If you’re thinking about running a promotion on Facebook, this blog is for you. Congratulations on taking the first step to drive brand awareness through a social media sweepstakes or contest. You’ll find that doing so is a “no brainer” given there is an opportunity for quick engagement, while being easy to run and easy to enter. It is worth noting, though, that it is important to make sure that the method of entry directly aligns with your established goals, whether that is to gain new likes to your Facebook page or build engagement with your current followers. 

Continuing our social media series by platform, let’s dive into what aspects go into executing a successful giveaway or sweepstakes on Facebook.   

Benefits of a Facebook Promotion 

With numerous social media platforms to choose from, Facebook is an excellent choice. Unlike other platforms, Facebook’s algorithm is directly based on what the users post, like or comment on, as well as what their friends share and engage with, too. That means Facebook will serve the user content within their newsfeed based on what they – and those within their network – seem to be interested in. This can make the reach of a post exponentially larger as it’s being engaged with and becoming visible to users who may not follow your brand. 

Sweepstakes vs. Contest 

Getting down to the details, you’ll need to assess which activation is right for your brand: a sweepstakes or a contest. While a sweepstakes is a game of chance, a contest requires a winner to be chosen based on their skill and merit. If you decide to run a contest via Facebook, we’d recommend driving users to a microsite to enter, where submissions can then be judged. This is due to Facebook having restrictions on collecting individual user posts, image and video content. At Realtime Media, we developed a solution to facilitate that process so you don’t have to think about it. 

Method of Entry and Legal Compliance 

Next, you’ll want to identify the method of entry or how the consumer will enter to win the prize. As mentioned above, this should align with your unique goals for the campaign. Consider having users act on a post your brand makes rather than a post they make. Or invite users to reply to a post on your brand’s Facebook page for simplicity purposes. You’ll also want to be mindful of the time required from participants to complete the entry process.  

An emerging entry method we are seeing is entries through comments on Facebook Live. For example, your brand sets up a live stream event for the Oscars and invites users that follow the page to tune in and engage, then Realtime Media takes care of the rest by collecting comments during the live stream, with winners later announced on the page.  

While sorting out the details of the activation, you’ll want to confirm that the promotion complies with Facebook’s regulations around prize promotions and advertising guidelines, Generally, Facebook prohibits core functions to be incentivized, as their community wants those actions to be authentic as opposed to just a desire to win a prize. That said, there are actions you can encourage users to take, and Realtime Media can guide you to compliance in this area.  

Winner Management and Prize Fulfilment  

When judging is required, finding a contest winner has never been easier, thanks to Realtime Media’s administrative tool that makes reviewing text, photo, and video-based content simple and accurate. When you have determined a winner, using our Prize Claim solution, we make it easy to securely collect winner information, while also validating the accuracy of it. 

Finally, you can maximize the impact of your Facebook sweepstakes or contest by creating excitement and buzz around the winner announcement. Set up a Facebook Live where your followers will be able to watch you unveil the winner in real time, and use teasers throughout the week leading up to the announcement.  

If you’re looking for a fun and effective way to engage with your target audience, a Facebook sweepstakes or contest is a logical solution. Realtime Media’s services can help you from start to finish, driving impressive results you’ll be happy to report.