Social media FB competition query

[islandgirl]

Hi all,
not sure where to post this one?!

I'd like to run a competition on my FB page and I know that FB rules have changed recently. Looking at other users running comps there is still a lot of flouting of the rules do you know of anyone being fined by FB ?

Also what app/software do people use to select a winner randomly that is free/cheap?

Many thanks !:|

 

[JMaddox]

Hi there,

Yes- there are many companies/pages that I see don't strictlt stick to FB rules. I personally do not know of any that have been penalised/fined as of yet.

In terms of a tool to pick a winner, I'd recommend: textmechanic.com/Random-Line-Picker.html
(Sorry, I can't post direct links on the forum yet!)

Hope this helps.

 

[beasty]

What you have to remember is the number of pages on FB

Just because you do not know of any one example does not mean the do not shut pages down (they do)

Having built an audience do you want that switched off?

A business partner of mine runs specialised FB contests that pull emails etc as well as likes, typically you get around 1000 of each in 2 weeks but depends on what you are actually aiming to do.

pm me your info if you want

 

[thelegalstop]

There are rules for doing contests on FB? Where do I find these rules?

 

[noo81]

You can find fb terms here https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php .
Hope this helps.

 

[WebMeUp]

First, to avoid any issues, we advise you to comply with all Facebook rules and TOS.

But as some of the guys here have notices, when surfing Facebook, one can find lots pages that are in clear violation of Facebook promotion guidelines. However, these pages may still run several promotions a day

The question is why these communities are still alive[FONT=&quot]? [/FONT]Basically, there are 3 reasons for that:

1) Practically no one knows that these promotion guidelines exist;
2) Hardly anyone reports cases of violation;
3) Facebook doesn't have any facilities to actively monitor all running promotions.

To sum it up, there are probably thousands of promotions created on Facebook every hour. But Facebook doesn't have time and resources to monitor them all and punish the disobedient ones (unless someone reports violation, which almost never happens).

And finally, in the worst case (if your page is reported), Facebook will never ban or remove it without a prior warning. If you receive such, you can correct everything and be fine.

But to be on the safe side, we advise you to learn the rules and be compliant!

 

[jamesosix]

I'm a big fan of Woobox. But it costs from 1$ to post one competition to a page that has 100 fans. If the page has more fans, you have to buy the next package up.

But overall it has lots of options and even the ability for the app to select the winner.

All the best

 

[islandgirl]

I liked the look of Woobox and I believe it now has a 'free tool' - I don't want to do too many competitions and this is a trial one to see how it is responded to.
Thanks for all of your advice, I always follow rules and hate that I don't take gambles but that's just me!

 

[StuartDavidson]

Hi all,
not sure where to post this one?!

I'd like to run a competition on my FB page and I know that FB rules have changed recently. Looking at other users running comps there is still a lot of flouting of the rules do you know of anyone being fined by FB ?

Also what app/software do people use to select a winner randomly that is free/cheap?

Many thanks !:|

Many companies do not stick to the rules. One I notice a lot is not having URLs in the cover image. So many break this but I guess Facebook can't keep check on all of their massive userbase

 

[Lynette]

I have used Woobox but I prefer Rafflecopter as a free resource. It works well and you can embed the competition on a blog post as well as on your Facebook page. You can also use it to get likes on Twitter too and encourage blog commenting. It's really easy to set up, collects the email addresses of your entrants and it picks the winners randomly for you.

 

[deniser]

If I follow the rules (mainly the one about having to do something offline rather than liking or commenting) no-one enters. People are lazy. I take a gamble.

 

[islandgirl]

Lynette many thanks Im giving Rafflecopter a go - fingers crossed it all works ok !!
Thanks everyone for your help

 

[SillyJokes]

So a shop I know is giving away a mounted and stuffed duckling if they get to 1000 likes - this is against FB rules? And yet, it is sooooo tempting.

 

[islandgirl]

Hehe tempting if wrong in many ways ! 1000 likes? - Im guessing theres no such duck!

 

[Lynette]

Lynette many thanks Im giving Rafflecopter a go - fingers crossed it all works ok !!
Thanks everyone for your help

Good luck, hope it goes well

 

[ZooTicuS]

Facebook competitions tend to attract those people who have a 'fake' competition account - meaning that moving forward they will not read your news/posts as they do not use Facebook in the traditional way. They will simply enter every competition known to man. There are plenty of forums that list Facebook competitions so these types of people can 'like' 'share' the page etc.

Surely the main aim of getting more 'likes' is to increase your overall audience (readership) of your page/posts and ultimately increase sales/enquirers. Therefore I would suggest you would be better off using Facebook advertising to increase your 'likes' these people are much more likely to turn into active readers and maybe one day a customer. For each genuine new 'like' you add to the page you typically increase your overall reach by another 200 people (their friends at Facebook).

Might be helpful - might not be. Good luck with it all though!

 

[Lynette]

By the way the new rules do allow for getting people to enter using likes and comments:

Facebook announced on August 27 that they’ve changed their Pages Terms to make it “easier for businesses of all sizes to create and administer promotions on Facebook.” They’re allowing pages to run contests and promotions on their own timelines (you cannot run contests on a personal timeline). Per Facebook, businesses can now:

Collect entries by having users post on the page or comment/like a page post
Collect entries by having users message the page
Utilize likes as a voting mechanism

Source: Social Media Examiner


You just have to clearly state the terms and conditions somewhere and make it very clear that the competition has nothing to do with Facebook.

 

[ReviewsThatStick]

Nice post there Lynette. This is indeed an informative info regarding the updated rules.