TidalWave Introduces Two New Features to Facilitate the Promotion of your Apps on Facebook

TidalWave has added two new features to the Promotion dialog in order to help you quickly and easily navigate the posting of your Promotions on Facebook. You can now opt to quickly publish your App to a page with a message, using TidalWave’s own built-in Promotion tool versus using Facebook’s somewhat cumbersome Share this post feature.

In addition, you can now easily add a Photo to your post. Ever wonder how people make those lovely posts with a nice image, text and a link to their App. Before now, it was done manually. TidalWave has streamlined this so you can quickly create a post which will include your graphic, text and link!

This article assumes you have already created an App with TidalWave.

To promote a post to your fan page with a picture:

1. Navigate to TidalWave.
2. Right-click on the App you want to promote and select Promote from the subsequent menu.

   

3. Select the ‘Post a picture to my fan page’ radio button then click on the ‘Click to Select Pages to Post to’ button that appears.
4. In the subsequent dialog, a listing of all the Pages you manage appears. Select the radio button next to the page on which you want your posting to appear. Click the OK button once you have made your selection.
5. Next, enter the message you want to appear above the App link in the posting in the ‘Promotions Message’ edit control.
6. Now click the Promote button that is enabled at the top of the dialog.  A preview dialog opens, this is where you can set the  image you want to use for your post.
7. Click the Select Photo button and select from existing images or upload a new image by clicking the Upload button.
8. Once you have selected or uploaded your image click the OK button and your post will be promoted to your Facebook page.   Hint: Don’t worry the posting will be posted under your Fan Page identity.

To promote a post to your fan page:

1. Navigate to TidalWave.
2. Right-click on the App you want to promote and select Promote from the subsequent menu.
3. The Promotions dialog opens.
4. Select the ‘Post to my Fan Page’ radio button, then click on the ‘Click to Select Pages to Post to’ button that appears.
5. In the subsequent dialog, a listing of all the Pages you manage appears. Select the radio button next to the page on which you want your posting to appear. Click the OK button once you have made your selection.
6. Next, enter the message you want to appear above the App link in the posting in the ‘Promotions Message’ edit control.
7. Now click the Promote button that is enabled at the top of the dialog. A preview dialog appears, click OK to promote your post to your Fan Page. Hint: Don’t worry the posting will be posted under your Fan Page identity.

How to use TidalWave’s Donation Template to raise social awareness for your causes on Facebook.

Tis the season for giving right? Why not use TidalWave’s Donation template to raise awareness for your social causes!

For example, perhaps you have heard of Movember – the international movement calling for men to grow their mustaches for the month of November to raise awareness for men’s health (much to the chagrin of wives, girlfriends and partners around the world:)

Maybe you are trying to raise the last few dollars for your Movember campaign, but not getting the results you need with just Timeline posts, Why not create a snappy Donation campaign with TidalWave, it only takes a few minutes and will add panache to your ‘stache campaign!

Leave us some comments and let us know what causes inspire you!

1. Navigate to TidalWave. Click the ‘Create a New App’ button on the toolbar.
2. In the Create a New App dialog, select the DonationThe ‘Configure your App’ dialog opens.

• Enter a name for your App, for this example ‘Movember’.
• Enter a description for your App, for this example ‘Only a few days left, donate now!’
• Choose a layout for your App from the dropdown, for this example ‘Ribbon’
• Choose a color theme from the drop down, for this example ‘Blue’.
• Click the OK button to create your App.

3. Now, you are in the Application Editor. You can modify any of the text simply by clicking on it, and entering your own text in the Settings tab.
4. To make the App more appealing, add an image! A picture is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes!
5. Hover over the Image button in the Fields tab and drag and drop it in the left panel of your App. In this example, we will put it first so it draws attention.
6. Next, double click on the image placeholder, click the ‘Upload’ button on the toolbar, select your image and click OK. The image is placed on your App. Now you can use TidalWave’s image tools to modify the placement, size and whether you want a wrap on the image.

