The Custom Form Module
You can quickly and easily create a custom form where users can enter their information directly on your View. You will then be able to download the results in Content & Apps.
About the Appearance of Facebook
When a user goes to the Facebook tab that the module is on, they will see a combination of these things:
- Landing Page (optional) - You can upload a image to begin the custom form experience. The user will click this image to get to the form.
- Form - This is where users will enter their information.
- Confirmation Page (optional) - You can upload an image confirming that the user's info was successfully submitted.
You can choose to use any combo of these three items for your custom form though, obviously, the form section is mandatory.
Note: This module works best in the full width module position.
Adding a Custom Form module to a Oracle Social Marketing Content & Apps View
All modules are added to a View in the same way with our drag-and-drop interface. Do get more information on this, see the Building a View: Adding Modules and Content to Views in Content & Apps help article.
Once you have added a module and given it a name, the module will open for you to edit it or add content. Back on the View layout, you'll see a callout bubble next to your module - click the triangle for controls for your module. This callout will not appear on your published View and your new module will not appear on your Facebook Tab until you click Publish.
Note: You cannot have more than one Forms module (Custom Form, Newsletter, Sign Up, Survey, Sweepstakes) on a View at a time. You can have one Forms module and a Contest module.
Setting Up Your Custom Form Module
When you drag-and-drop a Custom Form module onto a View, it will automatically open to the edit page for that module. There are three sections you can edit/set up: Form Fields, Images, and Options.
About the Form Fields Section
You can start building your custom form by choosing which fields you want users to fill out. From the Add Fields section on the left-hand side of the screen, you'll see 2 categories of fields: standard and custom. Standard fields have set values (though you can edit them) and custom fields allow you to set values.
To add a field to your form: Just click the field and it will appear in the layout area. After you've added a field, you can drag & drop the fields to rearrange them on the layout.
To edit a field: After you've added a field, click it in the layout area. The sidebar will switch to Edit Field and a pencil icon will appear on the right side of the field.
You can edit the following ways:
- Field Labels - What you want the field to be called, or what you want a user to enter.
- Validation - You can have the field be required and by what means.
- User Instructions - You can enter instructions about the field for users. These will display underneath the text field.
- Additional CSS Classes - If you want to style the field to look a particular way, you can add CSS classes here.
To delete a field after you add a field, click on it and a small X and a pencil icon will appear on the right side of the field. Click the X and the field will delete.
About the Images Section
If you want to have a landing page to start your user's custom form experience, or a confirmation page once they have submitted their entry form, you will set them on this page.
Note: Images will not scale to fit a module position, so make sure your upload an image sized appropriately for the module position you are going to place the Custom Form module into. The image sizes for module positions are:
- Left: 300 pixels
- Right: 494 pixels
- Full: 810 pixels
To upload a Landing Page image:
In the Landing Page section, click Upload Image. Select the image you want from your computer and click Open. The image will appear in a preview in the section.
To upload a Confirmation Page image:
In the Confirmation Page section, click Upload Image. Select the image you want from your computer and click Open. The image will appear in a preview in the section.
Adding a Link to the Confirmation Page image
You can also have the Confirmation Page image act as a link to a URL you specify, so when the user clicks on it, they will be taken to an external site. To have the image act as a link, paste the URL into the Link URL field.
About the Options Section
In the Options area, you can set specifics for three areas: Submissions, Legal, and Share.
Submission Restrictions
Use the drop-down menu to set how many times a user can make a
submission to your form. You can choose from the following rates:
No Restriction, Once per Campaign, Once per Hour, Once per 24
Hours, Once per Week.
Note: If you set a submission restriction, the
user will be asked to grant an app permission to check their voting
identity.
Legal Options
If your form sign up requires Terms and Conditions, FAQs, or a Privacy Policy, you can enter those into the text fields provided. These will appear as links at the bottom of the form portion of the form sign up. When a user clicks on one of these links, it will open in a popup over the module with the full text displayed.
Share Options
A Facebook Share button will appear on each page of the Custom Form you create, that a user can click at any time to share the form on their news feed. You can customize certain parts of the details that are in the Share post - the title, caption, description, and image.
To edit any of these items, click the text field and enter the information you wish to be displayed. If you want a specific image to appear from this share, you can upload one from your computer by clicking Upload Image.
Saving Your Custom Form
Once you have finished setting up or editing your custom form, click the green Save.
Downloading Custom Form Submissions
Once you have placed the custom form module on your View and made it live, you can begin to collect submissions. You can download these submissions results as a CSV (comma separated value) file to your computer.
To download the submissions:
- Log into Content & Apps and go to the View that your module is placed on.
- On the Custom Form module you’ll see a callout bubble with the title of your module in green text. Click the green triangle next to the title and click Edit Module.
- Click the Submissions section.
- Click the Download submissions in CSV link. A dialog box will appear allowing you to save the CSV file.
ABout Metrics Recorded for the Custom Form Module
Content & Apps captures metrics for:
- Module views
- Forms submitted
- All data submitted