Facebook contest, giveaways and promotions - by the rules

Facebook is an enormous network with lots of regulations for users, but one of the most important pieces of policy is Facebook’s promotions guidelines. It’s important that any page administrator operating any sort of promotion using Facebook knows and follows these guidelines. 

Why?

Because Facebook doesn’t want to assume liability for users who don’t comply. 

What does that mean?

When you don’t comply, if Facebook finds out about it, they will pull your Page down. There are pages that get away with doing promotions that go against Facebook’s guidelines, but it’s like playing Russian Roulette. Do you really want to risk losing all the work you’ve done to build your fan base and content on Facebook?

I’ve copied and pasted the guidelines here straight from Facebook’s site. I’ll go through each one and explain how it impacts page admins.

1. Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or an app on a Page Tab.

This means you should use a third-party app that has built-in contest management. Mari Smith included a handy list in this post on Social Media Examiner last year.

2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following:

a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.

b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

c. Disclosure that the participant is providing information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook.

As I mentioned above, Facebook doesn’t want to be liable for your contest So, you need to make entrants aware that Facebook has no part in it and tell participents who is getting their data (that’s just good policy in general). If you’re using a third-party app - they build in these releases and disclosures for you. 

3. You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant. 

No Facebook function can be used as a way to enter a contest. From liking a page, piece of content or leaving a comment or wall post - no direct Facebook mechanism can be used to enter a participant into a contest. Apps get permission from users to use their data. Page admins do not. Using a third-party app to collect information from a willing participant is preferable to using your fan list to pick winners.

This includes all those blog-based giveaways that tell you to go like a company’s page for an extra entry. Bloggers who do this risk having that company’s page taken down.

4. You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall.

This one causes some confusion because of “like-gating” practices (that are now pretty much defunct with the rollout of Timeline and no more custom landing tabs). Like-gating was a tactic used on many pages to offer something to prospective fans in exchange for a “Like”. Many page admins offered free content or discounts as their “like-gate”. In some cases, clever page admins have created a “like-gate” whereby prospective fans can only get access to a contest after they like a page. This was an acceptable use because the actual “Like” isn’t a contest entry.

It states clearly in #3 that you can’t make a like or check-in an entry to a contest, so with custom landing tabs now gone, we may see this wording change or be eliminated eventually. Unless custom tabs still limit what users see based on whether they like your page. For now, it’s unclear what impact Timeline will have on this portion of the guidelines.

5. You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion.

So, contests that require users to go like or comment on a piece of content contained on Facebook as a “vote” for that content in a promotion is not allowed outside of a third-party app.

6. You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.

The beauty of using a third-party app for your Facebook contests is that you can grow your email list (permission-based, of course) and collect other valuable data from contest entrants, within reason. And, since you have the email address, you can comply with Facebook’s rules about not using their infrastructure to make any notifications about the contest.

7. Ads may not imply a Facebook endorsement or partnership of any kind. Ads linking to Facebook branded content (including Pages, groups, events, or Connect sites) may make limited reference to “Facebook” in ad text for the purpose of (1) fulfilling your obligations under Section 2 and (2) clarifying the destination of the ad. All other ads and landing pages may not use our copyrights or trademarks (including Facebook, the Facebook and F Logos, FB, Face, Poke, Book, and Wall) or any confusingly similar marks, except as expressly permitted by our Brand Usage Guidelines or with our prior written permission.

See? Facebook really, really doesn’t want to be in any way connected to promotions hosted on the site. It needs to be crystal clear in the promotion copy that your company (or other entity) has and assumes sole responsibility and liability for the promotion. 

8. Definitions:

a. By “administration” we mean the operation of any element of the promotion, such as collecting entries, conducting a drawing, judging entries, or notifying winners.

b. By “communication” we mean promoting, advertising or referencing a promotion in any way on Facebook, e.g., in ads, on a Page, or in a Wall post.

c. By “contest” or “competition” we mean a promotion that includes a prize of monetary value and a winner determined on the basis of skill (i.e., through judging based on specific criteria).

d. By “sweepstakes” we mean a promotion that includes a prize of monetary value and a winner selected on the basis of chance.

When does legalese not have definitions?

