Thinking of running a social media giveaway? Want to increase engagement on your page? Want to get people to your social media without buying ads? A contest can be a great way to do things. In part one, we’ll discuss best practices and in part two (next week) we’ll dive into how the rules vary by the social media platform.
General Guidelines for running a contest:
Make sure to post the official rules Use the correct term (contest, sweepstakes, giveaway, lottery)
Sweepstakes= winner at random
Contest= Winner chosen based on skill
Lottery= regulated as a play of chance (almost always illegal)
Look into local laws if you are using any restrictions Make the prize proportionate to the work put into the entry
Common mistakes made in Giveaways:
No official rules Participants need to be able to find them easily and link to the official rules.
Not following could lead to legal action
Mistaking sweepstakes, contests or lottery
Sweepstakes= winner at random
Contest= Winner chosen based on skill
Lottery= regulated as a play of chance (almost always illegal)
Ignoring no purchase necessary You cannot make participation pay
No matter the effort of the participant they should have equal right to play
Weighting Entries differently
You cannot limit prizes by a specific action (Example: you get 3 entries for a tweet/share, 5 entries by inviting friends, etc.)
Not restricting entries
Each law has different restrictions
Make sure to keep compliant with where you are located
Restrict your entry submissions to where you know the laws and can stay compliant with them
Example of a large company contest: https://www.margaritaville.com/cardinals
Shortstack (affiliate link): http://mbsy.co/ShortStack/24104508
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