once you’ve chosen the best name, do the usual stuff, such as adding a nice juicy image and adding a welcome spiel to the page.

2. Add Static FBML Application
Facebook Markup Language (FBML) is basically a language very similar to HTML, but for, you guessed it… Facebook! It allows you to do all sorts of funky things on additional tabs for your Facebook page and a great example of how it could be used is the BUCS page. In order to use FBML on your page, I’d suggest installing the Static FBML app. To do this, either search for “static fbml” on facebook, or go straight to the app page here. Then just select “Add to my page” below the app’s logo and choose the page you’d like to add it to. Now, browse back to your page, and you’ll see that a tab called “Boxes” has appeared. What I tend to do is hit the “+” button to the right of that and select”FBML” from the dropdown list.

Once you’ve added the application, you can remove all the tabs you don’t really need. I remove all of them (apart from the info tab as that’s not removable). To remove a tab, select it, then select the pencil next to the title, then select “Delete Tab”

3. Spruce up the FBML Tab
First things first, you want to rename the tab to something relevant. To do this, goto the page’s wall (or homepage I guess) and select “Edit Page” under the page’s image. Then scroll down to find the FBML tab, and click “Edit”.

You will then be confronted with two fields; the tab’s title and the actual FBML. Rename the tab by simply changing the title. Now you can get onto the actual FBML’ing that makes your content hidden. What I tend to do is create a quick blurb explaining why the user wants to become a fan/like the page, it could be that they receive a discount for my service, or it could be that they simply get access to the funniest image in the history of the internet, whatever your reason is, make it clear at this stage. So begin the FBMl with the quick blurb (this content will be visible to everyone). Follow this by telling the visitor that they must hit “Like” to view the content. You then need to use the <fb:visible-to-connection> tag to hide any content you wish hidden. Below is an image of a very simple example of how it could be done.

4. Make it the default tab
The final step is to make the tab the default tab. To do this, browse to the page’s wall and hit “Settings”, then just choose your new tab as the page’s default tab. Now whenever a non-fan visits your page they will see this tab first, prompting them to “Like” the page.

So, if you have a Facebook Page for your website or business, why not have a think about how you could increase your fan numbers by hiding some content? In the run up to the grand national, I created around 30 locally targeted pages (such as “You know you live in Aberdeen when…”) and managed to achieve just shy of 900,000 fans, I then promoted various Bookmaker deals to these fans and did very well in terms of commission! Good Luck with your pages, and I’d love to hear if this tip helped increase your fan numbers.