The bottom line with these guidelines is that it’s not hard to have a legitimately run Facebook promotion that works with the rules. In fact, having done a contest on Facebook once upon a long time ago that didn’t comply, I’m betting that administering within a third-party app is far easier than doing so using Facebook’s interface. Because, let’s face it - Facebook is not designed for contests. As much as page admins love the EdgeRank benefits of contests, it’s not worth the headache of administering.

Did you know you could lose your Facebook Page if you run promotions outside of these guidelines?

Facebook: Focus on a topic with interest lists

There’s a lot of noise on Facebook. There’s also too much content for everything to show up in your stream let alone you noticing everything that goes by.

Facebook has recently introduced interests lists that can help you filter through all the noise and drill down to the content you’re really looking for.

What are they?

Interest lists are groupings of people and pages. When you select a list your main newsfeed will only have updates from those in the list.

You can create your own lists on whatever subject you would like, or you can subscribe to other people’s lists.

I’ve created several lists:

Ottawa businesses

Blogs

Resources for Entrepreneurs

Where do I find them?

To the left of your newsfeed, at the bottom.

How can I find lists to follow?

Select Add Interests from your left hand menu.

Enter keywords in the search box, then simply click subscribe on any lists you find interesting.

How do I create lists?

From the same screen select +create list

It will pop up a window where you can select people from your friends, pages you follow or are subscribed to, or allow you to search Facebook with keywords.

Once you’ve chosen what/who you’d like in the list click next and choose a name for your list.

Then you are done.  Your lists and all lists you subscribed to will show up at the bottom left of your newsfeed screen with your lists in blue and other people’s lists in green.

Have you created any interest lists? Share the link in the comments!

Facebook: three tips to get more likes on your business page

“Build it and they will come” doesn’t work in the online world.  There are countless Facebook pages out there, all vying for our attenting.  So how do we try to get more people liking our pages?!

1) Ask!

A great way to spread the word about your page is to ask your friends to like your page.

Go to the admin panel of your page (the link is at the top right of your page) and select build audience and then invite friends.

By inviting your Facebook friends to like your page you will start the ball rolling. Once your friends start liking the page, their friends may notice their interactions with your page and start liking as well!

2) Browse Facebook as your page

From the manage tab of your admin panel, select “use Facebook as your page”.  Then start browsing other business pages.  Answer questions as your page and people will start to notice your name, possibly clicking through to your page and consequently liking it.

3) Post regularly

Post something daily on your Facebook page and include questions or calls to action. The more you can get people to engage with what you’re saying with a comment, a like or a share, the more they will continue to see your posts in their feeds and the more your words will spread through their networks.

The average percentage of your audience who see a Facebook post is a mere 16%. By posting regularly you increase your chance at being visible to your audience.

There is no magic solution to getting thousands of followers on your Facebook page, but if you create good and regular content your audience base will steadily grow with faithful, engaged and happy followers.

Have you tried any of these tactics to increase the followers on your Facebook page?

Facebook EdgeRank - in plain English

When I first heard about the EdgeRank algorithm that Facebook uses to determine what shows up in your newsfeed, I realized that I needed a better understanding of it to optimize my own Facebook use. It’s a lot like SEO that way - you don’t need to be an expert, but you will want to know a little more than the name.

What does EdgeRank do?

Many people think that when they log in to Facebook, they’re seeing everything they’ve subscribed to - friends’ updates, page updates, etc. What you actually see is what EdgeRank - Facebook’s internal algorithm - has decided you’ll be most interested in. This is determined based on your activity over time. This algorithm is actually meant to prevent overwhelming users with too much content.

The average Canadian Facebook user has about 130 friends. If you regularly interact with only 10-20, you’re far more likely to see those friends’ updates in your newsfeed. The same applies to content from pages. This is the effect that EdgeRank has on your Facebook experience.

Why does EdgeRank matter?

EdgeRank is what determines whether your content shows up in the newsfeed of those who are following you. As we learned from fMC a couple weeks ago, an average of just 16% of page fans will see your content. Understanding EdgeRank can help you create content that will boost your page’s EdgeRank so that more people see what you’re sharing. That’s definitely worth knowing about!

Does looking at this make your brain hurt, too? Don’t worry - it’s not as bad as it looks.

What is an Edge?

