Facebook Like

What Is Facebook Like

Facebook Like is an image you insert into a content area in your email or in an HTML Paste email that allows your subscribers to "like" your content and share your message with their Facebook friends. 

You have the ability to configure what content your subscribers share. With template-based emails, you can configure the Like button to share the content you're sending in the email, one specific content area, or you can provide an alternative URL that the Like button shares. For example, if you're sending a monthly newsletter and you include a blurb in the sidebar about a giveaway contest you're running, you might want to insert a Facebook Like button, and you can configure the Like button to share a link to your giveaway webpage instead of the content in the email. 

In order to configure your Facebook Like button, you must have the Facebook App ID associated with your Facebook Page. See How to Find Your Facebook App ID.

When a subscriber clicks on the Like button, the system posts the content to the subscriber's Facebook wall and Facebook includes the content in the subscriber's friends' News Feed. 

You configure how you want the Facebook post to appear. In the configuration window, you have a preview window that allows you to see exactly how the Facebook post will look. If you configure the Facebook Like button to "like" a specific URL, the system doesn't render the preview in the configuration window, but it pulls content from the URL when a subscriber "likes" your content. You can test how your content appears by sending yourself a copy of the email (not a test send), "liking" it, and then viewing how the system renders it on Facebook.  

Why Use Facebook Like

Use Facebook Like to drive subscriber engagement with your email messages. When you allow your readers to share your content with their friends, you reach a wider audience and have the chance to gain more subscribers. 

Scenario

A marketer from Northern Trail Outfitters is sending out a newsletter advertising a winter jacket sale. She wants to include a Facebook Like button so her subscribers can share the sale with their friends on their Facebook walls. 

The marketer clicks the Facebook icon in the editor and configures the Facebook Like icon using the Facebook Post Preview window to make the Facebook post look just like she wants it to. 

She clicks OK and the Facebook Like button appears in her email. 

She sends the email to her subscribers. When a subscriber receives the email, he clicks the Like button in the email. 

The subscriber is taken to a Facebook Like landing page where, if he's not already logged into Facebook, he's prompted to log in and click the Like button again. If he's already logged in, he sees this page and clicks the Like button again. 

Once he clicks the Like button on the Facebook Like landing page, the content is posted to his Facebook wall. He's given the opportunity to add a comment before it's posted to Facebook. 

How to Create a Facebook App

Note: This is information about Facebook functionality. We provide this as a service for ExactTarget users, but for the most up-to-date information, refer to Facebook's documentation: http://developers.facebook.com. 

Before you insert a Facebook Like button into your email, you have to create a Facebook App.  

1. Navigate to Facebook's developer site: http://developers.facebook.com. 
2. Click the Apps tab. You may be required to enter your password.
3. Click + Create New App.
4. Enter a name for your App in the App Display Name field. We recommend naming your App something that corresponds with the content or email your Like button is "liking".
5. Enter an app namespace in the App Namespace field. What you enter here can have no spaces, capital letters, or numbers. This field is required by Facebook and doesn't interact with ExactTarget's Facebook Like functionality.
6. Agree to the Facebook Terms, and click Continue. 
7. Complete the Security screen and click Submit. 
   If you're ready to create your Like button in ExactTarget right away, you can highlight and copy the App ID from this screen. If you choose to do this step later, you can refer to How to Find Your Facebook App ID.

How to Insert a Facebook Like Button into a Template-based Email

You can insert a Facebook Like button in your email content area. When a subscriber clicks on the Like button in their email, the content they "like" posts to their Facebook wall for their friends to see. You configure how the content appears on Facebook. You can insert as many Facebook Like buttons as you want. 

1. Click the Content tab. 
2. Click my emails.
3. Click on the email you wish to add the Like button to.
4. Click in the content area you want to add the Like button to. If content already exists in that box, click Modify Content. If it's an empty content area, click Create Content.
5. Either click the Facebook icon  in the editor or click Insert > Facebook Like.
   The Facebook Like Properties window appears. See How to Configure your Facebook Like Button in a Template-based Email. 

