How to Run a Facebook Giveaway: A 6-Step Guide

Did you know that 78.4% of the competition shares are made on Facebook? And that an average of 34% of new fans are won through a competition?

Additionally, as of the second quarter of 2020, Facebook has over 2.7 billion monthly active users.

As a marketer, these statistics are hard to ignore. Social media contests and freebies are a great way to get fans and get followers.

However, running a contest requires a lot of planning. It’s not as easy as 1-2-3 or ABC.

Today, let’s check out everything you need to know about running a Facebook giveaway. First we will deal with the rules. Then we’ll discuss how to get started with your own Facebook giveaway. Finally, we will give you some ideas and examples to inspire your own competition.

Facebook competition rules

The rules for Facebook giveaways are pretty simple. According to Facebook, if you run a Facebook giveaway, you must provide the official rules, terms and conditions of the offer, and conditions of participation (such as age and residence restrictions), as well as compliance with the rules and regulations that apply to the promotion and any prizes offered (i.e. registration and obtaining) the necessary official permits).

In addition, the copy must include a full Facebook posting by each participant and confirmation that the giveaway is in no way sponsored, endorsed, or administered by Facebook.

You can do a giveaway for pages, groups, events, or in apps. However, you cannot post a giveaway on a personal Facebook page. You also cannot use personal friend connections as part of the giveaway. This means you cannot allow people to share on their timeline, or share on a friend’s timeline, or tag friends on the post to participate.

Disclaimer: This blog post has some information on legal issues related to internet marketing, but legal information is not the same as Legal Advice – Applying the Law to a Specific Circumstance. We have done research to ensure that our information is accurate and useful. However, we do insist that you speak to an attorney if you want professional assurance that our information and your interpretation is correct. In short, you should not rely on this information as legal advice or as a recommendation or confirmation of any particular legal understanding. Instead, you should display the information in this post for entertainment purposes only.

Okay, now that the essentials are out of the way, let’s dive into the meat and potatoes from Facebook giveaways.

1. Set your goals.

The first thing you need to do before launching a giveaway on Facebook is to decide what the goal is.

Your goal could be to increase brand awareness, collect email addresses, gain new followers, increase engagement, or drive traffic to your website.

Once you know your goal, you can find the type of giveaway that you want to carry out (more on that below). For example, if you want to gain new followers, you can run a photo contest that requires users to ask friends to like their photo in the contest. This will bring more people to your Facebook page and hopefully convince some of them to follow you.

2. Choose a price that makes sense for your target audience.

Once you know the type of competition you will be running, it is time to pick a prize. Whichever price you choose, it should make sense to your target audience and be something they want. Choosing a $ 20 prize is unlikely to entice attendees to take part. In fact, the average value of a social media contest prize is $ 369.

Plus, generic pricing usually doesn’t work that well. Try to find something specific that your audience would like to have. For example, if you’re a fitness influencer, you could do a Facebook giveaway with a workout bike as a prize. In this example, the price makes sense given the target audience of a fitness enthusiast.

3. Write the rules.

Now you have to make up the rules. Set a timeframe for your contest, choose a registration method, and set the terms and conditions.

When you have decided on the rules and regulations, write them down. Don’t forget to include all the information Facebook needs.

4. Build your wealth.

By this point, you will know what kind of giveaway you are giving, you have decided on the price and written the rules. Before you click “Post”, all you need to do is create the assets. You need pictures, graphics and a label. The assets should make it clear that you are giving a giveaway and what the price is.

5. Promote, promote, promote.

Once you’ve posted your giveaway on Facebook, you need to promote it across multiple channels. Organic reach on Facebook has dropped to 2% in the past few years, so you can’t just trust that your followers will even see the post.

To promote your Facebook giveaway, you can use other social media platforms, write a blog post, make a video, and email your subscriber list. The more options you have, the better.

6. Measure success.

What do you do after your giveaway ends and you’ve contacted the winner and announced that the giveaway has been closed?

It’s time to measure the success of your campaign. You had a goal, and now you should look at some key metrics to see if you have succeeded.

Some metrics to look at based on your goals:

• Response rate / number of submissions
• Impressions / reach
• Website visits from the giveaway mail
• brand names
• Likes, comments, shares
• Email Subscribers

1. Photo vote.

A photo voice is a type of Facebook giveaway where you ask users to upload a photo. Then encourage people to vote on which photo is the best.

This is a great way to get new followers as contestants ask their friends and family to vote on their photo.

2nd comment to win.

While you can’t tag friends or share posts on their personal page, you can still ask them to comment on your posts to win.

These types of freebies typically ask users to write a caption, fill in the blank, or answer a creative question.

3. Wants to win.

Similar to the above, sometimes all you have to do is ask people to like the post. Even though you can’t ask people to like your page, you can still have them like your posts according to Facebook rules.

This is a really low barrier entry method that is great for increasing engagement and brand awareness.

Now let’s look at some Facebook giveaways in action.

Examples of Facebook giveaways

1. Loveline Golden Retriever

In this Facebook giveaway, Loveline Golden Retrievers ask attendees to send them a photo of their dog that will be featured on their annual calendar. Once users sent the photos, they uploaded them to an album. The photos with the most likes won the competition.

This is a classic photo competition with a prize that is clearly aimed at the audience. People with golden retrievers would love to showcase their pets on a calendar (I mean, who wouldn’t?)

2. Bling

This is another great example of a giveaway that is clearly aimed at the right audience. Probably most of the people who like a game site like Bling on Facebook are actually playing the game.

For this reason, a giveaway for free in-game points is a great idea. What’s more, this is a low-barrier giveaway access too – all you have to do is like the post and comment.

Running a Facebook giveaway doesn’t have to be a problem. It can actually be a simple process if you follow our six step guide.