It’s hard to deny the power of social media in today’s world and Facebook and Facebook marketing has become a large part of what Internet marketers do these days. Once viewed merely as a branding tool, Facebook has evolved into a platform where you can engage your target audience in a more intimate way, helping forge stronger relationships with them that make it easier for you to market whatever it is you’re selling.
Facebook contests are a fun way of causing a positive stir in your online community. A good contest should give away sweet rewards to your audience while helping you attain a goal for yourself such as more followers, more likes or increased branding power. A lot of thought is usually placed in working out a contest’s mechanics but in between all your brainstorming, do you ever bother to check if your contest is in accordance with Facebook’s terms of service?
Rachel Sprung of HubSpot recently posted an article called 7 Rookie Social Media Mistakes from Big Brands. One of these 7 mistakes talked about Burger King’s infamous Facebook contest that was shut down by Facebook admin itself due to not-so-social contest mechanics that worked against the social network’s core principles. Rachel writes:
Burger King started a Facebook contest called the “Whopper Sacrifice.” If a user de-friended 10 of their Facebook friends, they would get a coupon for a free Whopper. This caused a lot of dismay and confusion because Facebook is about connecting with your friends, and this campaign encouraged people to connect with fewer people. It also violated Facebook users’ expectation of privacy, causing Facebook to shut down the campaign… The lesson here is to understand individual social platform’s terms of use and privacy policies before you launch a campaign that is in violation of them.
True enough, there’s no harm in being creative with your contests but you have to make sure that you respect the rules set up by Facebook because at the end of the day, you’re sitting on their platform and they have to do what’s in their best interest and other other people who are in it.
More often than not, it’s better to be safe than sorry with Facebook contests. When in doubt, read the terms of service before you start getting creative. I know it’s a real chore to wade through pages of text filled with jargon we normal humans don’t use, but ignorance is never an excuse for committing a crime, so better do it or hire someone to do it for you.
Speaking of contests, I have one coming up pretty soon and I guarantee that you’ll love what I’ll be giving away. Check my Facebook page from time to time for more announcements.
Talk soon,
Andy “the Facebook Lawman” Jenkins
