A year ago Facebook lifted the requirement to use a 3rd party application to run a competition/promotion. This means that you can run promotions on your Page Timeline (NOT A PERSONAL TIMELINE). You can continue to use an app is you wish. The new T&C’s allow you to:
- Collect entries by having users post on the Page or comment/like a page post
- Collect entries by having users message the Page
- Use likes on a post as a voting mechanism
You CANNOT ask people to like the page, share the post or tag themselves in a photo – people should only tag themselves in a photo if they are in the photo.
This does make it easier to run Facebook competitions / promotions but there are still many reasons you should consider using an app, here are my top 4 reasons:
1. E-newsletter signups: People enter your competition, this grows your Facebook community. Now consider using the competition entry as an opportunity to ask your community to sign up for your eNewsletter. It is important that you provide a benefit to signing up to received your eNewsletters, if you do not show them that there is something in it for them, they wont bother signing up.
2. Branding: using a third party app will allow you to create a really visual promotion/competition which is in-line with your branding. Branding is extremely important for any business and should be considered when creating a competition/promotion on Facebook. Using a well branded entry form will:
– Create more brand awareness
– Give people a positive experience with your brand
It is important that you are consistent and clear with your brand message, using an app will allow you to do this when running Facebook competitions.
3. Variety: Apps bring a range of variety enabling you to run different types of competitions/promotions. You can run everything from a standard “like” my page to enter to photo contents, answer the question, voting and so much more. I prefer to use ShortStack for all my competitions but there are many different apps out there that are just as good. (Check out my video below. A step by step guide on how to create a like gated competition using Shortstack)
4. Management: Some apps will help you manage the entries and choosing the winner (this may be an upgrade feature). This means that they will hold all your entries in your account and with the click of a button you can randomly pick your winner fairly. This will ensure the competition runs smoothly and avoids you having to root through a pile of emails.
So there you have it, my top 4 tips. Am I missing any? Let me know why you prefer to use an app.
Some additional tips that will come in handy:
– Do not forget to define your competition goals and analyse the results so you can refine your competitions each time for a bigger impact and better success rate.
– Always give away a prize that relates to your product in some way. For example if you are a hair salon, while an iPad would be an excellent prize wouldn’t a free day at the salon or a free hair do be better. It will mean that the people entering will be higher quality and more likely to continue to engage with your page. It’s all about quality NOT quantity.
– Always provide terms and conditions that clearly state the terms of the competition. For example:
- Start and end date and date you will announce the winner.
- Details of exactly what the prize includes
- Whom the competition is open to e.g. countries. No point giving away a hair do to someone in Australia if you are based in Ireland.
- Are there any exclusions e.g. a hotel may be giving away bed. breakfast and dinner. Is dinner limited to any specific menu
- State that the prize cannot be exchanged for other goods/services or cash.
- Do not forget to add Facebook’s disclaimer “the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook”
Please note that as of 05th November 2014 you will not be able to incentivise someone liking your page. Read my new article here https://bedynamic.ie/blog/facebook/facebook-bans-like-gating/
If you need more help, why not start with reviewing our social media in business training & consultancy services or contact us for a chat. A chat is free 🙂
