As you know Sports Geek has been a big supporter of educating clients & sports digital marketers of the rules surrounding promotions on Facebook, you may have already read this post “How to get your Facebook page banned or don’t get bad advice!“.

Life moves pretty fast

In the sports digital world, you’d have to agree with Ferris Bueller that “Life moves pretty fast” as Facebook have changed their promotion guidelines.  As a digital marketer you NEED to be on top of these guidelines if you break them Facebook will shut down your page – No Questions Asked.

From Facebook

1.     We have removed specific prohibitions on certain types of promotions (such as those related to alcohol, dairy, gambling, and gasoline).  This means that a promotion could, for example, offer alcohol as a prize, provided that you ensure that it complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the jurisdictions where it is open and adheres to these Promotions Guidelines, the Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, the Ad Guidelines, the Platform Policies and any other applicable Facebook policies (e.g., the Page and/or app is properly restricted and any ads pointing to the promotion comply with our Ad Guidelines).

2.     We have restructured and simplified the guidelines to make them easier to understand and consistent with the format of other Facebook Terms and Policies.

What has changed for Facebook Promotions?

Know what you are doing

The opening paragraph makes it very clear that Facebook requires the promotion operator owns & administers each promotion and must provide clear rules as well as obtain all necessary permits.

If you use Facebook to communicate about or administer a promotion, you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, including the official rules, offer terms and eligibility requirements (e.g., age and residency restrictions), and compliance with regulations governing the promotion and all prizes offered in connection with the promotion (e.g., registration and obtaining necessary regulatory approvals).  Please note that compliance with these Guidelines does not constitute the lawfulness of a promotion.  Promotions are subject to many regulations and if you are not certain that your promotion complies with applicable law, please consult with an expert.

Sports Geek Tip: Get you Terms & Conditions template checked & ensure you have the correct permits for your promotion.

Kids no longer off-limits

A big change in the promotion guidelines is that Facebook have removed the restriction of minors, this means 13-17 year old children can enter your promotion but remember state & federal promotion laws still exist that need to be adhered to.

mmm Cheese?

Great news for the diary industry, Facebook has removed diary as one of their banned prizes (due to a quirky state law) so you can now offer cheese as a prize.  Additionally alcohol can be offered as a prize but obviously such a promotion cannot target minors and strict Ts & Cs are required.

Get the most Likes… NOT!

Big change here by Facebook HQ to stop Like spam, you can’t use Likes as a voting mechanism for a promotion.

e.g. Ask fans to get likes on their entry for a promotion is now OUTSIDE the promotion guidelines.

Services such as OfferPop that offer plugins to count the amount of comments as votes may need to change strategy now.

What has stayed the same for Facebook Promotions?

Stay off my wall!

The Facebook Promotion guidelines still require to be administered via an app or a page tab.  You cannot run promotions directly from your page status updates, you CAN promote on your wall and redirect fans to an app or page tab.

Additionally you cannot announce promotion winners on your Facebook wall or via Facebook so make sure you get that email address!

Invalid promotion examples

• The first 10 people to comment on this post win tickets.
• Upload a photo to our wall to enter and win!
• Press Like on this comment to win a prize.
• 25th fan will win a slab of beer! (i.e. Like the page & win)
• Tag yourself in this photo and win tickets.
• Mention our page in your status to win a prize

Facebook is not a partner or sponsor

Make sure your promotion clearly releases Facbeook from all legal responsibility for the promotion.

Promotions on Facebook must include the following:
a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
c. Disclosure that the participant is providing information to [disclose recipient(s) of information] and not to Facebook.

Gambling, read on

Some have asked about gambling promotions that were removed from the promotion guidelines, these are still covered in the Facebook Platform Policy.  See the following from Facebook on gambling promotions & advertising.

Does this mean any advertiser can communicate about or administer a promotion using Facebook whose objective is to promote gambling, or any of the other product categories previously prohibited?
?      Not necessarily.  Our Ad Guidelines and Platform Policies include content prohibitions that will still apply to promotions.  For example, our Platform Policies strictly prohibit gambling, so promotions onFacebook (either on an app on a Page Tab or a Canvas Page) may not promote gambling.  However, our Ad Guidelines prohibit gambling ads without our prior authorization, so if an advertiser has permission to run a gambling ad, their ads could lead to an off-Facebook gambling promotion (provided it doesn’t implement Facebook for websites).

Not convinced, read on…

• Facebook Promotion Guidelines – updated May 11 2011
• Facebook Platform Policy
• Facebook promotion policy change – Wildfire
• Inside Facebook – Facebook roundup

After all that still a bit confused?  Read the Facebook Promotion Guidelines again, take note “please consult with an expert”, contact Sports Geek or send a tweet to @SportsGeekHQ.

15 for 15

The first 15 people who register below will get a 15 minute phone call to answer your questions.

Would love to hear your thoughts on Facebook Promotion Guidelines changes in the comments below.

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