Facebook applications

Facebook applications are an excellent and flexible way of passing on your marketing message to people who wouldn't normally know who you are or what you do.

This is an example of Facebook quiz which I have developed using a third party tool called Application Builder.

In a later post I will explain how this was produced and how you can make your own Facebook applications without needing extensive technical skills ... it really is very easy, and you're guided through the process step-by-step.

First though, here's how my application 'What Kind Of Time Waster Are You?' works.

The quiz can be found in the applications directory.

Any Facebook user can find it, install it, take the quiz, display the results and pass it on to their friends.

This is how it looks if you do a search for it in the directory:

By clicking on 'View application' you are taken to the information page, which tells you more about the quiz, the developer, people who are using it and so on.

There's also a discussion board there, a review area and a place to post comments.

By clicking on 'Go to this application' you are taken to the quiz itself.

As I've used a third party application to create this quiz, rather than build my own quiz from scratch, I have to tolerate somebody else's adverts on my page.

This is the penalty we have to pay for not having the coding skills to make Facebook applications on our own!

You take the quiz, click on submit, and then your answers are sorted to generate one of the fun responses I've created.

This is where things get really clever and viral in a web marketing sense.

Here's how your quiz outcome looks on the screen ...

Notice how you can publish this result to your Facebook profile.

When that happens, all your Facebook friends can automatically see that you've taken the quiz and have a go themeselves.

However, note first that the quiz taker is taken to a new marketing page which you can customize with your personal marketing message.

In this case they are invited to 'Stop being a time waster' and use some of that time more productively to learn something new.

By clicking on the words 'Take the next step now' they are taken out of the Facebook site to a landing page on this website.

The beauty of Facebook applications is in the way that users can freely pass them around between themsleves, and before you know it hundreds of users can be using your marketing tool.

Notice the viral functions when my quiz result is added to my personal Facebook page.

Facebook friends can comment, indicate that they like the quiz, see other quizzes, take my quiz or see friends' results ... and so it goes on and on, being passed from person to person.

In addition, you can make the results of this quiz a permanent part of your profile page as in the screen grab below:

As far as Facebook applications go, this is a pretty neat way of passing around your marketing message.

Paul Teague's Profile | Create your badge

Return from Facebook applications to Website marketing strategies

Return to Home Internet Businesses homepage