Let’s say that you have a Facebook page for your business and one day you think; “Wouldn’t it be great if I could just get a few more ‘Likes’. I wonder if I should run a competition?”
Proceed with caution….. when it comes to Facebook and promotions there are some very strict rules you need to abide by, and ignoring them could result in your page being shut down.
Facebooks Promotions: Some Dos and Don’ts
DOs
- All promotions must be managed through a third-party app
- You must make it clear in your Ts&Cs that Facebook neither endorses nor is managing your promotion
DON’Ts
- You must not condition entry into a competition on someone liking / sharing a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo onto a Wall.
- Someone can not be automatically entered into a promotion simply because they liked, shared or commented on a page, post or photo
- Similarly, requiring someone to share a post or photo in order to enter a promotion is not allowed
- You must not use the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion
- You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat or posts on profiles. (In other words you need to inform them ‘outside of’ Facebook via email, telephone or in person.)
What all this means is that unless you have the budget or time to deploy a third party promotion app, the safest course of action is to introduce separation between your Facebook page and the ‘mechanics’ of your competition.
We recommend that you set up the competition on your website, by creating a dedicated web page that includes all the important information, your terms and conditions and a sign-up entry form. You can then promote the competition on Facebook by directing people to your new webpage.
“This week we’re giving away a gift voucher for £50. And it couldn’t be easier to enter the competition – just fill in the form on our website. www.mywebsite.co.uk/mycompetitionpage/”
If the competition is interesting enough you could find you get all those Likes and Shares anyway, without having had to ask for them. Which actually, is kind of the point!