Approximately 2.91 billion people, or 36% of the global population, use Facebook every month. Although each person has a unique personality and preferences (like pineapple on pizza or Crocs in regular or sports mode), they all share a common interest in free things. Conducting a Facebook contest or giveaway is an effective and affordable strategy for promoting your business in 2023. It’s also a great way to reward your brand’s faithful followers. However, there are several ways, ranging from bothersome to outright illegal, that Facebook contests should not be conducted.
Read on for the lastest step-by-step guide in 2023 on how to organize and implement a Facebook giveaway that will excite both your audience and your analytics.
What exactly is a Facebook Contest?
A Facebook contest is one in which Facebook users compete to win goods, services, or other valuable items (for example, clout) provided by the contest organizer. Consider it similar to a physical draw you’d enter at a supermarket, except instead of writing your name and contact information on a slip of paper, you enter electronically by liking a post or leaving a comment.
What exactly is a Facebook giveaway?
On Facebook, a giveaway is a prevalent subset of contests. And in fact, most of the contests on the platform can be categorized as giveaways. Typically, giveaways involve awarding the contest winner something of value, such as a free photo shoot for a photographer’s contest or a set of new Fall scents for a candle brand.
Occasionally, you might come across Facebook contests that don’t technically provide any prizes, like an animal shelter’s “cute dog” contest, which might simply display a picture of the winner rather than offering a monetary reward. However, in the majority of cases, the terms “contest” and “giveaway” are interchangeable.
How to Create and Manage a Facebook Contest?
Running a Facebook contest is simple, but there are a few things you should know before embarking on your first giveaway in 2023— both for the success of your Facebook marketing strategy and to ensure you’re not violating any of the platform’s rules.
Step 1: Determine your objectives
In the first place, why are you holding a Facebook contest? Of course, it’s to improve your social media game—but how?
Ascertain that you understand your objective. Common goals include increasing brand awareness, increasing engagement, receiving likes, marketing a new product, gaining followers, and learning more about your followers. Keep those objectives in mind as you plan your contest.
Step 2: Establish the terms of your Facebook contest
When conducting a Facebook giveaway in 2023, it’s crucial to establish your own regulations (such as prohibiting employees from winning) while also being aware of the social media platform’s official rules concerning giveaways.
Facebook’s latest contest regulations are divided into three primary sections
Firstly, it’s your responsibility to conduct the competition legally, and Facebook will not assist you in avoiding violating any state, provincial, or federal laws by, for example, accidentally organizing a lottery instead of a contest. Hint: Any contest requiring participants to spend money to play, such as purchasing a product, is considered a lottery.
Secondly, it’s your responsibility to acquire a “complete release of Facebook” from participants and to acknowledge that Facebook has no involvement in the contest. A giveaway landing page is a dependable location to include all of these requirements, alerts, and permissions.
Finally, asking individuals to utilize their personal timelines or friend connections to participate is not allowed. The previous regulations have been disregarded in this regard. Tagging a friend or sharing a Facebook post on one’s timeline used to be a typical contest requirement, but it is no longer acceptable.
To summarize the acceptable and unacceptable requirements for a Facebook giveaway in 2023:
Acceptable requirements:
- Liking the post
- Commenting on the post
- Liking comments on the post (as a way of voting)
- Posting on the Page’s timeline
- Messaging the Page
Practices that are not allowed and may result in your contest post being flagged or removed:
- Sharing the post on your timeline
- Tagging your friends
- Sharing the post on your friends’ timeline
Asking people to like your Facebook Business Page is a gray area. Technically, it’s not against the rules. But it’s not recommended since there’s no easy way to track who has liked the Page. However, you can encourage people to like your Page and participate in the contest through a less questionable method.
Step 3: Select a prize
Select a prize that fits with your brand and generates enthusiasm among your followers. For instance, providing a product from a new release is an excellent approach to market the launch (and even those who don’t win might purchase the product).
Moreover, consider the practical aspects of your prize and how you will distribute it to the winner. For instance, an ice cream business should mail a branded t-shirt rather than an ice cream.
Step 4: Develop your assets
While plain text can convey all the information about your contest, it may not be very captivating, and potential participants may overlook your giveaway. Fortunately, various apps make photo editing simple and accessible, allowing you to add text, stickers, and graphics, even if you’re not a graphic design professional.
Step 5: Promote your contest ahead of time
Inform your followers about your upcoming contest beforehand to build excitement. You can generate buzz by disclosing details about your prize, or if you have several prizes, reveal one daily in the lead-up to the contest launch.
Utilize a scheduling tool to organize your posts and guarantee that you’re posting at the optimal time of day.
If you’ve previously held contests and the winners shared photos of themselves with the prizes, consider using those photos to promote your next contest—just make sure you get permission first.
Step 6: Post your contest
And now for liftoff! Create a Facebook contest and watch the entries pour in. Make sure to moderate the contest post and respond to any questions or confusion that may arise.
You don’t have to limit yourself to Facebook. You can also run the same (or a similar) contest on Instagram, Twitter and/or YouTube.
Step 7: Continue to promote your contest in the run-up to the deadline
This is where the scheduling tool comes in handy once more. To avoid your contest being buried in engagement announcements or minion memes (or whatever else is clogging up your followers’ feeds), share it frequently.
As the contest deadline approaches, make sure to notify your followers that time is running out. A countdown to the entry deadline is an excellent motivator for slackers—get it before it’s gone!
Step 8: Choose the winners
Are there any guidelines for selecting the winners of Facebook contests? No, technically. Nothing prevents you from selecting the person with the coolest name or your friend’s mother to win — except, of course, your ethics.
Choosing a winner at random is the best option. There are numerous free apps and websites available to select a random winner:
- The comment picker will select a random comment from your post (which is useful if people enter by commenting).
- Namepicker and Osortoo both choose a name from the comments section.
- Woobox can choose between comments and “likers.”
Step 9: Notify the winners and end the contest
Get in touch with your contest winner and inform them of their victory (a helpful hint is to sound human in your message to avoid the winner thinking it’s a fraud!) and officially “close” the contest. This means modifying all your contest posts and adding a line that says the contest has ended. This tells people who come late to the party that the contest is over and ensures that you aren’t bombarded with comments long after the winner has been declared.
Step 10: Share the winners (with their permission)
This is an optional step. You can publicly share the winner’s username once you’ve chosen them (as long as you’ve made that possibility clear in the contest rules). Or, with permission, their photograph. Before you do this, make sure you have the winner’s permission.
Sharing who won isn’t required, but it does improve your brand’s transparency. Proving that you chose a winner at all ensures that the concert is legitimate and that you’re not doing it for the likes or comments.