On November 4th, 2009, the new Facebook promotional guidelines took effect with little notice. Whether you’re selling Maggianos or marijuana, the rules have a major impact on you and are strict. For example:
- You can’t require the user to post, friend, or comment as part of being entered into your contest.
- You can’t notify winners via Facebook’s platform– comments, posts, email, whatever.
- You have to even place this specific text as part of your promotion:
- “This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to [recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook. The information you provide will only be used for [disclose any way that you plan to use the user’s information].”
- You can’t mention Facebook anywhere, as people may easily be confused into thinking that Facebook is sponsoring it.
- You have to get written approval from Facebook at least 7 days before you run a contest.
I’m paraphrasing here, so you should read the whole article in its entirety itself. It’s well-written and clear. Most of the brands I see running promotions and contests on Facebook are breaking these rules. Now let’s see whether Facebook actually enforces these rules. If the past history is an indicator, Facebook writes policy more to allow enforcement against the bad actors, than to try to bust anyone that may run afoul, but doing so in a non-spammy way.
Confused by these changes? Need help from a Facebook advertising agency? We might be able to help.