• Click on the middle button in the ‘Align’ control so your image is centered.
• Click on the M button in the ‘Image Size’ control, to size your image.
• Click the Off button in the ‘Image Wrap’ control, this ensures that text that comes below the won’t wrap around the image.
• Add a label for you image in the ‘Image Label’ control or leave it blank.

7. Next, click on the radio buttons below your image. Update each field with each donation amount. You can delete fields by clicking on the red X in the settings tab.
8. You can either add PayPal Payments to your donation App, click here for further information. If you already have a payment implementation, you can simply add a Label from the Fields tab and insert the link.

Did you know that TidalWave for Facebook has a built-in Fan Profiler and Response Viewer?

First of all, Happy Gobble Gobble Day to our friends in the USA! We hope you are enjoying a nice leisurely day with friends and family – preferably somebody else  is cooking and all you have to bring is the libations:)

We know that ‘reach’ and ‘engagement’ are terms you probably hear everyday, if not every hour.  TidalWave has features built-in that allow you to see at a glance which fans have answered your apps,  how many times they have answered your apps, you can even view an engagement score. This is all integrated into our platform, and the information is literally one click away.

Once a person has entered your promotion, contest, survey, etc., these responses are all entered into a database hosted by TidalWave, we make all of this transparent to you in our Reports Tab.  This article assumes you have already created an App with TidalWave.

1. Navigate to TidalWave. Click on the Reports Tab. Here, you will see a list of all your users, which Apps they have entered and the date they responded.

    

2. Simply Click the View button on the toolbar, to see the full response.

    

3. Click the close button after you have reviewed the response. From here, you can export all of your responses to a particular App, so you can further analyze the data in a spreadsheet or a database.
4. Select the Application from the drop down control and click the Export button on the toolbar.
5. The Download File dialog opens.

• Right click on the Download link and select ‘Save Link/File/Target as’ (this is dependent on which browser you are using) from the menu.
• Choose a location on your computer to which you want to save the file. Click the OK button to dismiss the dialog.
• You can then import the CSV file into any spreadsheet or database.

6. To see further information about your Fans, click on the Fans tab and click the View button on that toolbar. The Fan Profile dialog opens.

    

7. With just one click you can see the engagement history for each Fan, including an overall score for the number of times that a person has engaged with any of your Apps.
8. Let’s say you have a user that has a very high TW Engagement Score, this person has entered quite a few Apps. Maybe, you want to mark them as a VIP, so you can then offer them a bonus offer, coupon, free entry or other incentive.
9. Click the Fan Details button, the fan details dialog opens, simply enter a number or alphanumeric code and click the Save button.
10. This is especially useful when you do an export, as you can then sort by VIP number to see users that have been the most engaged at a glance.

How to Promote your TidalWave Tab Apps using both a Mobile and Desktop link

You’ve probably noticed that Facebook is making a big push into making Apps much more usable on mobile devices. We look forward to these improvements. Unfortunately, at this point, a Facebook Tab App URL won’t work on a mobile device. Try navigating to https://www.facebook.com/TidalWaveApp/app_132252616851904 on your mobile device. It won’t go anywhere. Facebook doesn’t want you to see Facebook Apps on mobile, but there’s a work around.

In order to engage all of your fans, we suggest you use both a Desktop and Mobile URL whenever you promote or post a link on your Facebook page.

What’s a Desktop URL? A Desktop URL is the URL that Facebook provides you with when you deploy a Tab App.https://www.facebook.com/TidalWaveApp/app_132252616851904

What’s a Mobile URL? A Mobile URL is the URL that TidalWave uses underneath the covers to display your App, e.g.https://app.tidalwaveapp.com/web_form.html?bf_context_id=6&bf_process_design_id=1425&application_id=1924

This article assumes you have already created and published an App.

