We’re easily suckered in by a good Facebook competition (especially Roxanne, who seems to win every single time!). It doesn’t take much create a promotion which both delights your customers and fulfils your objectives, but when first getting started it’s natural to feel a bit lost. Read on for our top five tips to make sure your promo is a resounding success.

1.       Follow the Rules

There are particular guidelines surrounding Facebook competitions that brands must adhere to, so before getting started it’s important that you’re clued up on what you are and aren’t allowed to do. The rulebook was very recently updated; companies are finally allowed to run competitions on their own timelines rather than through an app (hurrah!) but encouraging entrants to tag themselves in an image that they’re not depicted in is still forbidden. If you don’t stick to the rules you risk the embarrassing scenario that your competition is removed halfway through…!

You can view the latest copy of Facebook’s guidelines here.

2.       Be Transparent in your Selection Process

This is especially important with high-value or very desirable prizes (such as holidays), where entrants are likely to closely scrutinise your methods for choosing a winner and assess whether they were picked fairly. Don’t be ambiguous about your selection process – whether the prize goes to the best answer, the first correct guess or is picked at random, you should clearly explain when posting the competition.

3.       Don’t ask too much of your Fans

As a general rule the simpler you can make the entry process, the more entries you are likely to receive. Some companies will try to garner a higher level of engagement through their competitions, by asking entrants to answer a question, think of a funny caption for a photo or write a sentence justifying why they should win the prize. Be mindful of your prize value when setting the entry criteria – a complicated entry process for a low-value prize isn’t likely to draw many people in.

4.       Make the Prize Relevant

By running a competition on Facebook you are, presumably, trying to attract either new fans or increased engagement from your existing fans. In either case the prize needs to be something that would be appealing to your target audience. Universally desirable prizes such as iPads, holidays or cash will attract a lot of attention, but if your store sells something entirely unrelated how many of your new fans do you think will click ‘unlike’ once your updates start appearing in their feeds?

5.       Promote your Competition Across as Many Platforms as Possible

To create a really successful competition you need to maximise its visibility. Ensure as many people as possible are aware of the promotion by sharing links across Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and even via a newsletter if possible. Don’t forget to ‘pin’ the relevant post to the top of your Facebook profile so that visitors can easily find it, or use a designated tab that is visible and clearly labelled.