The latest in social media news is Facebook has made changes to their Promotions Guidelines to make it "easier for businesses of all sizes to create and administer promotions on Facebook." These guidelines set Facebook's terms and conditions for running a promotion on your business page.
What has changed? Here is a summary directly from Facebook:
We’ve removed the requirement that promotions on Facebook only be administered through apps. Now, promotions may be administered on Page Timelines and in apps on Facebook.
For example, 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
As before, however, businesses cannot administer promotions on personal Timelines.
Accurate tagging is required in promotions.
In order to maintain the accuracy of Page content, our Pages Terms now prohibit Pages from tagging or encouraging people to tag themselves in content that they are not actually depicted in.
So, for instance:
- It’s OK to ask people to submit names of a new product in exchange for a chance to win a prize
- It's not OK to ask people to tag themselves in pictures of a new product in exchange for a chance to win a prize.
What does that mean for you, the business owner?
The changes give you more options to run creative and engaging campaigns on your page. Allowing people to enter by liking or commenting on a post will increase engagement and the reach of your promotion. You can create campaigns that are easy to enter and will spread quickly through your community and their friends.
What to keep in mind
- Official Rules. These guidelines are for Facebook only. They do not cover individual state laws regarding sweepstakes and promotions. Each state has their own law that regulates contests and promotions. You are often required to include Official Rules that state "No Purchase is Necessary", the dates of the promotion, when the winner will be selected, and the chances of winning. Facebook also requires you to include the following statements:
- A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
- Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
- Selecting Winners. When running a promotion that requires for someone just to like your post, you want to make sure you can easily and randomly select the winner. At this time, Facebook does not have a way to export this information, so this is a manual process.
- The Value of Information. Having a name and email address, as well as other contact information, is very valuable. When deciding on your promotion, think about the goals you are trying to achieve and the value of the prize. The more valuable the prize, the more information you can request from participants. This can be a great way to build your marketing list and attract new leads.
The new changes are very exciting for businesses looking to use Facebook to reach their market. You have new tools to expand your reach and increase engagement on your page.
Just make sure to always keep your marketing, sales, and company goals in line with every promotion that you run.
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