Why Still Use 3rd Party #Giveaway Apps? 4 Important Reasons!

Facebook Giveaway Policies Revised Again

Facebook revised their policies regarding Giveaways in August while I was recovering from a serious injury, perhaps policing all those Facebook Giveaways became a major headache. Facebook has now relaxed many of its rules on running Giveaways. Wait- before you break out in cheers,
there are 3 important reasons you may still want to follow the former Facebook Promotions guidelines, and utilize a 3rd party App.

Facebook Giveaway Policies Video

Facebook released the following video about the changes to Facebook Promotions Policies. 

 

Facebook Promotions Policies - What Has Not Changed

Promotions on Facebook must include the following:
a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
b. Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

Facebook Promotions Policies - What Has Changed

You can now:

• Run giveaways on your page in addition to using 3rd party Apps,
• Use Likes as a way of voting for a post.
• Contact participants through Facebook about their prize. - Facebook charges for messages to be in the main message box if a person does not message you first
• Require participants to return to the page to find out about the winner

You cannot:

• Require people to share the post on their timeline to enter.

Facebook Promotions Policies - February 12, 2014

Here are the Facebook Rules currently posted on Facebook Pages Section E Promotions:

Promotions
1. If you use Facebook to communicate or administer a promotion (ex: a contest or sweepstakes), you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including:
a. The official rules;
b. Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and
c. Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals)

2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following:
a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
b. Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

3. Promotions may be administered on Pages or within apps on Facebook. Personal Timelines 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” is not permitted).

4. We will not assist you in the administration of your promotion, and you agree that if you use our service to administer your promotion, you do so at your own risk.

Why I Still Recommend Using 3rd Party App for Giveaways

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. Having email address to follow up with clients. Depending on the 3rd party App you use, you can get a list of participants email addresses for followup.
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.

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; I find it is less spammy than many other Apps and has more free options than other Apps I have encountered.. Since Facebook frequently changes their policies,you will want to read the current Facebook Promotions Guidelines.
Running a contest or Giveaway? Leave your link below!