Okay, let’s admit – Facebook’s design is a bit blase. Very clean, which is why I love Facebook and denounce the ever-declining Myspace, but still a bit boring. Facebook Business Pages are an excellent way for businesses to represent their brand on Facebook, but it can be difficult to really set your business’s page apart. Or so you may think, Watson.

Facebook Business Pages now allow the use of Facebook’s Markup Language, or FBML, on their business pages. Simply log in to your page, set up a personal profile, and search Facebook for the application “Static FBML”. Add it to your business page, click “edit my page”, and you’ll see it listed among your other applications, such as “Notes” and “Discussions”. It uses simple html, takes a bit of playing around and will display in the “Boxes” tab on the page.

Images are a must in FBML. Create different boxes of varying shapes and sizes with attractive images and your business’s contact information. You want this page to be able to best represent your business’s image and even resemble your website a bit. Once you’re finished, change your settings so visitors land on the “Boxes” tab by default. This ensures everyone sees your very beautiful FBML work rather than your “Wall” or plain “Info” tab.

Becoming a “fan” of a Facebook Business Page typically happens on impulse, so creating an attention-grabbing Boxes tab and having visitors land by default on it can better propel regular visitors into fans, and hopefully into customers. Check out Frigidaire’s Facebook Business Page for an example of a page that uses FBML well. Mmm, now off to open my fridge for some fresh-picked raspberries…