Doing business on Facebook is increasingly critical for reaching the widest possible audience. Web users are spending more of their online time on this popular social networking website. When you register your Caspio apps on Facebook, or add them to your Facebook business page, you open up new possibilities for connecting with existing and future customers – as well as their Facebook friends.
Here are a few ideas of what you could be deploying as a Facebook app:
- Lead generation forms
- Contact us forms
- Sweepstakes forms
- Support inquiry forms
- Surveys
- Jobs listings
- Resume upload form
- Real estate and used cars listing
- Product database
Terminology
Business Profile Page – An organization’s Facebook page. Business Profile Pages look like a personal Facebook profile, but with additional features such as the ability to name multiple people as administrators. Page Tab – For our purposes, this is your Caspio DataPage deployment that is accessible directly from your business profile page. Canvas Page or Canvas App – This is your Caspio DataPage loaded as a Facebook standalone app. A canvas app is not visibly associated with a business profile:
Initial Requirements
Your Facebook App must consist of at least one DataPage. Web Forms, Reports and Calendars all make great Facebook Apps. A single DataPage is all you need for a Canvas App or a Page Tab. Your app can certainly contain more than one DataPage. Before you begin this process, make sure your DataPage or app is built and ready for deployment.
DataPage Width and Height
To avoid scrollbars in your deployment, ensure that your apps are within Facebook’s size restrictions of 760 pixels for a Canvas App and 520 pixels for a Page Tab.
If your DataPage is wider, consider the following options:
- Reduce your font size through the DataPage style
- Reduce the width of your fields
- Put your field labels on top of fields rather than on the left
- Reduce the number of columns in Forms, Tabular reports or Gallery Reports
Facebook Personal Account and Business Profile Page
You must have a Facebook personal account. You also need a Business Profile Page. If you don’t have one already, set one up at https://www.facebook.com/pages/create.
Caspio Deployment Options
Two methods of deployment can be used for Caspio DataPages on Facebook:
- URL deployment method- For single-DataPage apps
- Embed Deployment in your own hosted site – For multi-screen apps or when using outside scripting or libraries
Select your DataPage in Caspio Bridge and click Deploy. Copy the URL of the app and save it somewhere as we will need it below.
For multi-screen apps, deploy your entire app on your own site, and then you can embed the “homepage” of your app on Facebook.
Implementing in Facebook
Caspio apps may be deployed to Facebook in two ways:
- Canvas Page – This is your DataPage loaded as a Facebook standalone app. A canvas app is not visibly associated with a business profile. For steps on creating a Canvas Page, see the Facebook Developers Canvas Tutorial.
- Page Tab – This is your DataPage deployment that is accessible directly from your business profile page. For step-by-step guidelines on creating a Page Tab, see the Facebook Developers Page Tab Tutorial.
You are now equipped to implement your Caspio apps on Facebook.