Do’s and Don’ts of Running a Facebook or Instagram Giveaway
A Facebook or Instagram giveaway is great to engage your audience, grow your page, and promote your business.
But it’s also super-easy to get into trouble with your giveaway or competition if you don’t follow the rules.
And you certainly don’t want to find yourself landing in Facebook jail or having your page banned!
So, how can you stay on the right side of Facebook and Insta law?
Well, you make sure you follow the rules.
Below we cover some of the main do’s and don’ts of running competitions so you can promote your brand the right way.
Do’s And Don’ts Of Running A Facebook Or Instagram Giveaway
The Do’s Of A Facebook Or Instagram Giveaway
A successful Facebook or Instagram giveaway is about more than offering a great prize. You need to make sure you are abiding by the rules of the platform too.
Here’s some key things to think about:
Do: Make the rules clear
Do make sure you have clear rules about what the prize is, what people need to do to win, how the winner is chosen and how the prize will be delivered, including if there is any shipping cost. These rules can be on your post, or you can create a separate landing page that you can link to via your bio.
Do: Statement of Release
Do make sure to include a statement of release. One of the biggest ways people get into trouble with giveaways or competitions is forgetting to make it very clear that Facebook or Instagram are not involved with the event.
You should include a statement on your post to say that the platform does not endorse your competition and isn’t involved in any way. Anyone entering your giveaway must also abide by the platform’s terms of use.
Do: Pick a great prize
Do have a decent prize: I know we said it's not ALL about the prize. But, it is still an important factor for a successful competition. Make sure the prize is something people would actually be interested in winning. The winner should find the prize useful and that it has value.
But, in saying that, you still want to choose carefully. Offering a general prize could attract entrants that aren’t going to be interested in your business long-term. That’s why it’s better to have a prize that is related to your product, service or brand so that people entering the competition might turn into customers down the line.
Do: Get creative
Do be creative about your giveaway or competition: You can run contests that just ask people to share or like the post, but there are lots of people doing that these days. To stand out, why not ask your audience to share the answer to a question related to your product or service, like their most hated task or their favourite helpful tip.
Bonus - this not only makes your competition stand out, but can also give you valuable content ideas for your social platforms. Just make sure you get permission from the person who commented before using any of their details. This tactic can also provide information about the kind of problems your audience is looking to solve so that you can make your offerings more targeted.
Do: Hashtag it!
Do use the right hashtags. Hashtags are a great way of getting your competition found and making it easy for people to share. But, when choosing which hashtags to use, make sure they are specific. Generic hashtags like #competition or #bigprize won’t help. Use some terms that your target audience might be browsing as well as something that includes your brand if possible.
Do: Collaborate
Do consider collaborating with a complementary business. By partnering with another business, you can offer a better prize, but also extend the reach of your giveaway to their audience. Choose a business that works in the same target market that you do, but doesn’t have competing services or products.
The Don’ts Of A Facebook Or Instagram Giveaway
There are definitely some things to avoid when running a Facebook or Instagram giveaway. They are:
Don’t: Forget to promote it
Don’t forget to promote your Facebook or Instagram giveaway! People can’t enter if they don’t know the giveaway exists. You will get greater reach and entries if you remember to drive traffic to the giveaway post. Use all your marketing channels to do this - your email list and other social media platforms.
Don’t: Share and Tag
Don’t require users to like or share your competition post or tag their friends in it on Facebook. You might see plenty of people do this, but it’s actually against the rules. If you make your competition so exciting that people choose to share it, that’s ok. But, you can’t make it a condition of entry.
Instagram giveaway rules are a bit more relaxed, and you can ask for shares or tags, as long as you ask people to tag in the comments, not on the original image. But, you can still get creative with asking a question for followers to answer in the comments for more organic engagement.
Don’t: Make things complicated
Don’t make your competition too complicated. If you ask people to do lots of things to win or make it very difficult then one of two things is likely to happen. Either people won’t take part at all, or they will expect you to be providing a very big prize for their troubles.
Don’t: Forget to announce a winner
A Facebook or Instagram giveaway can give your business great credibility, but all of that trust will be lost in a minute if you don’t announce a winner! Make sure you remember to draw a winner and announce it on your page so that everyone is aware of the end result. Then, edit your giveaway post to let people know the giveaway is closed and a winner has been chosen.
There are plenty of ways you can draw a winner. You can use a number randomiser, a purpose built app, or you can go old school and draw the name out of a hat.
Stay On The Right Side Of Social Law
Want some help staying on the right side of the rules with your social media?
If you’d like some guidance with your social media giveaways or anything else social media related, then we’re here to help. From choosing the right social media platforms for your brand or maximising the ones you are already using, to creating a strategy where you know exactly what you are posting for the whole year, we’re there for you.
Get in touch or find us on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn to connect.
