How to do Facebook and Instagram contests
Offering a competition to Facebook fans or Instagram followers is one of the most common forms of corporate presentation. Learn how to run a contest, what to look out for and what mistakes to avoid.
“Be a fan of our page, answer the question and tag a friend in the answer, plus like this post and share it on your timeline.” If you have a Facebook or Instagram profile, you’ve probably come across a similarly-entered contest.
It’s just wrong.
Not only will the contest not bring anything useful to the company, but it may even be harmful. Blocking or outright account termination by Facebook itself is just the tip of the iceberg. Even a vaguely worded set of rules is enough to make a contestant complain and leave you to deal with a completely unnecessary problem.
Clarify the goal of the contest on Facebook or Instagram, then get started
Before you start organising a competition, think carefully about what you want it to achieve. The “firing preparation” is the very basis, but many company profile managers underestimate it or leave it out completely. So before you start, answer the following questions:
Why am I organizing a Facebook or Instagram contest?
A lot of companies run Facebook or Instagram contests just because it’s the “way to do it” now, and if the competition has it, they must have it too. But that’s useless. Instead, think hard about what you want to achieve with a competition and whether it makes sense to do one at all. But beware, the primary goal should not be the simple, but still very common, increase in the number of fans of your page. It can easily happen that your numbers will increase by leaps and bounds, but the number of relevant fans will be minimal. But that’s what it’s all about. These are the ones who will be interested in your website and the products or services you offer. Therefore, a relevant goal can be, for example, to increase sales of a certain product or brand awareness.
How often do I want to do this?
You can still find that on some websites, there is literally always a prize game going on. But here too, less is often more. If fans get used to this approach, they will eventually get tired of it. You can then come up with the most interesting assignments and prizes, but the response will be very limited. So rather than churning out one event after another, come up with something really attractive once a quarter that fans will really appreciate and respond to.
As an example we can take the pre-Christmas contest for our client RC Profi, a remote control model shop. The goal was to increase visits to the e-shop and increase sales. Participants were asked to write in the comments what RC model from the store’s offer they would like to find under the tree. Three lucky contestants received a gift voucher worth CZK 1,000 for their purchase. Within ten days, 419 comments were added, 430 people liked the post and 111 shared it. The event was therefore very successful.
Follow the rules of Facebook and Instagram contests
Each contest has its own rules. Any mistake on Instagram or Facebook can quickly and badly backfire, for example by getting your account blocked or deleted. However, it’s enough if you leave out one little thing that contestants catch you on and start blurring it out. So what must you not miss to make the contest bulletproof?
State all the rules and follow the laws
Go to the trouble of making a complete list of the rules that apply to the contest. You don’t have to put them directly in the post, just include a link to a landing page on your website where interested parties can read them. In particular, don’t forget the basic information about who is running the contest, when it’s taking place, what the prize is, how and when you’ll choose the winner, or what happens if the winner doesn’t call or refuses to accept the prize. Doesn’t almost nobody do that? That’s possible, but you want to do better. If you’re unsure about anything, we’re happy to help. By the way, the contest must comply with the laws of the place where it is held. And one more good tip: make it clear that the winner is not entitled to monetary compensation for the prize. Believe it or not, there are still plenty of people who will try to “talk” you into keeping your prize but taking the equivalent amount instead, or even less.
Changing the rules is possible, but please point it out
If you are playing for tickets to a concert that is subsequently cancelled, you will need to find an alternative solution, for example in the form of another prize. Therefore, mention the possibility of a change in the rules in advance and notify as soon as possible when it happens. You will also not go wrong if you write down why this has happened. Communication is key in sensitive topics like this.
Point out that the social network has nothing to do with the competition
It may seem strange, but only at first glance. Just because you’re using a Facebook or Instagram platform doesn’t mean that they are in any way involved in your event. And it has to be made official. So make it clear in the rules that Facebook or Instagram does not organize, sponsor, support or manage the contest, in short, is not affiliated with it in any way.
The obligations to the contestants and winners are yours
The entire competition is your responsibility, not Facebook or Instagram’s. Again, this must be made very clear.
Don’t forget about data protection
Just be sure to point out up front that by entering the event, the contestant agrees to have their name published on your Facebook or Instagram page if they win. It seems like a small thing, but argue with someone afterwards.
As you can see, the differences between the rules of the two social networks are really minimal. So if you want to be on good terms with both, follow these few points. You will avoid a lot of unnecessary problems.
What not to do in FB and IG competitions
So far, we’ve told you what you must do. And to make things worse, we’ll also go straight to the list of what you should definitely avoid. Haven’t you already seen this many times elsewhere? You don’t want to make the same mistakes as everyone else. Or have you gotten away with it before? You know the saying about the pitcher, the water and the ear.
The contest does not belong on your personal profile.
Only announce it on a business or personal page (e.g. a celebrity fanpage) or an event page, i.e. a concert, exhibition, etc.
“Tag and share”? No!
Be sure not to include in the rules that a condition of participating in the contest is sharing it on your timeline or friends’ timelines, or tagging friends in the comments. Yes, it happens a lot, but that doesn’t make it right. Therefore, forget about this practice.
Be very careful with alcohol, forget about drugs and similar substances.
For example, do you have an e-shop with luxury spirits and you are playing for a bottle of good whisky? Make it very clear in the rules that the competition is only open to people over 18 years of age living in the Czech Republic and that by entering the competition they confirm the above. Please also state that you do not encourage competitors to drink alcohol excessively or unwisely and that drinking alcohol can lead to addiction. The rules are even stricter in the case of medicines or even drugs, so forget about competitions involving them in any way.
If you promote a competition entry to give it more reach, it’s very easy for a social network to ‘spot’ it and start scrutinising it. The moment it discovers any problem, you are at real risk of having your account blocked. In addition, Facebook has many more rules, do’s and don’ts related to contests. On top of that, they change them, and they change them irregularly. So if you want to be 100% sure you’re doing everything by the rules, we recommend reading them before each new event, and we do this directly on Facebook’s website.
Instagram competition rules are looser, but beware
Instagram’s rules are a little more relaxed. Unlike Facebook, you can, for example, encourage contestants to tag their friends or share a post, and you can also run a contest on a personal profile. The question then remains the challenges to follow the page. Neither platform prohibits this, but the usefulness of such a practice is highly questionable. It can very easily happen that people “unfollow” your page not because they are really interested in it, but just because of the contest itself. Then they are no longer interested in it. Eventually, they unfollow it and you’re right back where you were.
By far the worst situation, however, is if they don’t unfollow the page, but start hiding its content. Both Instagram and Facebook evaluate such behavior by making posts of poor quality and then showing them less. And even to those who would otherwise be interested in them. So think very carefully about whether you really want to go down this route. The number of likes really isn’t everything.
Did we scare you? Not sure what to do? Email us at marketing@fourbros.cz to arrange a consultation. Our team of experts is ready to help you organize your Facebook or Instagram contest in a way that’s not only interesting, but also compliant with the rules.