New Rules for Facebook Promotions

On several occasions we've received the same request from our clients: “Can we give away a product by asking our fans to like or comment on a
Facebook post?” Our response has always been the same – “This breaks Facebook’s policy and the potential repercussion is Facebook’s removal of your Page.” That is, until now.
Last month, Facebook announced that it updated its Pages Terms, which included the removal of the requirement that promotions must be run through apps.
This means that businesses may now request that users like, comment, or post on their Page in order to enter a promotion.

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

By allowing Pages to have Facebook post promotions, businesses can now create and administer a promotion almost instantaneously. Before you say goodbye to Facebook apps though, consider both the pros and cons to running a promotion directly on a Facebook Page. Pros include:

• Immediate engagement
• Inexpensive to administer – no cost for graphic design and third party app
• Simple set-up
• The more fans interact with a Facebook Page, the more likely your Page will show up in their feed

• The promotion isn’t fan-gated (people aren’t required to “like” the Page), as it can be within an app
• Email addresses aren’t collected, so businesses won’t be able to follow up with consumers
• The promotion is short lived because it will only show up in fans’ feeds on the day it is posted, while a promotion on an app can run for months

The Outlook

It’s likely that small businesses with small budgets will use Facebook post promotions more often than large businesses. It’s a quick and easy way to introduce and get fans excited about a product.
With this in mind, larger businesses shouldn't immediately nix the idea of Facebook post promotions. There are certainly applicable times to do a quick giveaway. Whether the business wants to give away a new product, boost engagement for the day, or reward current fans, it is certainly a viable way to get fans active on your Facebook page.
For more information on strategies and considerations for Facebook post promotions, download our most recent POV.

To download this POV please e-mail us an inquiry at: info@digitalbrandexpressions.com.

Image courtesy of Facebook.