Contests and Giveaways

Did you know that running native contests on your Facebook page is against their Page Terms & Conditions? Every single day I come across pages running "Like this!" and "Share that" contests, within their posts. This type of contest is against Facebook Policies and could potentially have your page shut down. The way Facebook wants people to run contests is through developer apps like Rafflecopter, Offerpop or Shortstack, to name  a few. Basically, what that means is instead of using "organic" facebook actions like "Liking", "Sharing" and "Commenting" on pictures/posts, you are taken to a built-in tab on the page where fans and entrants can do the exact same actions, but without breaking the rules.

The additional benefits of this type of app is that you can "Fan Gate" it, which means that before someone enters your contest, they're required to like your page to see the entry form or rules. This can significantly jump your page numbers if the incentive is good enough.

Here's some more information on how to create contests and giveaways via Facebook:

One of the fastest (and best!) ways to increase your Facebook traffic and "likes" is to utilize a built-in contest app. There are the "build it yourself" kinds like Rafflecopter (which now integrates directly with facebook pages!) and then there are the "pre-built" kinds like the campaigns offered by Offerpop.


Did you know that Offerpop gives you the first campaign you run for free?!

It's a great way to try a new format for contests and try your hand at the program, too. Quite easy to use, their system allows you to pick from a wide variety of campaign "types" including Photo Contests, Referral Programs and more!

Each campaign is pre-built (it even gives you examples and dimensions for the graphics needed to run the campaign!) and you can easily select which page you want to run it on with a drop down menu.

If you're like me and support multiple pages every week it's a great option for running multiple campaigns simultaneously.

And the best part? Offerpop has already worked out all of the kinks, working within the Facebook Rules and Regulations and creating coherent campaigns that give real-time analytics.

An example of one of their great campaigns is the "Diapers.com" campaign. Allowing anyone who signs up to enter to win Free Diapers for a Year, this contest drives participants to the facebook page and is a simple "Sign Up" style campaign. Easy for the user to enter and can return a lot of results.

Who wouldn't want the chance to win FREE diapers for a year?

One of my go-to apps for running contests (especially on blogs and websites) is the Rafflecopter widget. This allows you to create a variety of different qualifying ways to enter a contest, the whole thing is pre-coded but allows you to customize the app depending on the contest that you're running. 

I am currently running a contest on my lifestyle blog Crawl The Line for the month of February called 7 Days of Giveaways! For each day the contest is running (7) there is one prize (a piece or set of jewellery) to be drawn at the end of the week. This allows me to cross-market with a sponsor, create a widget that's built directly into my blog (no going elsewhere to sign up for the contest!) and integrates across a variety of different platforms (Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Blogger -- plus many more!) their basic (unpaid) version of the app is totally useable as many times as you want, and if you want even more great options (like real-time analytics) you can subscribe to their service for a small (or large, depending on how much you need to see) monthly fee.

This totally isn't a sell for Offerpop or Rafflecopter, but I do have to say they are both great options for any campaign you want to run in the social sphere!