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Facebook Updates Promo/Sweepstakes Guidelines – What It Means for Marketers
November 6th, 2009
| By Justin Smith | 33 Comments » |
These days, running promotions on Facebook Pages and inside Facebook apps is one of the simplest and most effective ways of engaging Facebook users. However, while Facebook does allow third parties to run contests and promotions on Facebook, it has been posting increasingly specific guidelines throughout the past year detailing just what is and what isn’t allowed.
Now, Facebook has just posted a new set of promotional guidelines that go into much more detail. We’ve excerpted and highlighted some of the most relevant sections below, but the most important part: All promotions that run on Facebook must be fully located on either 1) the canvas page of an application, or 2) in an application box or tab on a Facebook Page – AND you must get prior Facebook approval before the promotion starts.
The Updated Policies
Here’s the most important section of the updated promotional guidelines:
Section 3. Administering a Promotion through the Facebook PlatformYou may not administer any promotion through Facebook, except that you may administer a promotion through the Facebook Platform with our prior written approval. Such written approval may be obtained only through an account representative at Facebook. If you are already working with an account representative, please contact that representative to begin the approval process. If you do not work with an account representative, you can use this contact form to inquire about working with an account representative. If we provide you such approval, you agree to the following:
3.1 You will only administer the promotion through an application on the Facebook Platform, as directed by us.
3.2 You will only allow users to enter the promotion in the following locations on Facebook:
3.2.1 On the canvas Page of an application on the Facebook Platform.
3.2.2 On an application box in a tab on a Facebook Page.
3.6 You must submit materials for any promotion you plan on administering through the Facebook Platform to your account representative for our review and approval at least 7 days prior to the start date of such promotion. Promotions not approved in writing within such time period will be deemed unapproved.
What’s Clearly Not Allowed
This means the following types of Facebook contests are not allowed:
- “Status update” contests (like the one that Intuit ran earlier this year)
- “Photo upload” contests (like the one Utah restaurant Mo’ Bettah Steaks ran last month)
- Any kind of contest that requires commenting on or responding to items in the News Feed (brands could otherwise boost their News Feed engagement and thus distribution by constantly running contests in the feed)
Instead, all contest promotions must be run through third party applications, and must be approved by Facebook “at least 7 days prior to the start date.” This is especially important for all Page administrators to be aware of, as many businesses and organizations have been experimenting with different types of contests to drive traffic and engagement on their Facebook Page.
Two More Details
1) Aside from the usual prohibitions around allowing users under 18 to under or including any alcohol, tobacco, etc, in the campaign, the new guidelines say clearly that marketers must not require users to “purchase a product” or complete “a lengthy task” in order to enter.
Section 2. Prohibitions2.6 The promotion is a sweepstakes that conditions entry upon the purchase of a product, completion of a lengthy task, or other form of consideration.
2) Facebook says marketers must not indicate in any way that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion.
Section 4. Publicizing a Promotion on Facebook
4.1 You will not directly or indirectly indicate that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion or mention Facebook in any way in the rules or materials relating to the promotion.
Examples of What To Do and Not To Do
Finally, Facebook has given the following examples to help marketers understand how to apply the new Promotion Guidelines:
You cannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as making a post on a profile or Page, status comment or photo upload.
You can: Use a third party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo through a third-party application to enter the contest.
You cannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your Page.
You can: Only allow fans of your Page to access the tab that contains the third-party application for the promotion.
You cannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.
You can: Collect an address or email through the third-party application for the promotion in order to contact the winner by email or standard mail.
You cannot: Instruct people (in the rules or elsewhere) to sign up for a Facebook account before they enter the promotion.
You can: Instruct users to visit the third-party application to enter the promotion (as described in Section 3.4(i)). Since users must have a Facebook account in order to access an application on the Facebook Platform, if you give this instruction, they will be prompted to sign up for a Facebook account if they do not already have one.
