Facebook's competition laws - don't break them!

Running a competition or promotion on Facebook is a great way of building your online profile, engaging with your fans and encouraging them to reach out and share your details with their friends. It’s important to remember, however, that Facebook has strict rules on competitions and it’s vital to follow them or you risk having your competition removed or, worst case, your whole page taken down, says Valorie Reavis, founder of Shout Lounge. Where does your competition live? You can’t host a competition directly on your Facebook page. Instead you must use a third party app, similar to the apps on your smartphone. So, say you want your fans to submit a picture of their favourite hairstyle to enter to win a free product or service, you cannot ask them to upload the picture to your wall, instead you have to send them to your chosen application, where they enter their details and submit the picture. Using Facebook features You can’t use any Facebook features, such as like, share, comment or upload as a way of entering a competition directly. This means that you cannot post a picture and say that the first five people to comment will get 10% off their next service. You also can’t officially say ‘like our page and we’ll enter you into our prize draw for a year of free haircuts’. You can, however, get people to like your page before they register for the competition. This is done by blocking non-fans from accessing the competition. And users are also free to share the competition link or invite their friends to join in. So, to make the most of the competition without stepping out of line with Facebook, it’s important to include a share button or the facility to invite friends in the entry form design. Responsibility for local competition laws If you run any kind of promotion on Facebook, you are responsible for knowing the national and state laws and restrictions that apply to contests and making sure your competition abides by them. Disclaimers and rules You must have a clear disclaimer and set of rules on your promotion stating that the promotion is not endorsed by Facebook and absolving Facebook from any responsibility in relation to it. Also, point out that any data entered is collected by you and will not be kept or used by Facebook. Notifying winners You absolutely cannot use Facebook to notify people who have won a competition, and this includes Facebook chat and messaging. But, of course, you should have collected entrants’ contact details as part of the registration process to build up your email database, so you can email or write to winners directly anyway. As well as these specific rules governing promotions, Facebook has recently added some restrictions to businesses as far as cover photos go.

• Covers can’t be deceptive or misleading, nor can they infringe anyone else’s copyright.
• You may not encourage people to upload your cover to their personal timelines.
• Covers may not include images with more than 20% text.

Facebook regularly updates its rules and regulations and it’s important to keep them in mind when using your page to promote your business, and to keep abreast of changes if you want to ensure the best results from your promotions.