Edge refers to any content object on Facebook that can potentially have an edge - status updates, likes, tags, pictures, links, videos, etc.

What gives content an Edge?

This is where we get into the real meat of what EdgeRank is. It’s made up of three components:

Affinity focuses on the relationship between you (your page) and your audience. As audience members interact with your content (likes, comments and shares) it increases this component of EdgeRank. It’s important to understand that affinity only works one way. In other words, you cannot interact with someone else’s content so they will see yours more often. As you interact with their content more, it merely increases the likelihood that you will see them in your newsfeed. 

Weight looks at the type of content being shared. Status updates do not weigh as high as links and pictures, then video outweigh links. Facebook clearly puts a similar emphasis on rich content the way that SEO does. In a test done by The Daily Beast a couple years ago, they posited that new features are temporarily weighted higher - likely to reward early adopters and encourage greater use. The number of likes and comments (comments are weighted higher) factors in to your weight score as well.

Recency rewards fresh content. The older the content, the more it degrades in Facebook’s algorithm. And this is why we tell clients they need to post to Facebook 1-2 times per day. If you go to EdgeRank Checker, it will actually tell you that your EdgeRank on days with no posts is 0. For pages that post less than once a week, it’s unlikely they will ever attain much of an EdgeRank, which means their content isn’t getting into fans’ newsfeeds.

What can I do to increase my EdgeRank?

You want your content to be seen, so give your audience the opportunity to interact:

• Ask simple questions that require only one or two-word answers.
• Post relevant pictures and videos and give an opportunity for feedback.
• Add an attention-grabbing comment or question to links.

EdgeRank has definitely created new challenges for marketers since it was introduced, but it’s not difficult to create content that overcomes those challenges. Just be creative and plan for it!

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Want to learn more about social media but don’t know where to begin? Wellman Wilson is putting on a social media workshop March 20th where we’ll talk about Twitter, Facebook and setting up a strategy. Find out more here!

The lowdown on Facebook Timeline for business

Just when you were starting to get used to your Facebook business page, Facebook pulled one of its regular tricks and decided to change everything on you again!

We feel your pain so here is a quick update on what’s happening with Timeline introduction for your business pages.

Deadline for changeover

You can publish your new look now, but you have until March 30 to play around with it before you have to hit publish.  Don’t stress about making the change too quickly - you have time to figure it out, what you want it to look like and get used to the idea.

Cover photo

Timeline gives you the opportunity to put in a big gorgeous photo to represent your page.  It’s sleek and gives you a lot of room (851px x 315px) to really brand the feel of your page.

There are, however, a LOT of rules for this image.  Rules like no url to your site or calls to action that have thrown most of us for a loop!

Here are some of the guidelines you MUST follow:

Cover images must be at least 399 pixels wide and may NOT contain:

• Price or purchase information, such as “40% off” or “Download it at our website”
• Contact information, such as web address, email, mailing address or other information intended for your Page’s About section
• References to user interface elements, such as Like or Share, or any other Facebook site features
• Calls to action, such as “Get it now” or “Tell your friends”

Tabs and landing pages

Our big line before this week was that you need to give people an incentive for liking your page and you need to make it loud and clear using calls to action and a custom landing page.

With the changes you can no longer do any of that. We’re going to have to learn to be creative with the new rules.

The tabs now appear right under your main photo - as you can see in the example below, the coupon code you get for liking Blend Creations and their montly contest are both front and centre on the page - far more obvious than they were on the old page, even if you can’t force anyone to a specific landing page any more.

 

What does it all mean?

There’s lots to learn and we’ll be talking more about Timeline over the coming weeks. We’ll cover topics that show you how to feature certain items by pinning posts to the top of your timeline and how to re-order your apps (to feature them under your main cover image).

For now, start by playing around with timeline.  Come up with a great cover image that shows off who you are and what you do. Just remember not to include any calls to actions, discount offers or your url.

Choose a smaller profile image photo - that’s the image that will be showing up next to your name when you post as your page and on mobiles (timeline hasn’t come to mobile for business pages yet). We used our logo.

There are a lot of businesses that have already changed their pages over and they’re looking great! As the weeks pass all kinds of businesses will come up with great new ways to use timeline. There are lots of exciting things to come!!

Have you published your page in timeline yet?