6 important Facebook contest tips
Posted on December 12th, 2018
And the winner is… Social Media Competitions!
On the face of it, running a Facebook contest sounds so easy: Let your customers know you’re giving away a prize and wait for them to fill your social feed with comments.
However, a successful contest requires more than just enticing people with a prize. A Facebook contest may be free, aside from the cost of the prize, but you still have to invest time to make your contest complies with Facebook and Instagram rules or you may be at risk of your social pages being shut down.
The rules of competitions are constantly changing in the world of social media. Knowing what you can, can’t and shouldn’t be posting as a competition can be a challenging task. When you research in the ever-changing social media environment make sure you check out what is legal in Australia and Queensland.
Here are six handy tips to remember:
Tip # 1: Know what is considered a promotion on Facebook.
Promotions on Facebook typically include:
- Entry/registration
- Element of chance
- Giveaway of prize
Tip # 2: Know the difference between Game of Skill and Game of Chance in Australia.
- Game of Skill – where people are asked to either “write in 25 words or less” (very traditional) or (more modern) “show us your favourite emoji/gif” or “upload a photo of xyz”.
- Game of Chance – where winners are selected at random.
Tip # 3: Clearly display your terms and conditions.
It is a legal requirement to display your contest rules. These can be placed in within your post (eg in the comments or on a landing page with a link to your website). Here are some considerations:
- Competition period – day/time
- Method of selecting a winner
- Judging criteria
- Prize value
- Your contact details
Tip # 4: Know what you can and can’t do
It is essential to know what is forbidden (and what is allowed) by Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook competition rules:
You CANNOT ask people to “tag your friends in this post to enter”
You CANNOT ask people to share to enter
You CANNOT ask people to “share on their timeline to enter”
You CANNOT ask people to “share on your friends timelines to get additional entries”
You CAN ask people to like your page
You CAN ask people to comment on your post (photo, gif, emoji or text-based answers)
You CAN ask people to message your business page
You CAN ask people to like as a vote mechanism
Instagram Competition Rules
You CAN ask people to like your page
You CAN ask people to like your post
You CAN ask people to comment on your post
You CAN ask people to share your photo
You CAN ask people to share a specific competition #hashtag
Tip # 5: Let them know your competition is not associated with the social media platform
You must state that Facebook has nothing to do with this competition using the wording (as provided by Facebook) “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administrated by or associated by Facebook”.
You must also state that Instagram has nothing to do with this competition using the wording (as provided by Instagram) “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administrated by or associated by Instagram”.
Tip # 6: Make your content part of a strategy
A successful contest requires more than just enticing people with a prize. A contest should be part of the bigger marketing strategy, and as such, requires a bit of planning to maximise budget spend.
Pick Your Objective: What do you want to achieve through your competition? Engagement? Followers? Reach? This will craft your competition mechanics and what you want your audience to do to enter.
Choose Your Audience: If you know your audience clearly, you can ensure your messaging, artwork and any paid advertising spend, is directly targeting the right people.
Creative/Image: People are more likely to take notice of your competition if it features rich media. These should be created beforehand in keeping with your audience and objective.
Manage, Respond and Measure: make sure you have someone to manage your competition entries and measure your success after the competition has finished.
Just remember social media platforms have closed down business pages for not abiding by their rules. https://www.facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events/#
