Get to grips with Facebook's competition rules and discover how to run competitions that comply with the guidelines while effectively engaging your audience.
Thomas Haurum
Many businesses take advantage of the opportunity to run competitions on Facebook. And it is easy to see why – there are so many benefits to be gained, including more shares, greater exposure and, hopefully, more customers in the end.
BUT – navigating Facebook’s competition rules can feel like a real jungle. Some rules are fairly straightforward, while others remain unclear even to experienced marketers. This is one reason why so many businesses fail to comply with Facebook’s competition rules when running contests and giveaways. In other cases, it may simply be because they do not have the time or will to familiarise themselves with the rules from the outset, or they just follow what everyone else seems to be doing on Facebook, ignoring what is actually allowed and not allowed in a competition.
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As a business, you might be thinking, “why should I comply with the rules when so many of my competitors don’t?”
The answer is: “are you willing to risk your business on the chance that your competition is not spotted by Facebook or the Consumer Ombudsman?”
It may not happen the first, fifth or even ever – but it only takes a single complaint from a consumer for the Consumer Ombudsman to investigate, and your business could find itself in trouble.
If you are caught and do not comply with the rules, you risk being fined. In the worst-case scenario, Facebook could choose to shut down your page.
And that would be a shame, when all you wanted was to make one lucky person happy with a great prize (and gain a bit of extra exposure for your business)!
It is not always due to deliberate intent or laziness that businesses break the rules. Sometimes it is simply because the rules have changed so many times and are not always logical.
So, to clarify the rules for Facebook competitions once and for all… or at least for now… here they are:
WHAT YOU ARE ALLOWED TO DO:
WHAT YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO DO:
In addition, it is important to always make it clear that your competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook.
You can read the official Facebook competition rules here.
In addition to Facebook’s own competition rules, as a business you must also comply with Danish law regarding competitions on Facebook and marketing on social media. The Consumer Ombudsman can also take action if Danish marketing law is not followed.
So, what does Danish law say about competitions on social media?
First and foremost, the terms and conditions of competitions must be clear to participants.
This means you must inform about:
There are two types of competitions on social media, and it must also be made clear to participants which type is in use:
See the two example texts below. One does not comply with the rules, while the other does.
DOES NOT COMPLY WITH THE RULES
COMPLIES WITH THE RULES
Furthermore, in the report “The Nordic Consumer Ombudsmen’s position on marketing via social media, 3 May 2012” the Consumer Ombudsman stated:
“If a business rewards a user or creates a special incentive […] for the user to share or spread […] commercial messages, the Consumer Ombudsman will consider the messages as coming from the business, and the user’s friends must therefore have the opportunity to opt out of these, see point 3.5…
… If participation in a competition means that a commercial message appears on the user’s wall and then on their friends’ newsfeeds, the user’s friends must have the option to opt out of future communications from the business.”
In other words, according to Danish law, it is not illegal to ask users to share, as long as they have the option to hide content from the business.
(Remember, Facebook has its own rules in this area, which you must also take into account)
See below how this option appears on Facebook, both for hiding a specific post and for hiding all posts from a business permanently.
The option to opt out of content from businesses can be important beyond just the share function in a competition. Many businesses have found a “loophole” in Facebook’s “tag a friend” rule by instead asking participants to “comment who you would like to share the prize with” or similar.
This is technically allowed under Facebook’s rules, as you are not directly asking participants to “tag” someone – knowing full well that most participants will do so anyway.
However, according to the Consumer Ombudsman, it is important that a user’s friends can hide content from the business behind the post they are tagged in, if they are not interested in seeing it.
You can read the whole Consumer Ombudsman report here: https://www.forbrugerombudsmanden.dk/media/46472/2016-standpunkt-til-nordisk-standpunkt-for-markedsfoering-via-sociale-medier.pdf
As we are on the topic of competition rules, and many businesses operate on both Facebook and Instagram, we know that similar issues arise on both platforms. That is why we are also including the competition terms for Instagram here:
ALLOWED:
NOT ALLOWED:
In addition, you must also remember to:
– State that the competition is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by or associated with Instagram.
While competitions are a great way to increase reach and raise awareness of your business or products, it is a good idea to give it some thought before launching one competition after another. As a user on Facebook, it can sometimes feel like you are being spammed by competitions, and the last thing you want as a business is to become a source of irritation for users.
So choose your competitions and giveaways carefully. Ask yourself which competitions provide value to users, but never forget that they also need to create value for your business! Wild prizes that have nothing to do with your business can attract many likes and shares, but these are not necessarily participants who are in your target group or who will stick around after the competition ends.
Another useful thing to be clear on is Facebook’s text rules. Jannick explains them – in an easy-to-understand way – right here.
Otherwise, all that is left is to wish you the best of luck!
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