We all know that a Facebook business page is a great marketing tool for any practice. A call to action is also an important part of any online presence. I always suggest adding a “Make an appointment now” link to any website.
This is a quick tutorial showing you how to add a “Make and appointment now” button to your Facebook page that links to your online appointment scheduler.
We will be using FBML which is short for Facebook Markup Language. It is the HTML of Facebook. Visit Static FBML (http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/apps/application.php?id=4949752878&ref=ts).
This is the application that you will need to add to your page in order to use FBML. Click on the Add to my page link under the profile picture. Choose the page you would like to add it to. You will have to scroll down if you have several pages.
Return to your Fan page. Click on “Edit page” under your profile picture.
When you scroll down, you will now see a box that says FBML. Click on the Edit.
This will bring you to the page where you can enter the FBML text. Choose the title for your entry. The title will appear above your appointment button on the page, so make sure it ties in with the theme.
As you can see I have added the code to the box. You can copy the code and enter your own information. Much of the code you will see is for a table. The table allows for the picture to stay centered in the right spot. The first bit code that you will want to change is the link where you want to direct traffic. This the code that looks like this <a href=”http://d35……….’/> so it would look like <a href=”http://yourwebsite.com”/> I link to my Demandforce page so they can see my reviews and make appointments easily. After the outbound link you will need to place the link to the image which looks like this <img src=”http://socialmediadentist.com/images/makeanapptnow.jpg”</a>. You will have to link to the picture because Facebook does not have an image folder that you can upload to. The picture will have to be 200 pixels wide or less. You can use your own picture or feel free to use mine by just copying the image link. When you are done click Save changes.
Go back to the page once again and click on the “boxes” tab along the top of your page.
Scroll until you see your appointment button. Click on the little pencil in the upper right hand corner of the box and select “Move to wall tab” 
You are done! You can move the box around by clicking and dragging, but it is a bit twitchy. Check to make sure that when you click on the button, it goes to the right link. I hope it will generate several new patients for you!
The code in text form: <table width=”200″ border=”0″ cellspacing=”0″ cellpadding=”5″>
<tr>
<th scope=”col”><a href=”http://yourwebsite.com”><divalign=”center”><img src=”http://socialmediadentist.com/images/makeanapptnow.jpg” </a></div></th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td> </td>
</tr>
</table>
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Jason, that’s a terrific tip, thank you so much! I’ll put that up tonight!
HELP!
what am I doing wrong?
Every time I click the FBML link it just dumps me to my homepage
David,
Please email me at jason@socialemediadentist.com and we will figure it out. Please include the code you are using.
Thanks,
Jason
HELP!!! I also can’t seem to get it to work.
Every time I click on the button, it sends me to http://mywebsite”/><div%20align=
Please let me know how I can fix this.
Thank you!
Jason,
I look forward to meeting you at the Henry Schein event in Alpharetta,Roswell Ga in Sept. Your blog is very informative.
Debbie Johnson
Business Manager
Brian D. Johnson, DMD
Debbie,
We look forward to meeting you also! It is going to be a great event. Please let me know if there are any specific topics you would like us to cover.
Jason Lipscomb D.D.S.