Tip #449 - Risky Facebook Business
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
Today's Tip was inspired because I noticed not one, not two, or three... but four of our favorite retailers engaging in what could be very risky Facebook business in the last two days.
Who knows how many more of you are putting your Facebook pages in jeopardy?!
According to the Facebook 'Terms of Service', you may not use your Facebook page to administer a contest (where a winner is selected based on some test of skill or knowledge) or a sweepstakes (where a winner is selected at random).
If you do, Facebook reserves the right to completely and permanently disable your page.
But don't panic...
First of all, even if you have been running a contest like this it's unlikely that Facebook police will shut you down today. But it's probably not a risk you want to take in the future.
Second, there are lots of ways you CAN use Facebook to run contests and promotions through 3rd party applications. Or by just promoting your contest with Facebook, not collecting entries or delivering prizes via Facebook.
It's a complicated subject with some heavy consequences for those of you with active Facebook pages, so I'm going to refer you to a blog post written by our favorite Facebook diva, Mari Smith, for complete information.
www.socialmediaexaminer.com/facebook-promotions-what-you-need-to-know
If you have run contests on your Facebook page in the past, or if you'd like to run contests on your Facebook page in the future, I strongly recommend you read Mari's article!
