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Many of the best Facebook pages have a simplistic design, yet are filled with engaging calls to action, plenty of things visitors to the page can do, such as ‘like’ your page, visit your website, go and view your portfolio elsewhere, or even take part in a competition.

Online competitions are, for some companies, a good way of building your brand, connecting with people, spreading word of mouth and giving away some of your products and services to those interested as a taster.

Many companies both big and small hold these kinds of competitions on their websites and on their Facebook pages. However, what many people don’t realise is that there are strict guidelines about promotions on Facebook and its not just the big brands that get caught out, plenty of smaller organisations have been told to remove content because it breaks Facebook’s rules in one way or another.

facebook-competition

There are many blog posts, websites and guidelines about how to hold competitions on Facebook that are really handy, but to find out exactly where you stand in terms of Facebook’s rules, then you need to consult the Promotions Guidelines page which the team update regularly.

Although we always recommend you reading through the official guidelines above yourself first, we’ve summarised a few of the key points below:

  • Just like any promotion, you need your own set of terms and conditions before anyone can enter. If there’s some kind of issue with a competition you’ve wholly or partly held on Facebook, Facebook is in no way responsible. So, sort out the basics before you even finalise the mechanics of the competition.

  • If you’re going to hold a promotion on Facebook, it needs to be held from within an App, so not just on the main Facebook page itself.

  • You cannot use a Facebook mechanism to get people to enter a competition. For instance, we’ve seen many companies say “like our page to enter the competition” when actually that’s not a valid way to enter, neither is checking into a location, leaving a comment on a wall or uploading a photo. You must think of other ways people can enter, like answering a question or sending their details elsewhere.

  • You cannot contact winners via Facebook, that includes chat, a comment on a Facebook wall or a private message. So, bear that in mind when you’re considering how the competition will work, as you’ll need another way of getting in touch with people.

There are some companies that still hold competitions entirely within Facebook, but given all of the rules and regulations, it’s most advisable to not depend on it as a driving force. Instead use Facebook as a way of pointing people toward a competition that is wholly run somewhere else, like on your current website or a dedicated holding page.

To speak to us about calls to action on your Facebook page and specifically Facebook promotions, then get in touch with one of our team today and we can explain just what you can and can’t do.

Image via Very Facebook page.

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