Run Successful Facebook Giveaways! Why Use Third Party Apps?

Facebook Giveaways - ROI Will Your Business Win?

Updated February 12, 2014
Facebook Page Contest Policies regarding Giveaways, and contests are meant to protect three parties: you, your clients, and finally Facebook. Many small businesses get into hot water, or miss out on potential customers by not following Facebook policies. Businesses do not do this intentionally,but simply, because it can be a bit tricky to find some of the information on Facebook at times. Hopefully these tips will help you run fun, successful Facebook contests and Giveaways that will help your business win more customers.

Facebook Giveaway Policies Revised Again

Facebook Giveaway Tips 

Facebook revised their policies regarding Giveaways again, perhaps policing all those Facebook Giveaways became a major headache! Facebook has now relaxed many of its rules on running Giveaways. However -it is still not permitted to give contestants ballots for sharing giveaways on their private timelines, but many other policies have been relaxed. Not using a 3rd party App for a Giveaway, may seem quick and easy, but 'quick and easy' does not usually result in your best ROI.

Third Party Giveaway Apps

There are a number of Free and paid applications or ‘Apps’ available that you can use to run a Giveaway on Facebook, or you can run a Giveaway on your site or blog and connect it to Facebook using an App to open your Giveaway page on Facebook. One giveaway App you might want to consider is Rafflecopter; an App that I have found works quite well.

Why I Use Rafflecopter to Run Giveaways 

While you can now run giveaways on your page in addition to using 3rd party Apps, I still highly recommend using a 3rd party App like Rafflecopter to run your giveaways for the following reasons:

1. Contests run solely based on 'Liking' a post or commenting on a post can land you in hot water with potential clients since these actions can be easily undone. Using a 3rd Party App  protects your business.
2. Using a 3rd Party App like Rafflecopter gives you multiple ways to connect with potential new clients -subscribing to your Newsletter, Pinterest, Twitter,etc.
3. Depending on the 3rd party App you use, you can get a list of participants email addresses for followup. Rafflecopter does not charge for this, but some other Apps do charge.
4. Ease of administration. Have you ever tried to scroll through a list of several hundred entries to check for doubles? Third Party Apps save time and money. 

Rafflecopter, or another third party App can help you increase your Return on Investment on your giveaway, but for maximum ROI,  but to truly win at Giveaways, you'll want to track your results. Which third party giveaway apps have you used? What do you like about them?

Too Busy to Run a Successful Facebook Giveaway? Many bloggers, such as myself, can host a Facebook Giveaway for you on one of their blogs. Prices for hosting giveaways vary according to services provided and start at about $25 or equivalent product value, plus a prize work at least $25. Leave a confidential comment and I will contact you with a plan to fit your budget.

Related Links:

• Read the Facebook Promotions Guidelines.
• Running a contest or Giveaway? Add it to a Giveaway Linky!
• 10 Facebook Giveaway ROI Tips 

Good luck with Your Give Away!
Suzanne