Anyone who has used Facebook for any period of time is likely to know that the company is constantly making changes to the platform. One week they are introducing a new update to their mobile app, the next they are changing how we view posts and so on. Many of these changes are made to policies regarding use. Over the past few months Facebook has changed the Pages policy for businesses. These changes are something any business using Facebook for promotion needs to know about.
Background on Facebook Promotions
Business that have Facebook profiles orient the majority of their activity around their Page. Much like a user’s profile this is where all the content and information about and from the business is posted. When business Pages were first launched many companies started to join and run promotions, often to the point of spamming or at least annoying users.
To curb this, Facebook implemented a series of regulations as to how companies can run promotions. Break these regulations and you could see your posts and content punished in the form of showing up lower on user’s News Feeds, or not at all. This is obviously something many companies don’t want, so it would be a good idea to keep up with the rules supporting how you can use the platform for promotions.
The problem with this is that it’s easier said than done especially since Facebook is known to change regulations on a regular basis, often making it hard for businesses to know whether the promotion they are running meets regulations or not. In recent months, Facebook has actually changed their Page guidelines around promotions, actually eliminating some that you should be aware of. Below are four of the old guidelines along with the recent changes made.
Old guideline 1: Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.
This guideline meant that if you wanted to run a promotion, you had to use an app from facebook.com, usually on your Page. Facebook dropped this rule in the summer of 2013, and now allows businesses to use third party apps (not developed by Facebook) to host a promotion on their Timeline.
Old guideline 2: You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app.
This guideline stated that you could not have a promotion where people can enter by using Facebook features, for example liking a post or commenting on it. With the removal of this guideline, you can now encourage people to enter a promotion by liking a post or commenting on it.
You can’t however ask your fans to enter a contest by sharing the promotion on their timeline.
Old guideline 3: You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion.
In conjunction with the change above, Facebook had to also allow users to vote using the established features. The most common example of this is a promotion that encourages users to comment which counts as an entry. Then others vote on the comment they like by pressing Like. The comment with the most likes at the end of the promotion wins.
Old guideline 4: You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (timelines) or Pages.
This has been removed and Facebook is now allowing businesses to contact promotion winners through a status update or a direct message. You can also use other methods such as direct email, an update on a blog or even another social media service like Twitter.
While Facebook has removed some of the guidelines, they didn’t get rid of all of them. It would be a good idea to read their guidelines for Facebook Pages which cover not only how to use promotions but your Page properly.
If you are looking to learn more about using Facebook as a part of your marketing strategy or to represent your business, contact us today.
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