Facebook Competitions – 5 tips for success

Well executed Facebook competitions are a great way to boost engagement on your business page, especially as some of you may have noticed a continued decline in the organic reach of your business’ Facebook posts.

It’s been two years since the rules relaxed around the administration of Facebook Competitions, and yet still I come across some that continue to break the rules. As well as some Facebook competitions that could be leveraged and publicised much more effectively than they are.

Before you even think about running a Facebook competition, always consider what you’d like to achieve as an outcome of the competition. If it’s purely about getting “likes” on your Facebook page, there may be other ways to do this, especially as it’s no longer an option to “like-gate” a promotion, (in other words make it a condition that people “like” your page before entering).

Also ensure that you familiarise yourself with the official rules around running Facebook competitions. You’ll discover information HERE, HERE and HERE.

There’s no doubt that there is an investment in time required to plan, set up and successfully execute Facebook competitions, yet I still believe they can bring real value in terms of marketing, and regularly employ them in my client’s digital strategies.

Here are my top 5 tips for successful promotions.

1. Play by the rules – I know I’ve already said this above, but as well as ensuring you know the official guidelines around setting up Facebook Competitions as the supplier, make sure your prospective entrants know the rules around entering and being part of whatever you’ve set up. You can either create a page on your blog/website that has your official rules and include a link to this; or if you’re using third party software to set up and administer your Facebook competitions, there’s generally a place to include “the rules”. This leads me on to my second top tip…
2. Use third-party software – I very rarely run Facebook promotions from the wall. An example of this would be “Comment on this photo of our sweet new product, and be in to win a sweet product”. Here’s why… These types of promotions are tricky to administer, and apart from a flurry of activity that may boost the reach of that particular post, you get very little in return. By contrast, using third-party software allows you to request more information from the people who enter your Facebook competitions, like the all important email address that will allow you to market to entrants via other platforms. There are heaps of third party software platforms and apps that will allow you to set up and administer your Facebook competitions, but remember that general rule in life applies… “You get what you pay for”.
3. Keep it simple – We are all very time poor, the more hoops you make people jump through to be part of your Facebook competitions the less entries you’ll get. Ask people to enter an email address to enter your Facebook competitions, you’ll get entries…. Ask them to upload a photo or write a paragraph about why they should win, and the number of people willing to enter will fall. A word on prizes too… You might want to consider the simplicity of those. A monetary value voucher for your product or service will have a broader appeal than a particular item that you have specified as a prize.
4. Make it look great – As with everything you do online, use stunning imagery. A picture paints a thousand words. That said, the words you use in your Facebook competitions matter too. You want headlines that command attention and calls to action that convince people to take part.
5. Spread the word – There are lots of ways you can do this. Encourage people to share through a bonus entry system, (this only works effectively if you’re running Facebook competitions through third party software that can track this for you). Set aside a Facebook advertising budget for the duration of your Facebook competitions. Mail a link to your email database, to let them know about your promotion. Talk about your Facebook competitions across all of your other social and digital channels, including your own blog or website. Share the word offline too… If you have a physical store or premises, print up some flyers that tell your customers about your Facebook promotion, and where to go to enter it.

Here at Kate Coote. we have invested in software that allows us to run creative Facebook competitions for your business, contact us if you would like to increase your database through a well executed promotion.