Running competitions and giveaways on social media can be a great way to increase engagement and build your audience. However, there are specific rules around running promotions on Facebook that you need to follow.
Facebook’s promotion guidelines
Facebook has strict guidelines around running promotions and competitions on their platform. This is to protect users and ensure promotions are fair and transparent.
The main requirements for running a competition on Facebook are:
- You must publish official competition rules and make them easily accessible to entrants.
- Your competition can’t be based on liking, sharing, or commenting on posts. Entry must be free and not require inviting friends.
- Winners must be chosen at random or based on skill. You can’t choose winners based on the number of likes, shares or comments.
- Prizes must have monetary value and can’t be Facebook features like badges or Facebook credit.
- You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
Essentially, Facebook does not allow competitions where the winner is chosen based on the number of likes, shares or comments. This is to prevent inorganic engagement.
Can I run a like and share competition?
Based on Facebook’s promotion guidelines, you cannot run a competition where winners are chosen based on the number of likes, shares, or comments.
For example, you cannot run a competition saying whoever gets the most likes, shares or comments will win the prize. This incentivizes inorganic engagement and goes against Facebook’s guidelines.
If you run a like or share based competition, Facebook may:
- Reject or disable your competition post/page.
- Restrict your ability to advertise or run promotions.
- Disable your Facebook page.
So in short, no you cannot run a competition on Facebook where the winners are chosen based on likes or shares. This violates their promotion policies.
What competitions can you run on Facebook?
While like and share competitions are banned, there are other contest formats you can run on Facebook that comply with their policies. Some options include:
- Photo contests: Users submit photo entries via comments, messaging or a third-party app. The best photo wins based on your judgement or voting.
- Trivia contests: Ask a trivia question and pick a winner randomly from those who provide the correct answer.
- Instant win giveaways: Users enter via a third-party contest app or website. Winners are picked at random.
- Skill-based contests: Users compete based on talent/skill e.g. submitting cooking videos. The best entry wins.
- Sweepstakes: Users enter by liking your page, signing up for a newsletter etc. Winner is drawn randomly.
As long as you have official contest rules and don’t reward people simply for liking, sharing or commenting – then these competition formats are generally allowed.
Best practices for Facebook competitions
If you want to run a successful competition on Facebook that complies with their policies, here are some best practices:
- Publish detailed official contest rules on a website page or PDF.
- Use a third-party contest app to collect entries and pick winners randomly.
- Make it clear in your post that liking and sharing won’t impact the chance to win.
- Mention how winners will be chosen – randomly, voting or judging criteria.
- Avoid contest mechanics that incentivize spammy engagement.
- Promote the competition through both organic and paid methods.
- Follow Facebook’s branding guidelines when using their logos and screenshots.
Being transparent and using legitimate contest mechanics will help ensure your competition remains compliant.
Facebook competition ideas
Here are some example competition and giveaway ideas you can run on Facebook:
| Competition Format | Contest Mechanic |
|---|---|
| Photo contest | Users submit funny photos of your product being used. The most creative wins. |
| Instant win game | Users scratch a virtual scratchcard. Certain cards award a prize instantly. |
| Trivia contest | First X people to provide the right trivia answer win a prize. |
| Giveaway | Users enter via a microsite. Winner chosen randomly. |
| Sweepstakes | Users enter by following your page and sharing a post. Random draw winner. |
You can get creative with the contest format – just ensure the mechanics comply with Facebook’s guidelines and applicable laws.
Promoting your Facebook competition
Once you’ve set up a compliant Facebook competition, you need to actually promote it to drive entries. Some promotion tactics include:
- Posting about it from your business Facebook page and other social channels.
- Having influencers and brand ambassadors help spread the word through their networks.
- Paying to boost competition posts using Facebook ads.
- Targeting paid ads and organic posts to your most engaged audience segments.
- Displaying the competition clearly on your website and email newsletters.
Facebook will let you advertise and promote the competition, as long as you follow their guidelines. Avoid using likes, shares and comments to unlock extra entries, as this violates their policies.
Legal considerations for Facebook competitions
As well as Facebook’s rules, you need to comply with applicable competition and consumer laws when running contests and giveaways. Some key legal considerations include:
- Having clear and fair terms and conditions.
- Stating any geographic or age restrictions.
- Disclosing the odds of winning for chance-based contests.
- Not requiring any purchase for entry.
- Paying any taxes or duties related to the prizes.
- Allowing users to easily opt-out of marketing communications.
Seek legal advice to ensure your competition complies with all relevant state and country-level promotion laws. Failing to do so could result in hefty fines.
Alternatives to like and share competitions
If you don’t want to run a full contest, some other ways to increase engagement on Facebook include:
- Giveaways – Randomly award prizes to fans who engage with your posts.
- User-generated content – Ask followers to share photos or videos of your brand.
- Live videos – Go live to announce deals and interact with viewers.
- Polls and quizzes – Fun interactive content to get feedback.
- AR filters – Create augmented reality effects tied to your brand.
While these tactics still drive engagement, they don’t violate Facebook competition policies as there is no formal contest involved.
In summary
- Facebook prohibits competitions where winners are chosen based on likes, shares or comments.
- You can run photo contests, trivia contests, sweepstakes and other giveaways.
- Make sure your competition complies with Facebook rules and applicable laws.
- Promote your competition through organic and paid methods.
- Alternatives like user-generated content and live videos can also boost engagement.
Following these best practices will ensure your Facebook competition is a success and keeps you compliant with Facebook policies.