1. Navigate to TidalWave. On the Apps Tab, select the Tab App that you want to promote, and hit the “Preview App” button.
2. A new browser will popup. Copy the URL in the browser onto the clipboard.
3. Return back to TidalWave. Now, right mouse click on the App that you want to promote and hit the Promote menu item on the ensuring context menu.
4. Next , choose the method by which you want to promote your App. In this example, select the  ’Post Using Facebook “Share this Link”radio button. Make sure to select the “Promote using a Mobile Link” checkbox!  Click the OK Button
5.  The Facebook Share this Link window will pop. Select the location where you want to share this link. The URL specified in in the window is your Mobile URL.
6. You now can add a promotional message.  Enter some text. Next, you’ll want to add a Desktop URL. Copy your Desktop URL in from the clipboard. https://www.facebook.com/pages/TW-Funktion-Auto/497699150260559?sk=app_295349543911559.  The link that is displayed next to the image is in fact the Mobile Link, so let’s just add some text for explanation, e.g. Mobile Users Click here – Photo Contest
7. Click on the Share this Link button. Your promotion message  on your wall should now look like the following. Clicking on the Desktop Users link will take you to the Tab App. Clicking on the Mobile Users link will take you to the  version that will work on mobile.

We realize that going through all of this is a tremendous pain. We are in the process of automating all of this.

How to leverage Facebook’s “Interest List” and “Get Notifications” features to ensure your Fans see your posts

Most likely, you’ve been seeing fewer posts in your Newsfeed from Facebook Pages that you’ve liked. If you’re a business and you’re using your Facebook Page as a marketing channel, this means fewer of your Fans are seeing your posts. What do you do? Well, you could either pay Facebook to promote your posts or you can try to educate your Fans so they’ll see all of your posts.

Let’s talk about the education choice. Facebook has recently introduced two new features on your Facebook Page that will enable your Fans to see all of your posts. These two features are Interest Lists and Get Notifications.

Interest Lists allow your Fans to subscribe to your page and organize information or updates that they receive into lists, so once a Fan adds your Page to a list, all they have to do to see all of your content at once, is click on the list in the left hand pane of their Facebook account.

Get Notifications ensures that your Fans will receive Notifications whenever you post an update. This ensures that they won’t miss out on any new contests or campaigns that you run.

As is typical of Facebook, the configuration of these new features requires a tutorial.

We’ll use TidalWave‘s own Facebook Page to illustrate this.

 How to add a Page to your Interest List and set Get Notifications:

1. Navigate to https://www.facebook.com/TidalWaveApp, make sure you have already Liked the page.
2. Click on the Liked button and a drop-down list appears.
3. Select Get Notifications from the menu. You are now automatically signed up to receive notifications whenever TidalWave makes a post.
4. Next, click on the Liked button again and select the Add to Interest Lists link.
5. If you haven’t already set up an Interest List , Facebook will guide you through this. Click the +New List option in the subsequent menu.
6. Select one of the existing categories or simply click the next button to give a name to your new Interest List.
7. Enter a name in the List Name edit control. You can now see that you have subscribed to TidalWave.
8. Click the Done button and you can see your new Interest List added to your page. Now, click on the link and you can see all the posts from TidalWave in a single shot!

Add incentives to your TidalWave Apps by using the new Referral feature

Today, TidalWave introduced a new and exciting feature, the Referral button! You now can now add incentives for your fans by offering them special bonuses or offers if they share  or invite their friends to participate in your offer! People can invite friends with a Facebook Notification, share your App on their Facebook Timeline, or send a Tweet!

1. Navigate to TidalWave.
2. If you haven’t already created an account, TidalWave will ask you to sign up.
3. In the Create a New App dialog, make your selections and click the OK button. (In this example we used the Sign Up App)
4. You are now in the App Editor. Click the Referral button in the Fields tab. You can also drag and drop it to any location on your form.
5. The referral button is added to your form and you are switched to the Settings tab.  Here you can specify the number of friends you want your fans to invite in order to receive the special offer. For this example, set it 2.
6. Customize your form by adding a label indicating what the referral will offer your users for sharing the App.
7. Next, click on the Advanced tab, this is where you can place an image or text with the extra incentive for referring your App to their friends. Check the ‘Customize Results Page’ check box and click the customize button that appears.
8. The Customize Results Dialog opens. Add an image explaining your offer, or simply add text!  For this example, we will offer a a buy one candy, get another free! You can also add a code for your offer. Click the OK button to save your changes.
   