The Page Apps/Management Ecosystem
This update should be a boon to companies like Buddy Media, Context Optional, Wildfire, Fanappz, Involver, theKbuzz, Votigo, and Vitrue that are helping big brands, small businesses, and celebrities engage users on Facebook through white label application platform specifically designed for Facebook Page and application promotions.
By requiring all promotions to occur within applications of some kind, Facebook is both keeping the News Feed cleaner and signaling to the tools community that it wants them heavily involved in the future of marketing on Facebook.
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November 6th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
my Connect to All
November 7th, 2009 at 6:19 am
Where can I find the earlier version of the promotions guidelines for comparison?
November 8th, 2009 at 3:52 pm
Previous rules essentially said you couldn’t use a standard Facebook function to enter a contest or sweepstakes. But you can give something to all fans, such as exclusive offers or content.
The rules are definitely getting more detailed, such as the brand new requirement to approve through Facebook.
As mentioned, it should also benefit companies like mine, Vitrue, who provide premium social media solutions and services to major brands. As going the lo-fi route using standard Facebook functions is no longer permitted.
November 8th, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Thanks for the shoutout to my firm theKbuzz, Justin. Of most interest to me is the new rule requiring Facebook’s “written approval.” With so many Pages and so few facebook employees, it seems as though that will be an incredibly difficult rule to enforce. I’ve reached out to facebook for clarification.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
[...] Facebook Expert, Justin Smith, says: By requiring all promotions to occur within applications of some kind, Facebook is both keeping [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 5:21 am
I run free gift certificates from local business to help them leverage facebook and increase their overall brand awareness through my fan page…is what I am doing illegal?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:30 am
This will mark the end of Facebook. When a company becomes so big, it will begin to restrict activities on their website to maintain their strangle hold on the industry. Facebook will go the way of AOL, people will leave because of the bad user experience. Freedom!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:49 am
[...] you looking for other posts about this topic? Read Mari Smith, Nick O’Neill and Justin Smith’s Inside Facebook, for additional thoughts on the revised promotions [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 10:16 am
Justin, my i2we,inc also has an app platform and we’ve done over a dozen client apps over the last 2 years.
http://www.i2we.com/corp/services.php
November 9th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Are there separate rules for contests on personal profiles? For example, a blogger running a blog contest, but allowing Facebook comment entries, too, since so many people read their blog on Facebook anyway.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:58 am
So is it still “legal” to do what Outback and Papa John’s are doing and offer discounts to people after becoming fans of their page?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:08 pm
Great article, Justin. We’ve been focusing on this issue for our clients/collaborators and will be doing a deep dive this Friday for all interested.
You can register here: http://www.istrategylabs.com/2009/11/new-rules-of-facebook-engagement-social-promotions/
November 10th, 2009 at 7:36 am
Thank you for the heads up on this change, Justin.
According to Section 4 of the promotional guidelines – Publicizing a Promotion on Facebook – Fan page admins CAN still publicize a promotion on Facebook without the need written approval, so long as the contest is administered completely off of Facebook. There are some other conditions here: http://www.facebook.com/terms.php?ref=pf#/promotions_guidelines.php
Good news for the smaller businesses and organizations out there that could have been bogged down with the red tape.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:11 am
Can you tell us why this has changed? What is the problem with having people automatically entered to win if they are a fan? Or having people upload a photo or comment on a post to be entered? These methods have been widely used in the past and have been very successful.
Is this change something that is a result of a promotion gone wrong?
I understand the changes, but I do not understand the reason behind them.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:54 am
I was just wondering – if they say: 4.2 In the rules of the promotion, or otherwise, you will not condition entry to the promotion upon taking any action on Facebook, for example, updating a status, posting on a profile or Page, or uploading a photo.
They say you can’t condition entry, but can you condition winning by number of thumbs up?
And pretty much the same way – can you give extra points to those users who will for example share something on their walls? It’d be not a condition, but an option…
November 17th, 2009 at 9:30 am
[...] analysis of the implications of these new policies can be found on the blogs of Nick O’Neal, Justin Smith, Kristen Parrish , CNETand Mari [...]
