Understand Facebook’s contest guidelines
Make sure you are familiar with Facebook’s strict rules before running your own. You can find the guidelines here! https://www.facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events/
Make sure you check them for each post though because Facebook has a tendency to change their rules 😉
One common misconception is that you are allowed to say “tag your friends” in a promotion! It is in fact against Facebook’s policies to use “tag your friends in this post to enter”. It is recommended to alternatively ask your viewers to like a post, comment on a post, post on the page’s timeline or message the page instead.
Having your WHY
You want to spend some time defining your goals before getting started so you know whether it is successful or not. For example, you may want to use it to promote your products, drive more people to your website or generate buzz around your brand. Once you know your objectives, you can keep these in mind during the planning process.
Pick a relevant prize
Make entering your contest worth people’s while by offering a relevant and worthy prize. Keep your target audience in mind here – if you offer a prize that isn’t related to your key demographic, you may end up attracting a lot of entrants who aren’t actually interested in your business or products.
Choose your contest type
Next, decide what type of Facebook contest you plan to run. You could ask your followers to caption a photo, to post their own photo or video on your wall, to comment on a post, or to answer a question. Keep in mind that these contests will need to be judged by someone, and you may end up with hundreds of entries to look through. An alternative is to consider running a straightforward sweepstake, where a winner is chosen completely at random.
Clearly state the rules
It is crucial to include clear and concise T&Cs for your Facebook contest.
Some important items to include are:
- how people can enter
- when the competition closes
- whether there are any age or location restrictions
- what the prize will be
- whether people can enter more than once
- how the winner will be announced.
Something else to consider is making your customer aware if that includes courier costs!
Make it easy to enter and share
Try to keep the entry requirements as short as possible. People may be willing to spend time entering the information you require but if it is too complicated you will lose interest which reduces entries and reach. Make it easy for participants to share your contest so that it increases your reach and entry numbers.
Make sure your contest is mobile-friendly
This is a no-brainer! Who doesn’t have a phone these days?! Almost everyone checks Facebook on their mobile device, so to avoid missing out on their entry, you need to ensure that your contest is mobile-friendly.
Increase your reach with Facebook ads
Although people may naturally come across your contest in their News Feed, organic reach may not be enough to deliver the results you’re looking for. To help get more reach to new audiences and visibility to your contest try running some Facebook ads to promote it. We can help you determine what would be the recommended amount for your business.
How did you do?
Make sure you review your contest performance. Consider whether it met your expectations, what worked well and what didn’t work so well. This will help you to improve any Facebook contests you run in the future.
We can recommend tools for drawing the winning entry given the criteria, and advice on further details catered for your specific product or service. Give us a call or send us an email to make your competition a win-win for you and your clients!
