Starting today, each week we will begin posting updates to help you market your business more effectively and cost-efficiently than you might be right now.  Our goal is to help make your respective businesses more successful by providing you with the same caliber of social media marketing tools and resources that the "big dogs" in the industry use--only for a fraction of the cost.  Many of you have asked that we not only offer tools such as Customizer, but also provide training, tips, best practices, and other resources to help you navigate the sometimes murky social media marketing waters.

So, we have decided to turn our blog into less of a social media marketing soap box and more of a social media marketing resources page.  As part of this, we will be sharing our "Top Customizer Tab" every single week to help give you ideas, inspire you, and help you maximize your social media marketing efforts.

Why?

Over the years, we've found that sometimes the hardest part about creating an effective Facebook promotion, contest, or even just a simple tab is finding some quality working samples to help inspire you.  In other cases, you might see a tab that you really like, try to mimic it, and find out later that the strategy and theory behing that particular tab actually stunk.

When selecting our weekly "Top Customizer Tab", we will be providing you with a screenshot and/or link for that particular tab as well as a thorough analysis on what makes that particular tab so effective.

With that introduction, let's get things started with our first "Top Customizer Tab" of the new year.  This week's winner is Cafe Zupas.  Take a look:

Who is Cafe Zupas?
Cafe Zupas is a restaurant chain with locations in Utah and Arizona that specializes in gourmet soups, salads, and sandwiches using fresh and exotic ingredients in a fast-casual setting.  They were founded in 2004 and now own and operate 11 different restaurants.

Why do we like their tab so much?
There are a few key reasons why we like this tab.  First, the design is simple.  The layout is well-executed, not too busy, and is extremely clear in explaining what Cafe Zupas wants me to do when I arrive at the tab.  One of the biggest mistakes businesses make when designing custom Facebook tabs is they clutter them up with too much content, too many images, etc.  Second, the preparation time for this tab couldn't have been long.  This tab didn't require anything crazy from a design standpoint--just an attractive background, some text, and a form.  Our estimated prep time for this tab is approximately 10 minutes.  Not bad.  Third, the call to action on this tab is easy.  In other words, what Cafe Zupas is asking their fans to do isn't a difficult, multi-step process.  By coupling this tab with frequent status updates to notify fans that it exists in the first place, Cafe Zupas has been able to easily solicit feedback from their customers--and by directing fans to this Customizer tab, Cafe Zupas has been able to gather and store all of their customer survey submissions in one place.  By having all of this valuable data accessible on-demand via their Customizer account, they are able to export survey results and use them to make better business decisions to better serve their customers.

Where can I see this tab live on Facebook?
Go to Cafe Zupas' Facebook page to see a live version of this tab.

Think you have a better tab?  Tell us about it and if our team agrees, we'll feature you in the coming weeks!