It’s that time of year where companies use their Facebook page to run contests. This is something that happens a lot leading into the holiday season and it’s a great way to drum up engagement on your Facebook Page while giving something away to your audience. The question is, are you following the rules?
Something I have only seen a couple of times for a contest being run on Facebook, and that’s mostly from a social media manager, is a disclaimer saying that Facebook isn’t associated with the contest.
This is something that should be added with an asterisk at the end of the rules for your contest and can be found as part of the Facebook Terms of Service.
Something else I see far to often, and I’m sure you see it on your friend’s timeline, is a requirement for winning the contest is to share the post or ad with your friends on your timeline. This is something that is not allowed and can also be found in Facebook’s Terms of Service.
There are ways around this but to have this as a requirement isn’t allowed. If you have a Facebook Profile that is tied in with your business and want to keep with the same branding, you should still be allowed to win a contest without sharing the post to your page. However, if you choose to share it that is your choice.
Hopefully that makes sense to you and when you’re running your next contest, you have a better understanding of the rules.
For those of your that are in the Windsor and Essex Region, and would like to be apart of a group that focuses on small business that run their own social media accounts and are looking for help, join our Social Media Sidekicks group and stop by tonight at 7pm for our Facebook Live Q&A!
