If you run competitions on Facebook, you need to do it the right way. There are countless businesses using their Facebook Page newsfeeds as a way of enticing people to like their business. On the face of it this might seem like a smart idea – get people to share your information and like your business in return for offering them a potential prize. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
And yet it’s not the way to do things – not according to the rules laid down by Facebook.
But it’s just the way people do it – am I really at risk?
This is the train of thought being followed by many businesses on Facebook. They see other people using newsfeeds for this same purpose, they like the idea and they start doing it as well. But it contravenes the rules as laid down by Facebook. The punishment for this can be as severe as having your Facebook page taken away – along with all the visibility and fans you’ve worked so hard to build up.
The bottom line
Here’s the deal. To do things properly you should host any competition you come up with on your business website. Facebook is a tool to help promote it, not host it.
Put simply, this means you can’t use your Wall or any other page or feature offered by Facebook to run a competition or promotional event. Furthermore, you can’t tell people they have to use one or more parts of Facebook to enter your competition.
For example, if you’re asking someone to like your page in order to be entered into a draw, you’re breaking Facebook’s rules. If you’re asking them to provide a comment so they can enter, you’re breaking Facebook’s rules. If you’re asking them to participate, perform an action or do anything of any kind on Facebook, you’re breaking the rules.
The key is to host your competition on your own business website. You can direct people from Facebook to your own site, but you can’t ask them to perform any actions while on Facebook. It’s up to them whether they want to like your page because of the competition information they’ve been led to (on your site).
Using the right tools
Facebook does have some useful tools and third party apps that can help you run your promotion however. ‘Pin a Post’ is particularly useful. It allows you to pin your post giving information on your site’s competition on top of your Facebook timeline for a week.
Elsewhere you could use an app, such as Shortstack for example, to help you run the promotion without flouting the guidelines. Whatever you do, be sure you have a proper Facebook release to indicate the site is not involved in your promotion or competition.
When you do it the right way, you can run a competition without breaking any of Facebook’s rules. But if you do it the wrong way, you can end up in deep trouble.
