Chelsea Hejny is a social media writer at ShortStack, a tab-designing tool that creates custom Facebook Pages. Hejny also works as a president of the American Marketing Association in Nevada.

Great Facebook Pages are easy to spot; however, the reasons for their greatness might not be so obvious. Visually appealing and well-designed tabs are good, but there are five traits that make a Facebook tab great.

1. Purpose. With every Facebook tab, there needs to be an easily understood purpose of its existence. For example, a page’s landing tab, sometimes know as the welcome tab, should clearly and briefly introduce Facebook users to your brand. For created tabs that serve as host to a contest, a promotion, a subscription form or other content, make certain their purpose is real and measurable. Creating a Facebook-only promo code or listing a unique telephone number on your tab are two methods of tracking its metrics.
2. Viewpoint. Great tabs make a statement. Tab elements that support a worthy statement usually include nice graphics, meaningful text and components such as video, a Twitter stream or even SoundCloud. Integrating features into your Facebook tabs not only allows for a statement to be made but also creates allure and can complement the intended purpose for a specific tab.
3. Branding. Whether it be incorporating brand colors or integrating your business’ overarching message, great tabs always support their brand. Incorporating business logos, using consistent text styles and choosing graphics that support the brand imagery of your business are ways to ensure your custom-created tab stands out to Facebook users.

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SmartPulse — our weekly nonscientific reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues.

This week, we asked: If a social media public relations crisis were to hit your brand tomorrow, do you think you would be prepared to respond effectively? The results:

• We have the capacity to respond, but there’s no formal plan in place: 63.81%
• We wouldn’t know it was happening until we read about it in the media: 15.24%
• Yes, we have a well-documented social media crisis-control strategy: 15.24%
• We’re monitoring social channels but lack the capacity for a response: 5.71%

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There’s a gap growing between an increasingly digital society and the organizations that serves it, B. Bonin Bough, senior global director of digital and social media at PepsiCo, said during the second annual What’s Next D.C. event.

As consumer consumption of technological advances increases at a breakneck pace, brands are fighting to keep up with a society that thinks in 140-character status updates. But most companies are failing to evolve, Bough said, and instead are staying stagnant, unable to keep up with the technology that has captivated their customers. (read more…)

Andy DeBrunner is social media manager at Godfrey and has worked with Fortune 100 companies to tackle their social media needs. He was also a contributor to Godfrey’s e-book “Jumpstart Your B2B Marketing.” Follow him @adebrunner or follow Godfrey @GodfreyB2B.

Your customers are using social media. That’s no surprise. So is it appropriate for you to join in on the fun and get your business on board? I know what some of you are thinking. “Sure, I know everyone’s using social media, but my company sells products that cost a ton of money and sales can take years to close. I can’t generate a sale, or even a lead, for any of my products using Facebook or Twitter.” If you just said some version of that to yourself, let me reframe the way you might want to think about social media for your business.

All too often, Facebook and Twitter dominate marketing meetings and boardroom conversations about social media, both in B2B and B2C. But social media is far more expansive than just these two behemoth sites. There is almost certainly another platform that will suit your company’s specific needs if neither of “the big two” fit. To shift your social media paradigm, consider the following types of social media outlets and how they might benefit a company with a long or complex sales cycle:

• Photo-sharing sites. Is your product visual or design-related? Help inspire your customers early in the sales cycle with a photo stream on Flickr or Instagram, a Tumblr blog or maybe even a board on Pinterest.
• Video-sharing sites. Does your product have killer demonstrations? Would side-by-side product comparisons help close the deal? If so, video sites such as YouTube or Vimeo could be your golden ticket to capture interest early. (read more…)