Did you know that 78.4% of contest shares are done on Facebook? And that on average, 34% of new fans are engaged through a contest? Moreover, Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users as of the second quarter of 2020. As a marketer, these stats are hard to ignore. Social media contests and giveaways are a superb strategy to interact with fans and acquire followers. However, running a contest requires lots of planning. It is not as easy as you think. Today, let’s review all the things you should know about running a Facebook giveaway. First, we’ll dive into the rules. Then, we’ll talk about getting started with your own Facebook giveaway. Finally, we’ll provide you with some ideas and examples to inspire your own contest.
Facebook Giveaway Rules
The rules on Facebook giveaways are pretty easy. According to Facebook, if you run a Facebook giveaway, you have to add the official rules, offer terms and eligibility requirements (such as age and residency restrictions), and comply with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (meaning registration and obtaining essential regulatory approvals).
Moreover, the copy needs to include an entire release of Facebook by every entrant and acknowledgment that the giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Facebook.
You’ll be able to run a giveaway on Pages, Groups, Events, or within apps. However, you cannot run a giveaway on your personal Facebook page. You also can’t use personal friend connections as a part of the giveaway, which means you can’t have people share on their timeline to enter or share on a friend’s timeline, or tag friends in the post to enter.
Disclaimer: This blog post consists of some information on legal issues surrounding internet marketing, however, legal information isn’t the same as legal advice — applying the law to a particular circumstance. We’ve conducted research to better make sure that our information is accurate and helpful, however, we insist that you talk to a lawyer if you want professional assurance that our information, and your interpretation of it, are accurate. In a nutshell, you may not depend on this information as legal advice, nor as a recommendation or endorsement of any particular legal understanding, and you should instead see this post’s info as for entertainment purposes only.
Now, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of Facebook giveaways.
Run a Giveaway on Facebook
1. Set your goals
The very first thing you should do before you run a giveaway on Facebook is to determine what the goal is.
Your objective could be to increase brand awareness, collect email addresses, gain new followers, improve engagement, or drive traffic to your website.
Once you understand your goal, you can come up with the kind of giveaway you need to run (more on this below). For instance, if you want to gain new followers, you may run a photo vote contest, where users need to ask friends to like their photo in the contest. This may drive more people to your Facebook page, and hopefully, convince a few of them to follow you.
2. Choose a prize that worths it for your target audience
Once you understand the kind of content you’re going to run, it’s time to choose a prize. No matter prize you choose should make sense for your target audience and be something that they want. Selecting a $20 prize probably won’t entice people to enter. In fact, the average value of a social media contest prize is $369.
Also, generic prizes don’t usually work as effectively. Try coming up with something specific that your audience would like. For example, if you’re a fitness influencer, you can run a Facebook giveaway with a workout bike as the won prize. In this example, the prize makes the target audience think of a fitness enthusiast.
3. Write the rules
Now, you should come up with the rules. Set a time frame for your contest, choose an entry method, and determine any eligibility requirements.
Once you’ve selected the rules and regulations, write them out. Remember to include all the information that Facebook requires.
4. Create your assets
At this point, you know what kind of giveaway you’re running, you’ve decided on the prize, and you’ve written the rules. The final thing to do before clicking “Post” is to create the assets. You may need images, graphics, and a caption written. The assets should make it clear that you’re running a giveaway and what the prize of this contest is.
5. Promote, promote, promote
Once you’ve posted your giveaway on Facebook, you should promote it via several channels. Organic reach on Facebook has plummeted to 2% in recent years, so you can’t just trust that your followers will even see the post.
To advertise your Facebook giveaway, you can use different social media platforms, write a blog post, create a video, and email your subscriber list. The more ways you can get it out, the better result you can achieve.
6. Measure success
Now that your giveaway is over, and you have contacted the winner, and posted that the giveaway has closed, what do you do?
It’s time to measure the success of your marketing campaign. You had a goal, and now you need to take a look at a couple of key metrics to see if you succeeded.
Some metrics to take a look at, depending on your goals:
- Response rate/number of submissions
- Impressions/Reach
- Website visits from the giveaway post
- Brand mentions
- Likes, comments, shares
- Email subscribers