I still get a lot of traffic on my post about how to run a Facebook giveaway – and a lot of questions. It turns out people don’t like to hear that their giveaways may not be adhering to the Facebook Promotions Guidelines. And that’s OK. No one likes to hear they can’t do something they’ve always done and that they see others doing regularly. In this article, I want to explain a little more about why using Facebook functions like Likes, comments, shares, and required status updates are a bad idea. It’s not just because it violates the Facebook Promotions Guidelines, but also because it just doesn’t make sense and it can hurt you down the line.
If you haven’t read my previous article about Facebook giveaways, here’s the gist: You can’t use Facebook functionality — Likes, comments, shares, status updates, etc.) — as an entry. Not a main entry, not an optional entry. Not at all.
But let’s say you’re bound and determined to ask for Facebook Likes, comments, shares, or status updates as optional entries to your giveaway. Lots of people are doing it and you don’t see the issue. That’s what I want to tackle in this article: Using those Facebook options in your giveaways is hurting you in the long run. What are the issues? Glad you asked. Here are five reasons not to use Facebook functions in your giveaways.
- It’s against Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines. That link takes you directly to Facebook’s guidelines. They can be confusing, so I wrote a post about how to interpret them. We’ve already hashed this out.
- You can’t track your new Likes easily or effectively. Now that you have your new Likes, how are you going to track them? Facebook doesn’t give you an easy way to see who all your new Likes are. You can check your Admin Panel at the top of your fan page and scroll through everyone, but is that efficient? Do you have the time it will take to match up each of your new Likers with each of your giveaway entries on your blog? Don’t forget you’ll have to make a note of the entrants who said they Liked your page, but didn’t actually do it, then you’ll need to disqualify that entry. This is starting to sound like an administrative nightmare to me. (And wait until you get to #4 — it really messes things up.)
- Your new Likes aren’t engaged fans. Likes are a vanity metric. They simply aren’t as important as engagement. The people who Like your page because of an incentive to win a prize are there for one reason: they just want to get another entry from you. They aren’t interested in what you have to say long-term. The majority are not going to come back to your page to comment, like, or share something you post that isn’t a giveaway. Even worse, they may not bother to unlike your page, but instead hide your updates or mark them as spam in the news feed. That definitely won’t help your fan page efforts. Facebook is looking at how many fans you have and the engagement rate (how many people are interacting on your page). Facebook decides, based on that information, whether to show your fan page updates to certain users. If you’re not being seen by most of your fans, then you lose engagement. When you lose engagement, you lose more visibility. It’s a vicious circle. But there is a bigger problem, and that’s number 4.
- Many entrants who take advantage of the Like option use fake Facebook accounts to do so. That’s right. People who are saying they Like your page aren’t doing it from their real Facebook accounts. That means a) you can’t track the Likes effectively (#2 above), b) your new fans really aren’t engaged (because they aren’t real — #3 above), and c) those fake Likes may flag you as having an account whose fans have either been bought or obtained through other shady means — and you could lose your Facebook fan page like this lady did or like this lady did. I warned about losing your page for Facebook promotion violations in 2012.
- Using consideration in a giveaway may be against local, state, and federal laws. When you use any Facebook functionality (Likes, shares, comments, status updates, etc.) as a main entry OR an optional entry to your giveaway (both are against the Facebook TOS), that is called consideration. Sara Hawkins has a good article explaining what consideration is and how to ensure your giveaways adhere to the laws that pertain to you. Here’s an important point from Sara’s article:
When it comes to bloggers, there are few things more valuable than followers. As such, requiring someone to ‘like’ you or ‘follow you’ could be construed as consideration. Even more important, asking an entrant to go to a third-party site, navigate to find a product or services and then report back to your site is even more likely to be deemed consideration and thus placing your giveaway into the classification of illegal lottery. Time is exceedingly valuable!
I agree 100%. Not worth the trouble.
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Tom, I think giveaways can be useful, but they need to be strategic in order to attract the audience you’re really looking for. Not the spray and pray we usually see. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment! I really appreciate it.
Perhaps not on Facebook, but I’ve found asking people to retweet on Twitter is extremely effective. A study a while back showed that people are 12x more likely to retweet you if you simply ask them too. If that’s not an effective call to action, I don’t know what is.
Facebook of course is different. People are more selective with what pages they follow, and are quicker to unlike them.
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Ok, Melanie, I trust you. 100%
I stink at reading legalese, so I need to know which words say that we can’t use Facebook liking as an additional entry? The way I read it is that we can’t require any facebook action for entry, and additional entries are not required, you can enter without doing it. Is it this part? ” You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant.” (<– I had previously interpreted this as "you can't have to do a facebook action to enter, and you're already entered from the blog comment before you get the extra entry for liking on FB. However, looking at it again, I see how it could mean "it can't be an entry at all." Maybe? It's so confusing.
Amber,
I’ve e-mailed with a FB rep and talked to several people who work for national brands who have FB reps assigned to them. Each agree that the FB Promotions guidelines do not allow giveaway hosts to use any FB functionality as any type of entry — neither main entry nor additional entry.
I’m not sure I’m following what you’re saying.
To add.. The “through a 3rd party app” part is equally confusing because it makes it sound like it’s okay to give extra entries for liking a page if it’s done through a 3rd pary app like Rafflecopter (which I use.) Help?!
