I‘ve written pretty extensively about Facebook contests in the past. The short version is, many people were running contests where a “like” equalled and entry, and they were unaware that was against Facebook’s terms of service. If you got caught doing something like that, they could shut your page down. The only alternative was to run a contest through a third-party app like Shortstack or Wishpond or Woobox. It was also illegal to allow people to vote for a favourite (like a photo, for example) by “liking” it.
However, when you create barriers to entry, you get less response, right? Think about it. To enter a contest by simply hitting the “like” button, versus clicking on an app, then having to fill in your email address, and possibly some other information? No brainer. In the first example, you’re going to get tons more entries. I have basically stopped running contests on the pages I administrate for exactly this reason.
Oh, happy day! Yesterday, Facebook changed its terms around administering promotions.
While you are still welcome to administer contests via an app, you can now also run them on your Biz Page (it’s still illegal to run contests on a personal page).
This includes:
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Collecting entries by having users post on the Page or comment/like a Page post
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Collecting entries by having users message the Page
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Utilize likes as a voting mechanism
I, for one, am super excited about this development, because it’s going to make it way easier for me to run contests on the pages I manage. Cynically, however, I can’t help but wonder if Facebook will try to find some way of monetizing this down the road. But in the mean time, contests for everyone!