MSLGROUP: Brand Do's and Dont's: Contests on Facebook - Romain Vezirian

Newsflash for you: Facebook is changing. All the time. And we are not talking about your friends' updates here: we're talking new functionalities, new layout for your brand's page and even new rules. This last point may be the most important to keep in mind, even though it is also the issue that one no one talks about: Facebook's official "Terms of Use" can change anytime.

Facebook and Your Brand: Separation of Church and State.It is important to recall that Facebook does not want to be seen as endorsing any brand or commercial activity other than its own. The company will not assume liability should anything go wrong with a brand's contest—your activities are distinct in the strictest sense of the word.

A Company Banned on Facebook-In the past couple of months, a French brand's Facebook page got cut off (with no warning) because the company failed to comply with Facebook's new Terms of Use. The page had 130,000 fans, a number significant enough to show that Facebook does not discriminate: if you do not respect the rules, you will log in one day to find your page is missing, even if your fan base is in the 6 digits.

So here's a quick recap of what you can and cannot do on your Facebook page when you want to run a contest for your fans:

The Dont's:

• This is the most complicated point, but also the most important one: You cannot use any Facebook functionalities for your brand's contest. In short, "likes", "comments" and "tagging in a picture" should not enable one of your fans to win anything. If you see a brand asking its fans to "change their profile picture" to enter a contest, know that this company could be cut off any minute by almighty Facebook.

• It is forbidden to organize a contest on your Facebook wall (see below for what you can do).

• You always have to specify that your brand is the contest organizer and Facebook is not.

• It is always advisable to include a link to your brand's usage guidelines for Facebook fans (these are the guidelines typically including language prohibiting personal attacks and inflammatory language on the brand's page).

The Do's:

• You can organize a contest on your Facebook page, but it has to be contained within a dedicated tab.

• Let us give you a little trick here: You can limit a contest to your fans but use the right words to do so! For instance, you cannot say "Click on Like to enter our contest." This would mean you are using one of Facebook's native functionalities.

• Instead, you could write "Join our community" or "Click like to see more info on our contest." Recall that once someone likes you, your page opens up and the person can see all your tabs. We know this is subtle, but this kind of knowledge can make the difference between a successful Facebook page and a banned one.

The sad part is: This article could soon become dated because Facebook's Terms of Use continually change. Make sure your agency and your community manager monitor this issue closely.

Romain Vezirian has held a variety of new-media roles within the worldwide team of Paris-based Publicis Consultants, part of MSLGROUP, since joining in 2007. He can be reached at romain.vezirian@consultants.publicis.fr

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