With the 3rd-party app part, FB is referring to hosting a giveaway on Facebook itself. Rafflecopter isn’t considered a third-party app to make it OK because it’s being hosted on a blog (though I understand they may have a FB app, which would work if you’re running your giveaway via FB — I haven’t check our the Rafflecopter FB app, though).
The way I understand is that Rafflecopter is able to ask for the confirmation of the FB like because you can host a giveaway that is only available to current Facebook fans. The Rafflecopter entry is a confirmation that you already Like the page and so are eligible for entry. My thoughts on this are that if you are allowing entrants to enter regardless of their FB fan status (i.e., the main entry is that you leave a comment or RT something or Pin something, etc.), and an additional entry is for FB fans, then it’s not really open to just FB fans is it? I make no bones that I’m not a fan of Rafflecopter.
OH SNAP. One more comment..
I just finished digging through your attached links and read Update #1 on this one: http://www.bloggingbasics101.com/2011/07/running-a-successful-facebook-giveaway-or-contest/
*BIG FAT SIGH*
It’s a never-ending source of confusion, Amber, and people feel VERY strongly about it. You should read some of my mail.
Good thing I’ve developed a tough skin. People sometimes don’t understand that I’m not judging them personally, I’m simply sharing information that I have researched.
Thank for each of your comments. I think they brought up questions that many people still have. My main point with this article was to bring attention to the fact that giveaways with the sole purpose of gaining Likes can really hurt you in the long run.
No, I don’t think I want to read your mail, thanks. ;0) (I’m not as tough skinned!) =p
YES, a lot of us bloggers do still have questions.
Part of the problem is that all of Facebook’s info is particular to running the giveaway on Facebook itself, and not so clear on running the giveaway off of Facebook.. People like me need it spelled out in black and white (not legalese – ha!)
Like you, I’m becoming less of a fan of Facebook. They make it hard for us to build community there, and us building community there is only better for them, so, pft. But I stick around.
And one of the good things about Rafflecopter is that you *can* see all of your entries in a spreadsheet, so you *can* double check whether the winner actually did whatever they said they did to enter (because the honor system is, well, the honor system.) Maybe I lose some likes after the giveaway is over, but I have found that as I consistently offer things relevant to my content/focus, most of my new likes hang around for the content/focus I keep putting out. But, in the end, my FB page grows without the giveaways and it’s not worth breaking the rules for.
Amber @ Classic Housewife recently posted..See the Light Art Easter Basket (Gift Basket Giveaway)
Since I am not a fan of facebook anyway, I will just leave them out and use my faves of Twitter Pinterest for entries. Why does facebook make it so easy to not like them? Does facebook own rafflecopter which is why they allow it? would not be surprised ……So so not a fan but thanx for the info and my readers will b glad for one less thing to do to enter a giveaway!!
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Rosemary,
I’ll admit that it’s getting harder for me to defend Facebook. They are getting dangerously close to jumping the shark for regular users (marketers, on the other hand, are loving the direction right now).
Facebook does not own Rafflecopter.
It’s me again. ;0)
Have you seen the post written by Rafflecopter (August 2012) in which they say they changed the wording FB asked them to change and they are FB complaint and FB approved?
http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2012/08/facebook-giveaway-rules-regulations/
I did. I addressed that in my answer to one of your earlier comments (but you wouldn’t have seen it yet b/c I’m just getting around to answering everyone!).
Great article – thanks for the heads up! I will be hosting a giveaway for a company next week that requested FB as an entry. I’m going to share this with them. So is Pinterest/Twitter/Instagram still safe? What type of entries do you find to be best?
melissa {persnickety plates} recently posted..Bacon & Spinach Breakfast Pizza {Surprise Recipe Swap}
Melissa,
I’m not as familiar with the Twitter/Pinterest/Instagram TOS, so you’ll definitely want to read up on those. As far as types of entries, it depends on what your goal is. I think the social entries are usually drive-by traffic and don’t generate meaningful leads. But then, giveaways are more about advertising than generating leads, I think. If that’s the goal, then certainly get the word out via social would achieve that.
Melanie Nelson recently posted..5 Reasons Not to Ask for Facebook Likes, Comments, and Shares for Your Giveaways
Thanks for the input =)
melissa {persnickety plates} recently posted..Bacon & Spinach Breakfast Pizza {Surprise Recipe Swap}
I am relatively new to blogging, and find your website really helpful. Thanks for cutting out the jargon, and simplifying the “how-tos”.
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Carmen – I’m so glad you found the post useful. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Great info – important too, 9/10 of us i bet never even looked at FB guidelines – it seems so random & lawless at times – thanks
Adam – It’s really true. There are a LOT of people who don’t even know Facebook has guidelines for these things. G+ and other platforms do too.
I notice people that get in trouble with Facebook for doing such giveaways claim Facebook is “accusing” them of buying likes that they didn’t buy.
However, if you are running a giveaway, especially a Paypal CASH giveaway, and you have an optional entry of a “Facebook Like”, THAT is buying likes. You’re enticing someone to “like” your page in exchange for a chance to win some cash. Good stuff and well worth the sharing. Thanks!
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Thanks for stopping by, Christin. Facebook giveaways are one of those things that really brings out the passion in everyone, aren’t they?
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