We had a ton of people on the call today for Social Media Contests. The biggest interest were the rules around Facebook contests so here they are. There are a variety of rules of what you can and cannot do on the Facebook platform. We’ll cover these below.

In a nutshell, these are the basic rules.

1. You cannot use Facebook’s features/tools. This includes getting users to like posts, videos, or images. The Like button is not a voting tool and cannot be used as one.
2. Promotions must be administered through a third-party application on an app on a page tab or canvas page.
3. You cannot use Facebook messaging to notify winners. This includes chat, posts, and messages.
4. You cannot use the Facebook name or trademarks except as needed to hold them harmless in an acknowledgement that Facebook is in no way associated with the promotion, and all entrants release Facebook of any such claim, and all data is going to the Fan page owner not Facebook.

Are there more than this? Of course, there are and you can find more about them at: https://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php