What You Need To Know About Contests On Facebook

Many practices are running some type of competition, contest or drawing promotion on Facebook. Unfortunately, many of them are also breaking Facebook’s promotions guidelines and risk having their Business Pages shut down.

If you are running a contest or drawing on Facebook (or if you are considering running one), you must be aware of Facebook’s guidelines.

See www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php for the details.  In short, you must not collect contest or drawing entries or announce winners directly on your Facebook Page.  You may however run a contest using a third party application, such as WildFire Promotion Builder (visit www.wildfireapp.com).

I often have team members approach me and say, “Yeah, but so and so’s practice is holding contests directly on their Page, they are announcing winners on their Page, and they don’t have any special applications…”  This comes down to many businesses, not just dental practices, who are either unaware of these guidelines or simply don’t care.

Is there really a Facebook police?  Have I seen anyone’s Page shut down due to this type of violation?  Not that I’m aware of.  However, rules are rules—and they certainly weren’t created to be ignored.  Be aware of the rules and determine how much risk you are comfortable with.  If you have a thriving Facebook community, it would be a shame to loose it for something you could have prevented.

What are you doing to promote your Page, yet remain compliant?