A lot of our clients come to us for help growing their Facebook pages. They’re frustrated their pages aren’t growing organically and they ask us for guidance on attracting quality followers. One of our first steps is to look at their messaging and make sure they are speaking with a clear voice. Social media is not something to be thrown to a summer intern, as tempting as it might be. We research what they have been doing and then look for creative ways to increase their Facebook followers and reach influencers.
One of the ways we do this is by running a promotion or sweepstakes on Facebook. Through sweepstakes we increased one client’s followers by more than 40%. The sweepstakes should not be thrown together haphazardly. It needs to be planned thoughtfully and based on quantifiable research. What are you trying to promote? What is your end goal? You should have a reasonable goal in place that makes sense for your product. Look at prior promotions and compare results to them when determining ROI.
Facebook Promotions Dos and Don’ts:
- Do read Facebook’s general terms that dictate how to run a promotion on the site.
- Don’t notify winners via Facebook – it’s against Facebook terms.
- Do run through apps on Facebook, more on that here.
- Don’t make it a requirement to “like” a page to enter a sweepstakes.
- Do determine if your program is promotional. If you are not sure if you are running a promotion, re-read the rules. The short answer is: if you are selecting a winner, you are running a promotion.
- Don’t use Facebook features or functionalities as a way of voting.
- Do run targeted Facebook pay-per-click ads to direct people to your giveaway. It’s a cost effective way of gaining new followers.
Confused yet? Don’t be. Facebook doesn’t want any liability or involvement in your promotion, so as long as you follow their rules you’ll be fine. Or you could always hire a PR firm and let them handle all this for you. Just sayn’.
This post was contributed by Rachel Hutman, Clearpoint Agency Account Executive