Facebook promotions !!!   As an administrator of a Facebook business page, you probably know the rules you need to abide by when running a competition | promotion on this social network.  And yes, many of us have been very frustrated with business that repeatedly flaunted those rules yet seemingly got away with it. The practice of holding a “comment to enter” or “like to enter” contest was common.

But today, Facebook amended its promotions policy to simplify the process.

Facebook announced updated guidelines | rules for Facebook promotions on the social network, and biggest change was the removal of the requirement that promotions be administered via applications (apps) only.

They’ve removed the requirement that promotions on Facebook only be administered through apps. Now, promotions may be administered on page Timelines and in apps on Facebook. For example, businesses can now:

  • Collect entries by having users post on the page or comment/like a page post.
  • Collect entries by having users message the page.
  • Utilize likes as a voting mechanism.

As before, however,

  • Businesses cannot administer promotions on personal Timelines
  • Businesses may not do are encourage users to tag themselves in content they are not actually depicted in, which Facebook says will “maintain the accuracy of Page content,”
  • Businesses should not require users to share posts on their personal timeline or those of their friends.

So let us look at the examples below

  • It is OK to ask people  to submit names of a recommended product in exchange for a chance to win a prize.
  • Itis not OK to ask people tag themselves in pictures of a recommended product in exchange for a chance to win a prize.
  • It is OK to giving away a prize to the 150th person who comments on a post.

We believe that these changes will even the playing field for the promotion of Facebook competitions and remove some of the current confusion that some businesses has in relation to the administration of Facebook competitions | promotions.

The other terms and conditions still apply.  These are that businesses are still responsible for the “lawful operation of [the] promotion,” which includes official rules, offer terms and eligibility requirements, compliance with applicable rules and regulations. Promotions must also include a complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant, and acknowledgement that the promotion isn’t endorsed by Facebook.