9. Once you are done adding your bonus content, click the Save and Close button.
10. To see your new App in action and what your fans will experience, click the Preview button.

• Click on the Share link, this will post your App to your Timeline.
• Click on the Invite link, you can now choose which fans/friends you want to use your App.
• Click on the Tweet link, this will open a link to your Twitter account.

How to Increase Visibility of your TidalWave Tab App on your Facebook page.

To give your Tab App increased visibility on your Facebook page, you  should swap the App you created in TidalWave with one that resides in the top four positions on the Favorites bar.  This articles assumes that you have already created and published a TidalWave App.

To move your Tab App into one of the top four positions:

1. If you do not see your App initially, click the number/arrow icon to display all of your Apps. This also enables Facebook’s editing tools.
2. Mouse over your TidalWave App. Select the pencil icon that appears in the upper right hand corner of the Tab, a drop-down menu appears
3. Under the ‘Swap Position with’ section, you will see a list of of tabs that you can swap your App with, ie. Likes, Events, Notes, Videos etc.
4. Select the one that you want to swap from the drop-down list. You need to make sure it is one that appears in the first four positions.
5. Simple as that, your App is now front and center in the Tabs section of your page!

Note: Photos will always appear as the first Tab App.

Monetize your Facebook Apps using TidalWave

Do you want to add revenue to your Facebook Page? TidalWave can add Paypal payments to your App. You simply need to add either a radio or check-box field containing the items you want to sell. You also need a PayPal account.

1. Navigate to TidalWave.
2. Login to TidalWave.
3. Click the “Create New App” Button.
4. Select the “Order Form” App,
5. Populate the App Name and Description. Select your layout and color scheme from the drop-down lists and click the OK button.
6. Click on the dress image and replace the  image with an image of the items you would like to associate payments with. You can either upload a new image or apply an Image URL.
7. Click on the radio buttons below your image.  Update the names for each field with the names and cost of each item you want to sell. You can delete fields by clicking on the red X in the settings tab.
8. Click the Save and Close button once you have finished modifying your App.
9. Next, click the Payment button on the toolbar, the Payment Settings Dialog opens.
10. Enter the email associated with your PayPal merchant account, the currency you want to use and your location.
11. In the assign prices area, enter the  prices for your items in the input fields. You will want to overwrite the default of $.01.
12. When you have finished assigning prices, click the Payment button to save your settings.
13. To preview your App, click the preview button and submit a response to your App.
14. You will then be transferred to PayPal to purchase your good. 

How to place a large YouTube video on a Ribbon layout TidalWave App

This tutorial will walk you through how to place a large YouTube video on a TidalWave Facebook application that is a Ribbon layout.

Samia, let me know if this helps.

1. Navigate to TidalWave.
2. Login to TidalWave.
3. Click on the “Create New App” Button.
4. Click on the “Blank Form” App.
5. Populate the App Name and Description. Select Ribbon as the layout.
6. In the App Editor, delete the fields that you don’t want. If you delete the bottom most field first, after deletion, the selection will move to the previous component, enabling you to hit the delete button multiple times.
7. Click on the “Video” button on the Fields Palette.

8. Select the YouTube frame that appears in the App Editor.

9. Go to YouTube.
10. Click on the “Share” button under the video that you’d like to display.
11. Click on the “Embed” button.
12. Click on the Size 640×360.
13. Copy the code in the Text Area on YouTube.

14. Paste the code into the IFrame Tag of the selected YouTube control in TidalWave.

15. Hit the “Apply” button. The YouTube IFrame is not Wysiwyg for the Ribbon layout as the IFrame spans both the left and right hand sides.
16. “Save and Close” your App.
17. Hit the “Preview” Button on the App toolbar for the “Konkussion Stories Video” App.
18. Your App should look like the following. You can also see it here, https://apps.facebook.com/tidalwavetest/web_form.html?bf_context_id=1352164501906&bf_process_design_id=964&application_id=873