Facebook Changes Give Share, Like, Win Promotions Thumbs Up

It used to be the case that it was against Facebook’s rule to run a share, like, win kind of promotion on a business or brand page and that the only way to run this kind of promotion was via an authorised page app like Woobox or ShortStack.

On August 27th Facebook announced that this is no longer the case and that business and brand pages are now free to run promotions whose entry requirements is a share and/or page or content like.

“It’s now much easier to run promotions and 

competitions without risking a ban”

This is great news for businesses who have been actively using this method to generate engagement and grow their communities.  Many businesses had been using this tactic completely unaware that it was against Facebook’s rules and as such risked a ban.  Running promotions or competitions without the use of an app was previously a highly risky strategy, the changed rules however provide much more freedom and make it super easy to run promotions and competitions.

The Facebook blog post states:

We’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.

This kind of promotion can be highly effective at highlighting and educating customers about new products or services and they are a great way to engage and grow your community.

A Word of Caution

Share, Like, Win promotions are already very widely used and the relaxation in rules means that this kind of promotion will become even more prevalent.  This over familiarity is likely to result in increased community apathy towards such promotions as they become more frequent and widely used.

Don’t make the mistake of running these promotions too often, because after a while your community will start to lose interest and may become less responsive. Be sure to keep all of your promotions and competitions fresh, interesting and relevant and don’t rely solely on the Facebook share, like, win mechanism.

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