Facebook Competition: 6-steps to Avoid Shadow Bans, Build Fans and Get 10-20 clients
Facebook Competition (s) are a Win-Win.
Win for your community as people win cool prizes. Win for you as you get a boost in engagement, community, and clients.
Don’t run win-lose or lose-lose competitions.
Is a ‘like, comment, tag and share‘ competition a win-win, win-lose, or lose-lose?
Want 10-20 new clients for your Medispa, restaurant, or hair salon this week?
Don’t confuse motion and progress. A rocking horse moves brilliantly but does not make any progress” – Alfred Armand Montapert
Progress is running Win-Win competitions. Progress is getting email and Messenger subscribers, and phone numbers.
Progress is using an effective email marketing follow-up system to uhm, well, follow up with people. Advancement is getting 10-20 new clients next week.
However, ‘like, comment, share ‘n tag‘ Facebook competitions are motion and the fasted way to get banned!
There are 100s of different ways to run competitions and contests, quizzes and surveys. 100s that make progress. Many ways are motion. Don’t do the motion. Do progress!
See the TL:DR
Don’t worry, I am Urban Renström, there is always science and research involved in everything I say, teach, and demonstrate.
Facebook Competitions Ideas: Build your business better: quizzes, competitions, and surveys are excellent top-of-funnel tactics to get clients. Bake them into your marketing strategy and not as an afterthought. #JustSaying
WTF! “I got Banned” The Wrong Way to Run Facebook Competitions
Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity” — H. Hackson Brown, JR.
“Share the sh1t out of this, tag 25 friends, and like this page to win a bag of crisps!“ Right.
Is that you shouting “EVERYONE ELSE DOES IT” so it must be okay and they work – see all the likes, comments and shares they get!
‘Like, comment, share ‘n tag‘ competitions are against Facebook TOS. Meaning when you are caught your page gets unpublished.
‘It works’ is based on what? The number of likes, comments, tags, and shares? Yeah, ask your employees if they will take their salary in likes, comments, and shares.
So, why is your Facebook feed littered with these ‘like, comment, share ‘n tag‘ competitions?
You’re seeing them because brands are lazy and ignorant. Brands also have a ‘hope’ the contest will go ‘viral’ (whatever that means).
Don’t run ‘like, comment, share ‘n tag‘ Facebook competitions, just don’t!
Run Facebook Competitions Like This:
Here is my Six Steps Savvy and Simple WIN-WIN Facebook Competition framework.
Read these six aloud:
Here is the explanation of each of the six-step.
1) (use) This goal
Which tangible goal gets you to a Win-Win?
- 10-20 new clients this week?
- 20% revenue uplift in the next 12 weeks?
- X number of email subscribers
Decide and write it down in stone
Here are three simple competitions – A product giveaway, caption this photo, and what’s your favourite?
2) (and) This Type of Competition
Choose the competition you can pin your hat on. And run that competition in a way you get either a people’s email address, their phone numbers, or they become Facebook Messenger subscribers.
Why these? They are used to follow-up with people and following up is how you’ll get those 10-20 new clients next week!
Don’t ask for all at the same time because a) it adds friction to the entry process, and therefore b) fewer people will enter.
3) (I’ll) Target this Audience
Whom do you want to enter your competition?
Start with your existing email subscribers, social media fans, and followers.
Recall a comment on a Facebook post gets shown to your friends giving you a boost in organic reach.
Only if you’ve not met your competition entry numbers, then put some advertising budget behind the post and look to get more impressions.
Promote The Sh1t Out of Your Facebook Competitions!
Your Facebook Competition success formula (is) = 70% Promotion + 30% Strategy
a) Pre-promote, b) Promote, and c) Follow-up.
a) Pre-promote your competition to build excitement. So create your Facebook post. Then send an email to all your subscribers. And inform all your FB, IG, Twitter, and Messenger, connections that:
“…in 3 days our new competition opens for entry. 1st place prize is____, second place prize is_____, etc.
(use a referral system upviral, viral loops, or Kingsumo. Either of these will give people more chances to enter and will help you spread the word about your competitions)
b) Promote – use scarcity and urgency principles in your copy. “Only one winner and the competition closes in 3 days”
Promote your competition until the cows come home. Use a killer follow-up system (step 6 below) to build relationships, and foster community with people who do not win.
Don’t forget to send a commiseration email, a personal thank you video, a coupon code, or an invite to your VIP event to those who did not win.
Then ask everyone if they would like to be on the exclusive list of people who’ll get pre-promotion of the next competition (and maybe an extra entry).
c) Follow-up – see step 6 below
d) Decide what data you ask to enter the competition.
Do either:
a) Use a landing page on your website and ask for a first name and email. This landing page has all the terms and conditions, and you can ask people to share the competition.
Or
b) Ask people to enter via Facebook Messenger. Once people enter, you can further collect email and mobile phone numbers.
4) (and) offer this prize
What will be the prize?
