Competitions on social media – great, aren’t they? This is the most requested podcast I’ve had, so I decided that now would be a great time to dive into how to run competitions on social media. Because they can be so, so valuable… but you need to know what to do if you want to stay inside the guidelines… so here goes.
How to run competitions on social media
Running competitions on social media can be a great way to help increase your reach, following and engagement – and I get it – I run a number of competitions on my social media platforms and for clients too… and they always do really well. But one thing I’m really pedantic about – terms and conditions.
In addition to the terms and conditions that are needed in order to make sure people know what they’re doing, what they can win, how they can win, and when they need to enter by, you need to do a bit more research. You need to be aware of the terms and conditions of the platforms that you’re planning to host the giveaway one. Whether you decide to run your competition through Facebook or Instagram.
Now, a lot of people don’t ‘comply’ with these terms and conditions. And that’s on them. But for me, if I’m advising clients or coaching clients, I make everyone aware of the terms and conditions and I do my very very best to uphold these rules. If you want to read more about the promotion terms for Instagram and promotions terms for Facebook, that will be time well spent. Honest.
But won’t this reduce my reach?
It might do. But you know what? My advice will ALWAYS be to work with these terms and conditions. Because why potentially anger either platform? The platforms that allow us to connect to billions, LITERALLY BILLIONS, of people all over the word? We’re allowed to run competitions on these platforms (which wasn’t always the way on Facebook – do you remember when you had to use an app?!)… so why wouldn’t we do this? And in this episode of the Small & Supercharged Podcast I talk all about this, why running competitions on social media can be really good, and how you to run the competitions on social media too.
A few top tips about running competitions on social media…
- Be REALLY clear about how people can enter
- Make sure your terms and conditions are in place and are correct
- Check the promotion terms and conditions for the platforms you’re running the competition on
- Make sure you can track the entries, you’re clear about how winner/s will be picked and you’re clear about the closing date.
- People do break the rules – I see it every day. I wouldn’t deliberately and I always advise clients to stick within the rules. People do break them. But is it worth the risk?
