Ways to Increase Facebook Fans Through Contests

Having a contest on Facebook is a great way to grow your page quickly, and if done correctly you can get an amazing bang for your buck out of this method. Almost any Social Media Agency is going to want to run some form of contests on a page. The first thing I will disclose and tell you, is there are rules about doing contests on Facebook, and they can delete your page for doing them without following the guidelines, that said, I have seen them done unapproved, I have done them unapproved, but just be aware that this is a risk.

There are several ways to run a Facebook contest, and I have done probably every way in the book, and I will share with you various methods on running one and the do’s and the don’ts. Also, I will go over methods of selecting a winner, IMO this is VERY important if you fly under the Facebook radar for contests. Disgruntled losing fans can wreak havoc on a Facebook marketing campaign, and loud ones will complain to anyone and everyone (including Facebook).

I have done this method a few times, but they get boring quickly, and are very predictable. Typically users grow quiet after the first few comments so you don’t get as much interaction as a contest should. Check out the example below of a First Comment contest.

Sure there are going to be comments, but once people see others that have commented, they will quit replying. People often think a variation of this would be the 50^th comment, however, I do not recommend you do that. Users can delete posts, and what was the 50^th comment could quickly fall to number 48, and that brings on a case of a fan being unhappy as they will insist they were right (and they would be at that time).

This is one of my favorite methods of giving away items. Having a trivia question related to your site ensures that the winners of your contests are interested in what you are offering, and that you aren’t just getting freeloading contestants on your site (trust me, they are all over Facebook). Here is an example of a trivia question.

The answer to this question would be 5,000 and the first person to comment that answer would be declared the winner. Again, like the contest above, you would want to go on the first person to answer so that there is no confusion on the winner, and so that everyone knows it is fair.

This is a contest that you would want to run if you are looking to get your numbers up, but not necessarily worried about page targeting. This is one where you would have users either write on your wall, or write a comment, and the person with the most likes would win. Here is an example of what you would say.

This is great for attracting large numbers of fans, and you can run this one for an extended period. The reason this attracts fans is because people REALLY want to win, so they will invite their friends, family and they will post non-stop about it on their Facebook so that people go and like their comment.

Do not get into a public discussion about the winners on your page. Simply notify the winner in private, ask them to post that they won, and acknowledge the winner. If someone wishes to dispute the contest, handle it privately, message them, and remove their comment to prevent others from getting involved. Contests can quickly become sticky, but you can gain a lot from them. In a worst case scenario when you have a close contest that may be too close to call, award prizes to both people. This isn’t possible in the more expensive prizes, but on cheap stuff, it is easier than disputing, and you sometimes have to pick your battles.

Kendall Dean is an internet marketing expert with 13 years of experience with online marketing techniques. He currently is a social media guru at Budget Social Media where his skills help provide small businesses on low budgets with professional social media services.

2011-03-30 | Add a Comment

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Tisa | 2011-04-05 07:40:49 | reply HI. I wanted to ask if its not illegal on Facebook to give the prize to the person with the most votes for their comment? Maybe I misread the new rules...

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