How to Configure Your Facebook Like Button in a Template-based Email

When you insert a Facebook Like button, the Facebook Like Properties window appears. Read the field definitions in step 2 of this procedure. If you'd like to access the Facebook Like Properties for a button you already created, follow this procedure from the beginning. 

1. Right-click the Facebook Like button and click Properties.
2. Define how you want the Facebook post to appear on Walls and in News Feeds. You can see the preview at the bottom of the properties window.
   • Title - Enter a title for your Facebook post. This is what users will click on in Facebook to see the content. 
   • Link to -
     • This Content Area - the Like button will "like" the content area into which you insert it
     • This Email - the Like button will "like" the URL for the email
     • Other URL - the Like button will "like" the URL you enter
   • Image - If you selected Other URL, the Facebook post will pull an image from that URL. If you chose This Email, you can upload an image to go along with your content. When a subscriber clicks the Like button, the system will post the image on Facebook. Facebook recommends the image be 50 pixels by 50 pixels and the ratio should be no greater than 3-1 with the width being the longer side. 
   • Site Name - This is a field Facebook requires on posts. It has no impact on your preview or how your content renders on Facebook. 
   • App ID - This is a field Facebook requires. Enter your App ID. If you don't know your App ID, see How to Find Your Facebook App ID. If you never created a Facebook App, you must do so to use Facebook Like. Entering your App ID allows you to track Facebook Likes in your Facebook Developer account. 
3. Click OK.

How to Insert a Facebook Like Button into an HTML-based Email

You can insert a Facebook Like button into your HTML email to like a unique URL or to share a specific content area. Follow this procedure to insert a Facebook Like button:

1. Click the Content tab. 
2. Click my emails. 
3. Open the HTML email you want to add a Facebook Like button to.
4. Place your cursor where you'd like the Facebook Like button to appear. 
5. Select Facebook Like from the Email Tools drop-down menu and click Insert.
   The system inserts the following block of code. The highlighted sections are areas you must edit in order for the Like button to work correctly (see table below). 
   

   Note: Do not copy this HTML into your email. This is for demonstration purposes only. This code will not work in your email. You must Insert the code following the procedure for the appropriate IDs to populate in the blue highlighted sections below.

<!-- RegionStart[ contentslot:"slotname"] -->

<!-- Creates a Facebook 'LIKE' button.  Do not change the CLASS, or ID attributes. When RType = 'shared' :
     Like Shared Content Region. RType = 'url' : an external URL. RType should match the JSON url property
     except when liking an external url. Json properties map to Facebook Like Widget properties as of '8/25/2011'.
     See http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/ for additonal documentation for the 'LIKE' properties below. -->
     
<a href="%%=GetSocialPublishURL('13','slotname','TriggerID','ID supplied by INSERT action','RType','shared')=%%" id="ID supplied by INSERT action" 
alias="Publish Like to Facebook" class="json-subst-widget ui-unselectable">
<img border="0" alt="FacebookLike" src="http://image.s2.qa2.exacttarget.com/lib/ffcf14/m/1/social_default_facebooklike_icon.jpg" />
  <!-- {"id":"ID supplied by INSERT action",
          "type":"facebooklike",
          "url":"share",
          "templates":{
          "ogtags":[{"property":"og:title","content":"title"},
                    {"property":"og:site_name","content":"title"},
                    {"property":"og:description","content":""},
                    {"property":"og:image","content":""},
                    {"property":"fb:app_id","content":"1234567890"},
                    {"property":"og:type","content":"article"}],
          "fblike":{
            "send":false,
            "layout":"standard",
            "show_faces":true
            "width":450,
            "action":"like",
            "font":"arial",
            "colorscheme":"light",
            "ref":""}}} -->
</a>

<!-- RegionEnd[ contentslot:"slotname"]

How to Find Your Facebook App ID

To find your App ID, follow this procedure:

1. Navigate to http://developers.facebook.com and log in using your Facebook credentials (some people create separate users to manage their Facebook App settings). 
2. Click the Apps tab. 
3. Click on your preconfigured app under My Apps or create a new app.
4. Find the App ID field and copy and paste your App ID into the ExactTarget application.