Facebook announced yesterday that they have removed the requirement that all Facebook promotions on brand pages need to be administered via an app.
So what does this actually mean? Well, in a nutshell, it means that prior to yesterday page owners had to run a competition or promotion via a third-party app – something that was likely to be costly for small and medium sized businesses – whereas now they can run the promotions on their page Timelines.
Page owners can now:
- Collect entries by having users post on the Page or comment/like a Page post
- Collect entries by having users message the Page
- Utilise likes as a voting mechanism
Whilst at first glance this looks like a win for page owners and brand administrators, it may make the management of any competition or promotion difficult. Plus there’s the usual set of rules, which need to be fully understood and taken into account before any promotion is developed. Here’s the updated bit on the Promotions section of Facebook’s Page Terms:
Promotions
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:
1. The official rules;
2. Offer terms and eligibility requirements (ex: age and residency restrictions); and
3. Compliance with applicable rules and regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered (ex: registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals)
Promotions on Facebook must include the following:
1. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
2. Acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
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).
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.
Many more shrewd brand administrators will still want to use third-party apps in order to collect and leverage data which is where the real value lies.
Some say that’s in an interesting announcement, but potentially contradicts Facebook’s other recent announcement on how their algorithm will be punishing pages that post poor quality content. We’re sure there will be further updates on the promotions announcement, so we’ll keep watching this space.