November 17th, 2009 at 11:08 am
This is all great info Justin, thanks!
Now the big question, how and where do we submit our contest for approval??
I’ve been looking for the past 2 days at no avail. Anybody knows how to submit your contest for approval?
November 20th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Would these new guidelines prohibit the following: Having a contest, for example first 100 people to become fans win this prize. Can I send a link to the one-time-click coupon via facebook message? Or what if I made a private facebook group with a link to the prize (one time click) that required me inviting them to the group once they become a fan.
Thanks for your help.
November 20th, 2009 at 11:47 am
[...] has new guidelines for sweepstakes, contests and promotions. This affects me in my day job (marketing consultant) but also as a blogger who has run some [...]
November 30th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
[...] we would giveaway a product to one of our Facebook fans. We’re changing it up a bit since Facebook revised its rules for running promotions on fan pages. No longer are we allowed to give something away for your fanship. In fact, the rules clearly [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 7:48 am
[...] Now Facebook have created new rules regarding competitions. You can’t ask people to interact with you on Facebook in order to enter a competition, they can only interact with a third party application. Gone are the days of getting more fans by encouraging them to join you in return for maybe winning something. Now marketers have to be more imaginative in the ways they get fans to sign up. In fact this may not be a bad thing, because simply building up a large fan base and bribing them to interact with you isn’t going to build up a long term relationship. [...]
December 1st, 2009 at 8:36 am
[...] un approfondimento sulle nuove regole potete leggere questa analisi del regolamento, ma essenzialmente le nuove regole prevedono [...]
December 2nd, 2009 at 3:52 am
[...] kan læse om reglerne i artiklen Facebook Updates Promo/Sweepstakes Guidelines – What it means for Marketers Skriv en [...]
December 2nd, 2009 at 10:21 am
[...] newly unveiled contest rules are, well, confusing. At least that’s the only determination I can come to today. That might [...]
December 3rd, 2009 at 10:16 am
I’m sorry, but I have to agree with David. This will mark the end of Facebook, or at least its decline. They’re obviously limiting people’s freedom as a means to protect their own vested interests (i.e. ads!). While I understand it from a business perspective, it runs contrary to the entire social media culture. I frankly surprised by the move and I seriously wonder how they’re going to enforce it with so many users and so little manpower.
December 4th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
[...] other facebook news, Facebook has also updated its policies on sweepstakes. For more on what that might mean, read this great article on TechCrunch about spamming people and [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 12:54 pm
Anyone have any idea on why the prohibition of promotions on dairy products in the new rules. Tobacco, guns and drugs — I get. Ice cream, not so much.
December 9th, 2009 at 6:56 am
The facebook rules don’t mention anything about a promotion that involves tagging – like the one Ikea did. That doesn’t really fall under conditioning the user to upload a pic or update their status. The only requirement is to tag themselves or somebody else in a picture uploaded by the company. How would this type of promotion or “game” be subjected under FB’s new guidelines?
December 11th, 2009 at 5:02 am
[...] Facebook caution! Companies that plan on running contests on Facebook need to proceed with caution. Facebook just announced that brands, advertisers, and marketers that want to run contests or sweepstakes on its platform [...]
December 27th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Your link that is supposed to go to a contact form for facebook does not lead to that form. Is there a url that we can use to find the contact form?
Thank you aheah of time,
Kim
January 4th, 2010 at 8:31 am
Allison – Tagging is prohibited because it counts as users providing content. When they tag themselves, that information gets published in their feed, so it uses the Facebook platform and is thus not allowed. Lame, huh?
January 16th, 2010 at 9:32 am
[...] Article: Facebook Updates Promo/Sweepstakes Guidelines – What It Means for Marketers [...]
February 7th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
[...] of a personal profile and fans Page. There are ways to legitimately run a competition but it involves using a third-party application and getting approval from a Facebook account manager; and that’s [...]