Facebook competitions are a great tool because, let’s face it, who doesn’t like free stuff?
Facebook competitions are a popular and effective tool to increase your followers and engagement on your business’ page. They can be super effective- when managed well.
Here are some guidelines to ensure your Facebook competition is a success.
Decide on your objective
This is probably the main thing people forget when it comes to Facebook competitions. For the competition to be beneficial to you, you need to know WHY you are running the competition. When you know what you want to achieve from the competition then you will know what kind of competition to run.
For example:
You would like to increase your “Likes” and engagement on your Facebook page.
-Now you know that you must request the entrants to like your page and comment on your competition post.
Confirm the Ts & Cs
Ts and Cs…do you really need them?? Well, if you do not specify the Ts & Cs in a place entrants can access then you might have a problem on your hands after the competition closes. These little guidelines safeguard your business and outline exactly what is expected and what is on offer through the competition. They manage the entrants’ expectations too.
Terms and Conditions don’t have to be in technical law jargon that no one understands. Just clearly set them out for entrants to abide by. These can be added to the competition posts or you can link to a “note” on Facebook or your website where they can find it.
Make it easy for people to enter
After you know what your objectives are it will be easier to decide what people need to do to qualify for the prize. Just remember to keep it easy to track as this will all come back to you after the competition when you check if they qualified. If it is an answer that people need to comment keep it to short one word answers. This way people can also enter quickly and easily as time is often of the essence and they don’t want to spend hours writing the next best novel (unless you are running a writing competition of course 😊)
Engage with the entrants
People love to be acknowledged so give them a little bit of attention when they enter. This way you can engage with them and give them a positive impression of your brand. Again, keep it simple and short and do not force your products on them here as this will leave a bitter taste.
Keep it fair and objective
Choosing the winner can be very hard if it is the sort of competition where you need to judge entries such as photos or stories. In these contests, winners must be selected using the specific criteria outlined by you in your competition guidelines or conditions. BUT, if it is supposed to be “Luck of the draw contest” then you must keep it fair and be objective. Don’t just pick a random person because you liked their profile picture or name. There are various digital randomisers tools available for you to use. Fanpage Karma’s “Good Luck Fairy” is one of the easiest and most popular tools to use. All you need to do is insert the link to your competition post and voilà, “she” picks a winner for you.
Stick to Facebook’s rules
Facebook tends to change their rules and competition conditions often. Ensure you are keeping things above board by sticking to their guidelines.
There you have it, your very own, foolproof guide to running Facebook competitions.
Chat to us if you need help with your Facebook campaigns or competitions.