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The Rules To Organising Legal

Facebook Contests 

To be honest I had no idea you can organise

contests on Facebook by making use of Facebook

Apps. To me, apps were meant to bring you the

latest news, to let you feed your farm animals or

bounce your bubbles in a saga game.

I mean, this is what you are using apps on your

smartphone for, right?

Well, as I found out, these Facebook apps are more

than that. You can create really cool contests and

promote your business in amazing ways, through

coupons, gifts and even quizzes!

As I am writing this article I am also studying the official Facebook Apps page. I know that when I told

you about the illegal Like&Share contests I also promised to talk about these apps.

Now, as it is officially stated on the Facebook Page Terms page, “ Promotions on Facebook must be

administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or a Page App.” 

Now I warn you that this article is meant to be read by those who are not yet familiar with these

pages. If you already know what they are and how to use them, I am afraid you will find this article

rather … boring. Anyway, you may read it just to smile at my jokes (if you like them, of course).

What is a Canvas Page?

A Canvas Page is defined as being a page where your app is being loaded. It is a blank page Facebook

offers you where you can run your app. You do this by providing a Canvas URL (that includes the

JavaScript and CSS that make up your app). More info here. 

So for example, if I like to play a bubble-something game, then I access an app. In order for that app

to load withi Facebook, Facebook need to give the app a page within their website. That page is

known as being a Canvas Page.

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Tip for the geek: you can create a canvas page using whatever language you want (and this includes

PHP, Python, Java or C#). I know none of those languages, but you can always use plain English whentalking to me.

What is a Page app?

Hmmm… a bit difficult to explain. But I’ll be as clear as I can: 

The Washington Post has, on Facebook, Apps, Places, and Pages. Now we all know what a Place is;

and the Page… well that’s their official Fan & Followers Page. 

The App? That’s the thing you use to access their latest news (also known as a social reader). Just asif you were accessing their official website… from a smartphone app. Something like that.

So, in order to create a Canvas page and/or an app, you can visit this page and it will show you

everything you need to learn. One thing you should know though… there is a lot of code going on

there, so unless you are a programmer or something, I advise you to search for help because you are

not going to be able to do it on your own.

Contests on Facebook

This is where the fun begins.

Why would you choose to organise legal contests?

My opinion is.. because they are different from the boring Like&Share kind. Because there are not

many businesses which hold this type of contests, there are not many people who engage in these

promotions. So you come with something new and attractive that people are more than likely going

to love.

Secondly, because the mere fact that they are legal makes it worth the headache. Yes, they are more

complicated than the traditional kind of contest we see every day on Facebook, but they are alsolegal – so you are not risking your official business page for a couple hundreds of likes and shares.

Where do you start?

Well, you’ll have to check out this awesome page. 

I loved it the minute I accessed it. Those 4 words got to my heart in an instant: Deals, Prizes,

Coupons, Gifts.

Only from reading that headline and my brain started envisioning all sorts of contests, all sorts of 

activities, it started thinking about prizes, about LEVELS of contests (just like a game), about… well,my brain went crazy!

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So I clicked on Create your own promotions button. I knew the page was powered by WildFire (after

all, it says so on the page itself). So obviously it took me to the WildFire website. I went to Products – Promotions page and found their entire range of promotion types (starting with coupons and ending

with video contests).

They have 4 different packs for promotions and contests, from only $5 to $250 and also a

custom White Label pack. If $250 is too much for you, then … with only $5 (less than a meal at

McDonald’s) you can have your own Contest Page. Not very personalised, but it does have unlimited

number of participants and you get 48 hours e-mail support.

So what these guys do is get you rid of the programming work and they give you the ‘final’ product – 

that is, the contest page.

But this company is not the only one that offers these services. You can also choose between other

smart guys such as:

  Kontest 

  Halalati 

  DigiBonus 

  SocialShaker 

  AgoraPulse 

Things you need to specify in a contest

You know the objective of your contest (to draw more engagement, to grow your number of 

followers, etc) and you know the type of contest you want to organise (survey, interactive game,

questionnaire or quiz, blind test, photo sets, etc). The prizes are ready to go to the winners, but… 

Don’t forget to mention:

  the conditions for participation and the definition of the contest

  the contest’s time-frame (start, end)

  terms of participation  how you plan on designating the winners

That would be all for now… Bottom line is: if you want your contest to ROCK the social platform,

then you will have to pay for it (after all, Facebook is a business, all the other websites I mentioned

here are businesses – you will not be allowed to create something for free unless you create the

contest app yourself).

I hope you found this article helpful. If not, please place your questions or observations in the

Comments section below; I will be more than happy to search for answers to your inquiries.

Hugs,

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Mari.

Thanks for downloading and taking time to read this document! I am waiting for your

opinions on my website. 

I look forward to meeting you on social platforms! Let’s connect and grow our

businesses together. You can find me on: