subject: How to: Integrate Facebook into Your Business (Part 3) [print this page] How to: Integrate Facebook into Your Business (Part 3)
After looking at various real life integrations of Facebook inPart 2 last week, you may be all fired up to take it on now - which is great, butyou may want to take a look at what Facebook has to say about promotions - you definitely do not want torisk your page being shut down just like that,with all your fans in it!
Note: Facebook's definition of 'Promotion' includes "sweepstakes," "contests" and "competitions"
Let's head directly into theFacebook Promotions Guidelines (last updated: 22nd December 2009):
Youcannot: Condition entry in the promotion upon a user providing content on Facebook, such as making a post on a profile or Page, status comment or photo upload.
Youcan: Use a third party application to condition entry to the promotion upon a user providing content. For example, you may administer a photo contest whereby a user uploads a photo through a third-party application to enter the contest.
Youcannot: Administer a promotion that users automatically enter by becoming a fan of your Page.
Youcan: Only allow fans of your Page to access the tab that contains the third-party application for the promotion.
Youcannot: Notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.
Youcan: Collect an address or email through the third-party application for the promotion in order to contact the winner by email or standard mail.
Youcannot: Instruct people (in the rules or elsewhere) to sign up for a Facebook account before they enter the promotion.
Youcan: Instruct users to visit the third-party application to enter the promotion (as described in Section 3.4(i)). Since users must have a Facebook account in order to access an application on the Facebook Platform, if you give this instruction, they will be prompted to sign up for a Facebook account if they do not already have one.
Wow, that's quite a list, isn't it? To make things worse,that's not the end to it and I wouldstrongly suggest for you to look it up on the givenlink just to be sure yourself. And if you've read all of it, you'll realize that the rules practically prohibits any form of competitions / contests to be organized on Facebookat all!
All Hope is Lost?
Not a chance! Else we wouldn't even be on this topic. Besides,you've also seen brands and businesses doing iton Facebook, right? If it's that you've been wondering about, simple -there are 3 ways to go about it and the good news is, I'll be sharing them with you as promised:
1. Do it Illegally
Yes, most people actually do it illegally. Why? Because it is the way with less hassle involved. I amnotin anyway suggesting that you should do it illegally asFacebook has all the rights to shut your page down without any notice, and you'll lose all your fans and hard work just like that. This is definitely not the path you would want to consider :)
2. Do it Legally... with Facebook's Permission
All you need to do is to clear your promotion mechanics with anaccount representative from Facebook. However, this comes with acatch. You'll also need tohave spent about $10,000 in Facebook advertising to 'qualify' yourself as Facebook mentioned that this is necessary to minimize scams on the network to protect other users.
This also means thatif you're running on a tight marketing budget (or none),this is not what you would want to do either.
3. Do it Legally... Yourself
If you have looked into the guidelines in full, it is 100% legal for you to have your contest / competition / campaign heldOUT of Facebook, using Facebook todraw traffic to it. This also means that I can organize a giveaway on my company's website / personal blog andannounce it to my fans on my Facebook fan page to visit myexternal site. This is pretty straight forward but if you're thinking"isn't that too much of a hassle? wouldn't it be better if it's done directly on Facebook instead?",read on!
Construct a Landing Page!That'sanother way you can implement to have a little more Facebook "feel" to your campaign. All that's required is a nifty littleFacebook App called theStatic FBML Application. Simplyadd it to your Facebook page tab and with some minor designing, your landing page will be up and running!
However, remember that the FBML Application technique only allows you to create your very own customized landing page andDOES NOT facilitate contests and competitions. You can, however,link your landing page to your external site that runs the contest :) This also meansusing the landing page to attract visitors to your site that runs the contest. After all,a well designed landing page would be much more attractive as compared to your Facebook wall of texts!
"FBML works somewhat likeenabling you to add HTML codes unto your Facebook page. This means that you'll now be able to insert download links, images, videos, styled texts, newsletter signups, rss feeds -basically almost everything you need to create anamazing landing pagefor your Facebook page!"
If youabsolutely insist to hold your contest on Facebook itself, fret not -WildfireAppis here to the rescue! What it does is really simple -a step-by-step wizard to help you create your very own Quizzes, Sweepstakes, Contests, E-Coupons, Registration Forms, Trivia and more - you definitely can't go wrong with that! The wizard also ends with a "Publish" option thatpublishes your new App to your Facebook page instantly! There is a slight catch, though -it isn't free. However, the 'basic' package is only priced at$5 per campaign + $0.99 per day which is pretty affordable andsufficient for a mini campaign for individuals, bloggers and etc. The higher packages definitely has greater benefits including analytics, customizable templates, data export options and more!
"To date, WildfireApp isperhaps one of the most highly recommended App to be used on Facebook to run contests due to it'ssimplicity and it's 100% legal to run a contest through WildfireApp on Facebook."
Is that all?
Remember thatstarting up your contest is just the beginning asmarketing still has to take place. After all, you'll want to make your investment worth and to build your fan base.For starters, I would suggest for you to work on a landing page using FBML and start testing out various techniques todraw attention to your page. Only move on to paid contest apps such as WildfireApp only when you're comfortable with what you're doing, and getting a somewhat steady response with your existing fans. That way, you can be assured that your investment will bring you results.
Moving On!
I hope the social media series have been beneficial to you, your business and your brand thus far! Facebook is just the beginning andwe'll be looking at other tools in the near future.Stay tuned! :)
"Social media is beyond Facebook.. it's not just a network of people, but it also requires anetwork of tools for it to work for your business"
