How to organise a social media giveaway?
One of the best ways to create engagement nowadays are social media giveaways. Next to that social media giveaways are also a trap for companies that aren’t following the rules.
Most of the social media giveaways are not in line with all the legal restrictions. This could cost multiple businesses a fine or ban from the Meta platform, but also a fine from the Belgian government. So what are the traps and how do you create your own contest?
What is not legal by Meta law?
Before we look at the Belgian law, we should see what is illegal on the Meta platforms (Facebook and Instagram).
- Meta doesn’t want to be affiliated with your giveaway, make sure it is clear in your post.
- You can organise a lottery but the entry to play it must be free.
- You can’t ask your audience to share a post on their timeline or their friend’s timeline.
- Don’t ask your audience to tag their friends or themselves in a picture where they don’t appear to win.
- Be clear about who is eligible to enter the giveaway based on age and location.
- Make sure your giveaway is organised on a Facebook business page and not on a personal page.
The Belgian Law.
In Belgium you can’t organise a lottery contest without the disposal of the specific licence. This means you can’t pick one of the contestants randomly. You also can’t force someone to like your page to participate to your giveaway. Everybody should be able to join and liking your page should not be a condition to participate.
By organising a lottery without a licence, you could face an imprisonment of 8 days to 3 months but also a fine going from 250 Euro to 15.000 Euro depending on the size of your business.
Next to that, make sure the rules are clear. The contestant should be able to answer to these following questions after reading the rules of your contest.
- When does the giveaway end?
- When will the winner be announced?
- What are the conditions to participate?
- How will the winner be chosen?
If this isn’t the case, the contestants could argue because it has not been explained well.
What are the possibilities?
Now we know which rules we must apply. However, we still don’t know how to create a giveaway on which all rules apply. What is the easiest way to organise a social media contest?
Try to create engagement by asking something to your followers. Try to create a question that has a link with the gift. Even people who doesn’t follow your page will be willing to participate if they like the subject.
Example: you are giving away tickets for the Belgian Red Devils, the question could be against which country did they play their last game? The three first correct answers will win a duo-ticket. Those winners will be announced on “date”.
With this type of giveaway, you can’t pick a winner randomly and the engagement will be higher, thanks to the input of non-followers on your giveaway.
Finally you can use the next example to have a bigger a reach and engagement. Ask your contestants to explain why they should win or what they will do with the gift. The three top comments with most likes are winning the contest.
Thanks to this type of giveaway the contestants will share the contest with their friends to get more likes. You will create more reach without breaking the Facebook law, but will also increase the engagement on your social media platforms.
About the author
Sabri is an optimistic marketer, currently working as a Marketing Consultant at 4P square. He has a Bachelor degree in Business management and Marketing. Sabri has a passion for digital marketing. He is analytical, result driven and is always looking for a new challenge.
Want to know more about Sabri? Feel free to start a conversation with him on LinkedIn.
