Civil Dispatch allows you to embed subscription forms on any website. This provides the advantage of using our software back-end, in combination with your web presence front-end.
Subscription forms can be extracted as HTML, which can be placed on any site with minimal effort. This tutorial will explain how to embed subscription forms on Facebook pages as custom content sections. Facebook pages often act as extensions of your product or brand in social network surroundings.
First, make sure you have a Facebook page set up for your product or brand. Then, visit the Static FBML Facebook page and click "Add to my Page."
Choose the page you'd like to add to:
This will add the necessary component to your page, which will let you take advantage of extended functionality.
Back on your own Facebook page, click "Edit Page."
Scroll down to the section for FBML (under Applications), then click the pencil icon in the upper-right corner, and choose "Edit."
This will provide you a form to edit the Box Title and content of the custom section. Provide a unique Box Title and body content for your section. Then we'll add the subscription form HTML.
Back in Civil Dispatch, go to Integration > Subscription Forms, and choose a form to use on your Facebook page. It's probably best to exclude all input fields besides email address, for the sake of space (the area where the subscription form will appear is limited in size).
Get the code for this subscription form by hitting "Update & Continue."
Go back into the Facebook settings for you page, and paste the code into the FBML content area:
Hit Save Changes, and you're set!
Your new content section will now appear under the Boxes tab on your page:
This is probably not the most ideal spot for your subscription form to reside, since many viewers may not visit the individual Boxes tab. A better spot would be on the main page, along the left side of the "wall." To do this, click on the pencil icon in the upper-right corner of the Newsletter box, and choose "Move to Wall tab."
This will neatly place your subscription form on your main Facebook page, along the left-hand column:
You're all set!
One last thing you might consider is the redirection process. Once a user submits the form, they will be taken to your email marketing software site, and out of the Facebook interface. This could be an interruption to the user who may have wished to remain on the Facebook site.
To provide a better experience, adjust the redirection settings for your subscription form. Have the "Successful Subscription" option redirect to your Facebook page URL:
