Until a few days ago it was not permitted to host competitions on your business Facebook pages. Though many businesses did it anyway! Whether they were unaware of the policy or chose to ignore it, I don’t know? The fact is, now you can. Finally Facebook are easing up on their competition rules.
What’s Changed?
The new policy that Facebook have released this week states that 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
- Utilise likes as a voting mechanism
How does it affect me?
Previously you would have use an app that would open a new page where Facebook users could enter into the promotion. It is worth noting however, if you wish to you can still use an app. This may be especially beneficial to larger companies where bigger volumes of entries are expected and using an app may make it easier to manage the entries. You may also want to collect data about your entrants for remarketing and an app is ideal for this purpose.
That said the relaxed promotions policy makes running competitions much easier for businesses. It will be easier, cheaper and more time effective for smaller businesses to run their competitions. Further to that simpler for Facebook users to enter, probably meaning you will get a better response from your promotions.
Why Run Promotions?
- It furthers your reach and engagement
- You may convert a new customer
- To gather information for remarketing
- To achieve more page likes
I would proceed with caution. Your fans have not signed up to your page to be bombarded with competitions. Be sure to give them what they signed up for in terms of valuable content. I would advise just doing competitions once a month or sporadically so as not to lose fans and keep them engaged with other great news and facts.
Changes to Tagging Rules
Lastly there have been changes in Facebook Terms to tagging in promotions. It is not permitted for brands to encourage people to tag themselves in a picture they are not actually in to enter a competition. For more information you can view the Facebook Promotion Guidelines.
For more information on how Tann Westlake can help you with your social media call 01903 368114 or email info@tannwestlake.com