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(Expert Feature) Facebook Guidelines for Running a Safe Contest or Sweepstakes

Posted on January 17, 2013 in 2BH Expert Contributor, App Building, Apps, Facebook, Facebook Marketing, Legal, Marketing Strategies // 0 Comments

how to create contests on facebook

Have you entered any giveaways, sweepstakes or contests on Facebook lately?

Do you know the rules and how to recognize when a brand is violating the Facebook Terms and Conditions for running a contest on your page?

If not, make sure you understand the rules before planning a promotion. Violations could results in a business page being shut down.

Every day, we see contests that violate the rules and we hope Facebook doesn’t find these infractions so the business doesn’t lose its page.

Building a Facebook following involves a lot of hard work and money, and the loss of a page would be a serious loss.

So, to stay safe while running a Facebook promotion, follow these simple rules:

4 Rules For Your Facebook Promotion

  1. Never use a Facebook function (like, share, comment, check-in, etc.) as the entry into a promotion, giveaway or contest.
  2. Use a third-party app, such as, Wildfire, Shortstack or a custom-built application to run the promotion. Gather all the details necessary in this application, along with the proper terms and conditions required by Facebook. Also, these apps can be “gated” to require visitors to like the page in order to “unlock” the app for entry into the promotion.
  3. Never announce winners on a business page timeline, message, chat, etc.. Always notify the winner via email, phone or other means. The winner may be posted on the wall once notified and acknowledged via other means.
  4. Include terms and conditions for the promotion. Facebook requires the following:
    1. Entrants do not hold Facebook responsible.
    2. The promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Facebook.
    3. Information released by entrants in the promotion (name, email address, shipping address, phone, etc.) is disclosed to the business and not to Facebook.
    4. Be sure to check your state’s rules for contests and sweepstakes and consult a lawyer to be sure the terms are keeping the business safe.

That’s it.

Follow these simple steps and a business’s Facebook page will stay safely within Facebook’s contest and sweepstakes guidelines.

About Melanie Yunk (50 Articles)
Melanie Yunk, President, Roaring Pajamas Melanie Yunk started working as a social media and search engine optimization consultant early in 2009, when she founded Roaring Pajamas, a digital marketing agency in Northern California. Melanie is passionate about helping businesses market their products and services online. She brings more than 20 years of marketing, engineering and content experience to clients from various industries, including search engines, construction, retail, B2B, wholesale, heavy duty trucks, authors and more. Melanie previously founded Melanie's Fine Foods after purchasing Big Acres® Gourmet Sauces where she expanded the line to be distributed nationwide and in Canada. She also founded Yunk Consulting where she assisted software and semiconductor companies in implementing international standards for electronic databooks that she also helped developed while working at Intel Corporation. Her earliest career began at Honeywell Commercial Flight Systems where she worked on the Boeing 777 and MD11 cockpit projects. She continues to write on the Roaring Pajamas Blog and also as a guest blogger writing about all natural and gourmet foods. Melanie volunteers as a Board Member for the San Carlos Chamber of Commerce and former President of the Advisory Board for the Rosalie Rendu Center in East Palo Alto. She lives in San Carlos with her husband Kent and two Cornish Rex cats.
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