Top 3 Facebook Apps Building Tools For Startups

As a start up, you are always looking for creative and cost efficient ways to connect and engage with your audiences. Sometimes it’s just useful to run competitions, encourage people to make bookings or simply present information in a structured manner using a Facebook app.

But, often you simply don’t have the monetary resources or technical know-how to develop a Facebook application. Some Facebook apps, like games, are more customized so you’ll need to hire a developer to implement those apps for you. But other apps are quite simple and open source applications that allow you to build custom tabs should suffice.

These are my top three picks of iFrame application builders that might help especially with contests, promotions and sweepstakes on Facebook.

1. Short Stack App (www.shortstackapp.com) – User friendly, intuitive and easy to use (love the drag and drop functionality!), Short Stack is something to look out for. It offers good templates which are easy to customize and upload to Facebook. For any theme that is a little complicated (and requires some basic coding), Short Stack provides easy to understand videos and regular support by email. Additionally, all of Short Stack’s templates are mobile friendly so it’s perfect for markets where mobile phone penetration is high. The few considerations here are that it is free for a fan base of 2000 or less. For anything above that, you would need upgrade and pay a minimum of $30 every month. So if you are running a promotion that would last less than a month, then it’s probably worth using their services. If however, you want something permanently on your page (a ‘Contact Us’ form, for instance), then it’s better to have your app custom coded to receive a long term cost efficiency.

2. Wild Fire (www.wildfireapp.com) – Wild Fire is possibly one of the more popular providers of iFrame apps (and is acquired by Google now). Like Short Stack, WildFire is also suitable for running short run promotions and pages. It offers almost all the features that Short Stack offers but I personally find its analytic and targeting tools to be very useful for measuring the effectiveness of the campaign. The library of Plug ins that Wild Fire provides is also very useful and helps add a lot more functionality to the app.

3.Tab Site (www.tabsite.com) – Tab Site is another easy to use iFrame app suitable for contests, sweepstakes and presenting information. Unlike WildFire or Short Stack, Tab Site has divided its pricing packages by number of tabs and widgets that you need. (There is also a free option that allows you to have 2 tabs and 4 widgets). They also have a decent array of templates that you can select from for the purpose of your app. For agencies and re-sellers,  Tab Site also has a very favorable referral program (or partner program).

Which open source iFrame app builders do you like? Let us know on the comments section this post.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Disha Pagarani

An entrepreneur who loves all things digital. Co-Founder and Managing Partner at The Basement Project (www.basementprojectme.com). Interested in consumer behavior, digital strategy, guerrilla marketing and social media management.

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