By: Jamie Nanquil | @the_jamielynn

Look at this picture for a second. What is the first thing you notice? The tree with the Christmas lights, right? It’s colorful, it has warm, glowing lights, and it probably gives you nostalgic holiday feelings. It offers you something that the other trees don’t.

That is exactly how I view Facebook landing pages. Well, let’s back up for a second. What is a Facebook landing page? It is your chance at a first impression. It is simply the first thing visitors will see when they visit your Facebook page – usually it’s your wall. Custom welcome tabs, however, allow businesses to take the standard, run-of-the-mill wall space given by Facebook and fill it with content and design that best reflects the company.

Landing pages are a way to get more personable with consumers. Have you ever walked into the middle of a conversation with a group of people and had no idea what was going on? It’s all very overwhelming. So instead of throwing viewers into the conversations on your wall, here’s a way to say, “Hi, nice to meet you. This is who we are. This is what we’re about. Now let’s talk.” It serves as an introduction to your company or organization. It’s also a way to extend your brand, to really put your company’s personality out there and establish it in the minds of your customers and prospects. It allows you to tell your audience exactly why they should ‘Like’ your page. What’s in it for them? What benefits can they gain in real life from engaging with your business online? Be sure to offer some sort of discount, tip or exclusive promotions. Strictly speaking as a graphic designer, landing pages make your Facebook look more professional and they're just plain pretty to look at.

What do you think? Do you like visiting a brand’s Facebook page and being greeted by a welcome page or do you see it as a distraction and prefer to get straight to the wall conversation?