Facebook's NEW Contest Rules: How Business Pages Can Collect Entries
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Facebook's NEW Contest Rules: How Business Pages Can Collect Entries
1. andrewmacart hy.com
http://andrewmacarthy.com/andrew-macarthy-social-media/facebooks-new-contest-rules-how-entries-can-be-collected
In something of a shock change to the way businesses were required to host
contests on Facebook, the social network announced in August 2013 that Pages are
no longer required to run promotions through apps such as Woobox or Squarespace.
Now, brands can launch giveaways right from their Page's Timeline. For smaller
businesses, this turnaround - despite the advantages of apps (e.g. e-mail collection,
like-gating, better branding opportunities, etc.) - could really help to boost
engagement rates among existing fans, at least.
Here is an overview of the new ways that entries can be collected on Page
Timelines:
Collect entries via comments or likes
2. Collecting entries for a contest is now as easy as asking fans to "like" and/or
comment on an image, as in the example above. Note that you can't ask users to
Share a post as a means of entry, but you can encourage them to Share out of
the goodness of their hearts.
Collect entries by having users message the Page
3. This method obviously requires a bit more effort on the part of your fans (and you'll
take a hit engagement-wise through the lack of likes and comments), but it could
help weed out those people who aren't genuinely interested, especially if you
ask them to message you with something that takes a little bit of effort, like the
answer to a riddle, a poem, a positive experience they have had with your
business, or something similarly "taxing."
Utilize likes as a voting mechanism
4. The last major change in accepting valid entries is that likes can now be used as a
voting mechanism. In the mock-up above, the bar asks users to vote on new flavours
of smoothies throughout the week; the one with the most votes will be added to its
menu.
Conclusion
So there you have it. Hopefully this new flexibility will help you and your brand boost
engagement rates on your page, and help you on the way to attaining your overall
business goals as a result! For more information and for some handy best practices
regarding the new contest rules on Facebook, check out the social network's FAQ
page here.