Ensure the prize is congruent with your core business offer.
Everyone will enter a ‘win an iPad’ competition. An iPad is a great tablet. And that is why radio stations give away iPads. Yet, if you’re a clothing boutique, there is zero congruency between the iPad and your boutique.
Instead, give away a professional dress fitting, a silk scarf, or a pair of designer jeans.
People ‘see’ an iPad as a ‘lazy prize’. Worse the wrong prize is a limp squid and will fill your competition with freebie seekers.
How about if you collaborate or make joint ventures with relevant and related brands? Do that especially if that brand is stronger, bigger, and more well-known than you.
Choose the prize with high-perceived value for your audience. What is that prize?
Think like your client. What would they love to win and value afterwards?
5) (and) I’ll announce the winner this way
One – Draw the winner and contact them in private. Or make an event out of the winner using a Facebook Live video.
Two – Announce the winners using the same channels you per-promoted your competition.
6) (and I’ll) use this follow-up system
All your dreams and goals are on the other side of your follow-up sequences and systems. Follow-up with people is how you convince and entice them to become your next 10-20 clients!
Email, SMS, Messenger, Whatsapp, and/or social media are your follow-up system.
(Why follow-up?) Because most people that entered your competitions are ‘new’ to you. So to convert them into paying clients you let them get to know you, like you, and trust you. All this keeps your brand top of mind and builds those relationships so you can offer a coupon, and get them to book an appointment.
The follow-up (the when) starts immediately after a person hits the enter competition button.
Immediately, because people are most brand-aware; most excited at winning your fab prize, most open to any suggestion or instruction you give; most willing to take action the moment they press the button. This ‘most open and willing’ diminishes within hours.
Therefore, trade on their ‘I want to win’ emotions of Euphoria, Elation, Exhilaration, Joy, Glee, Jubilation, Ecstasy, Mania, and bliss.
I am suggesting, by any stretch you use unethical persuasion methods to convince people to do what you want. Nope!
However, use their willingness and openness to suggest people do one of the following:
- show people how to get extra entries
- tell people when the results get announced
- ask people to like your page
- ask people to join your VIP FB group
- Buy your products
- Book an appointment
- Refer a friend
- Watch a video
You get the idea.
Be creative in what you ask and build those long-lasting relationships!
(What) do you say in follow-up messages?
My blog post covering the entire follow-up system drops next week.
There you have the Six Steps Savvy and Simple WIN-WIN Facebook Competitions framework.
Tell me in the comments what success you’ve had running Facebook Competitions.
TL;DR
like, comment, share ‘n tag‘ competitions are a ‘lose-lose’ and illegal; your Facebook™ Page will get banned, and worse they don’t move the revenue needle.
Make this one tweak – ask people for their name and email so as to enter the competition. That is it. Then use a blog post (part II) an on-point email marketing follow-up system to follow-up nurture, build trust, and get new clients.
Facebook Competition Rules FAQ
Are there any Facebook Competition Rules?
Yes, Facebook Competition Rules do exist.
Rules exist because without rules people would do everything to boost the reach of competition. Facebook’s stated goal is to provide a good user experience on the newsfeed, groups and pages.
The Facebook Competition Rules are here on their pages, groups, and events page
see part 3. Promotions on Pages, Groups, and Events, section three. you are not allowed to ask people to “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries”, or “tag your friends in this post to enter” are not permitted)”
Are ‘Share to win’ allowed under Facebook Competition Rules?
The short and simple answer is No. Facebook Competitions don’t allow ‘share to win‘ as an entry.
Administration of a Promotion
“Promotions may be administered on Pages, Groups, Events, or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines and friend connections must not be used to administer promotions (ex: “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries”, and “tag your friends in this post to enter” are not permitted)“
Do the Facebook Competitions allow “tag your friend to enter”?
Nope, see above. The Facebook Competitions rules are clear. And as with the “share to win” to entre tag a friend is also not allowed.
Facebook Competition rules are in place to achieve the main stated goal of a good user experience on Facebook.
Do the Facebook Competition Rules let me as people to like my page to enter a competition?
Again, read and understand these Pages, Groups and Events Policies page on Facebook.com
Facebook Competition Rules states clearly “You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page.”
be clear you can easily ask people to like your page…but not as a form of entry into a competition.
What are the Facebook Competition Rules?
1) Provide detailed contest rules
2) State clearly Facebook is not the sponsor or in any way involved
3) Know what contests are and are not allowed. Sweepstakes are allowed but lotteries are not allowed
4) No ‘consideration’ allowed
5) cannot ask people to like, comment, share, and/or tag as a form of entry.
6) use a Facebook Page, not your profile.
7) Facebook competition rules state you must get permission to use submitted content from people
8) Facebook will not assist in the promotion of your competition.
Really informative, thanks for sharing this!
Hey,
Thanks for stopping by and reading and better still for commenting. 🙂
What good results have you gotten running competitions?