A Facebook contest is a great way to build your audience and drive traffic to your fan page. It can also help you build your email list. But just because it’s on Facebook doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow the rules. Before you get started, make sure your Facebook contest rules are well written and comply with federal, state, and local laws.
Here are the contest rules you should follow, along with a few Facebook contest ideas to help you get started.
Must-Have Contest Rules
Every Facebook contest, and contest in general, should make sure to cover the following:
- Ask the entrants to release Facebook from any liability. Your contest rules should clearly state that Facebook does not in any way sponsor or endorse your contest.
- Follow Facebook’s promotional guidelines. Facebook doesn’t allow promotions that involve personal timelines. In other words, you can’t ask your fans to share your contest post on their personal feeds or ask them to tag a friend to enter. See Facebook guidelines for Promotions on Pages.
- Clearly state your contest entry requirements. What are the rules and eligibility requirements to participate? Whether it’s a photo contest, caption contest or other creative contest, spell out what’s required to get an entry.
- Explain how the winner will be chosen. Detail the judging criteria, rounds of judging, and how the winner will be awarded the prize.
Now that we’ve covered the important stuff, let’s get to the ideas!
1. Facebook Live Contest
Everyone loves Facebook Live! What better way to engage your audience in real-time by hosting a contest on a Live? If you want to get your fans excited, make sure to announce the contest at the start of your video. Then tell users to make sure to watch the entire video so that they can receive the details on how to enter the contest at the end.
You can also use a Facebook Live video to announce the winner of your contest. Both methods ensure that viewers engage with your content while learning more about the giveaway.
2. Facebook Photo Caption Contest
Memes are one of the most popular forms of shareable content online. If you want to hop on this trend and boost activity on your fan page , host a Facebook photo caption contest. Baby and pet photos are especially popular and will get the most shares.
In this contest, you will ask your audience come up with their own creative captions for a photo. Your audience will have fun reading through the other entries and may even share them if they are funny or clever, which means tons of engagement for your brand.
3. Facebook Trivia Contest
Quizzes are another type of content that is highly shareable online. While they are not as shareable as memes, quizzes are still a great way to get your audience to engage with your brand. For this type of Facebook contest, you should ask users to take a quiz or answer the trivia questions and post their score or answers in the comments.
Your audience will be encouraged to share the quiz with their friends so that they can see if their friends come up with the right answers. If your quiz features some hotly debated but non-controversial topics, it even has a chance to go viral and boost your brand in the process!
4. An Instant Win
With an instant win contest, the most important aspect of this contest is the prize that you’re giving away. So you’ll need to make sure it’s something that will attract a lot of attention and shares on Facebook.
You also need to make sure the prize is relevant to your brand so that you’ll mostly attract people who are potential customers. When you follow these best practices, you can create an instant win that will boost your brand and get you some sales in the future!
Need help with sweepstakes or contest management? Call 305-505-5393 or email us with your questions.