Companies find that one of the best ways to reach fans on Facebook is through contests. But as the rules are sometimes murky and not always enforced, and many brands are a little confused at what’s legal and what’s verboten when it comes to Facebook contests. ShortStack recently created a rubric for those looking to create successful Facebook contests.
Let’s keep it simple. There are five things you should be doing on your Facebook pages to help ensure that you grow your fan counts, engage your fan bases, and ensure that those fans see your posts in their Facebook news feeds.
Last week, sister site Inside Facebook posted an article about the number of businesses that are still running illegal contests on Facebook. The writer pointed out that a shocking number of page owners don’t know the most basic rule: You can’t post a message on your wall and call it a contest. Nor can you make liking your page an automatic entry to a contest. You can, however, require that people who want to enter your contest like your page or check in at your business in order to gain access to your contest application.
As a salute to National Engineers Week (Feb. 17 to 23), Raytheon launched a Facebook campaign to bring engineering into the everyday lives of K-12 students. Through Build It Better, students can earn money for their classrooms by using the application on Raytheon’s MathMovesU Facebook page to engineer a better flow for an aspect of their school.
Last week, the owner of a social media consultancy contacted me via LinkedIn to ask for tips on “articulating her Facebook pitch” to prospective clients. She has many clients, she said, who aren’t convinced that they need to have a presence on what is still the most popular social network. This woman clearly knows her stuff, so her inquiry made me realize that even though Facebook has such a dominant presence, many businesses still do not see its full potential.
Facebook marketing and page-management firm TabSite rolled out its Brand VideoMaker App, which allows page administrators to create custom videos for their pages.
AgoraPulse, which provides Facebook page analytics, now offers marketers the ability to tailor mobile-only campaigns. With AgoraPulse’s mobile technology, brands can offer optimized experiences to those who access contests or promotions from desktops or smartphones.
Looking for a way to get to this year’s South by Southwest Music, Film, and Interactive Conference March 8 to 17 in Austin, Texas? If you are adept at telling stories via social media, Esurance may have you covered.
Facebook application provider North Social is going mobile with its release of new mobile marketing platform Thumbprize, which will enable marketers to extend their social media campaigns across all social networks and platforms via a single interface.
A Facebook contest from Sallie Mae? The financial services company, which focuses on education, doesn’t quite fit the profile of brands that engage in such actions, but the It Pays to Repay sweepstakes on its Facebook page, is living proof.
