2.1. Publish the post on Facebook
2.2. Create your sweepstakes on Cool Tabs
2.3. Select winners and filter by conditions
2.4. Winners page and certificate of validity
2.6. How to contact the winners
1. Introduction
The Facebook Sweepstakes app lets you run a sweepstakes on one or more wall posts of your fan page. You can select the winner(s) among users who reacted (like or any other reaction) and/or among those who commented on the post.
Before creating your sweepstakes, keep in mind that:
Facebook only allows giveaways on fan pages (business or brand pages). You can't run them on personal profiles or in Facebook groups, whether public or private.
Facebook no longer allows you to require participants to become fans of a page. You won't be able to filter by this condition — you'll need to check it manually once you've selected the winner.
The Meta API doesn't provide Reels data, so it's currently not possible to run automated sweepstakes on Facebook Reels.
We recommend creating the sweepstakes in Cool Tabs right after publishing it on Facebook.
2. Step by step
2.1. Publish the post on Facebook
Before using the Facebook Sweepstakes app, publish the sweepstakes post on your Facebook wall.
Here's an example:
Once published, log in to Cool Tabs.
2.2. Create your sweepstakes in Cool Tabs
1) Log in to your Cool Tabs account. If you're not registered yet, check the tutorial How to create an account on Cool Tabs.
2) Create a new campaign by clicking the New campaign button or the Create campaign option in the left-hand menu.
3) Select the Facebook Sweepstakes app.
4) Choose the type of sweepstakes:
Organic: select this if you haven't promoted the sweepstakes post, or if you promoted it after publishing it.
Promoted: select this if you ran ads and managed them directly from Facebook Business Manager. See how to create a sweepstakes among users who react to a promoted post.
5) Connect your Facebook account. This is needed to collect data from your sweepstakes post. Once connected, every page you manage will be registered in Cool Tabs.
6) Select the Facebook page where you published the sweepstakes.
If your page isn't listed, click "I can't find my page". We'll redirect you to Facebook so you can check whether you've given us access to that fan page. You can also check the tutorial How to link a Facebook profile. If the problem persists, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.
7) After selecting the fan page, complete the sweepstakes details:
Campaign name: an internal identifier (not public) — this is what you'll see in your campaign list.
Time zone of the sweepstakes.
Start and end date: the period during which the app will collect data.
How users participate: liking the post, commenting, or both.
Publication(s) you want to run the sweepstakes on.
8) Click "Save".
Your sweepstakes will be saved in Cool Tabs, participants will start being collected, and you'll be able to select winners once the participation period ends. If the post already had likes or comments before you created the sweepstakes, that data will be collected too.
Keep reading to learn how to select winners.
You can review the list of participants in the "Leads" section (user icon).
2.2.1. Adding more posts to your sweepstakes
You can edit your sweepstakes to include new related posts — useful when you publish reminder posts about the sweepstakes. Once added, we'll count all the likes and/or comments on those posts too.
To do this, find your sweepstakes in your campaign list, click the edit icon, then click "Add more posts" and save your changes.
2.3. Select winners
To select winners, you need an active plan (paid or trial). The trial period lets you try any plan free for 7 days, with no usage limit.
Read more about the Free Trial · Start your Free Trial
To start selecting winners, go to the "Winners" section (trophy icon) from your campaign list.
2.3.1. How to filter by conditions
You can select winners among participants who meet your sweepstakes' conditions. A set of filters lets you remove from the draw any users who don't meet those requirements.
Keep in mind that only actions allowed under Facebook's usage and promotion policies can be filtered automatically. Conditions that can't be automated (following an account, liking a page) must be checked manually once you have the winner's name.
Not every filter will apply to your sweepstakes — leave unused ones empty. Available filters depend on whether your sweepstakes is based on comments, likes, or both.
Available filters:
One chance per user: unique users are counted. Even if a user commented 100 times, only one entry counts.
One chance per comment: each comment gives the participant an extra chance to win.
Action to participate: liked / commented / liked and/or commented.
The participant had to use a specific reaction.
Post: if your sweepstakes includes more than one post, you can select the winner among participants from all of them.
Start and end date of the participation period.
The comment must contain a specific word, phrase, or hashtag. You can enter several words separated by commas; comments containing any of them will be filtered in. Useful, for example, when participants are asked to comment with a specific word depending on the prize they want or their preference among the options offered.
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Extra entries for extra actions (available from the Gold Plan onwards):
Comment-based sweepstakes: give an extra entry to users who included a specific text.
Like-and-comment sweepstakes: give an extra entry to users who liked, commented, or included any of the words (separated by spaces) you set.
Exclude winners from previous campaigns, so users who already won can't win again.
Exclude blacklisted users by email or username. Learn more in this tutorial on the Blacklist feature.
Once you've set the filters that apply to your sweepstakes, click "Step 1: Filter". Only participants who meet all the selected requirements will remain.
Then, enter the number of winners (and alternates, if needed), and click "Step 2: Run the sweepstakes".
2.4. Winners page and certificate of validity
Once the draw is complete, you'll get a link to the public winners page, which you can share to announce the result.
This page includes a certificate of validity, confirming that the process was random and transparent.
Remember to set it to public mode so participants can view it:
2.5. Winners video
After selecting the winners, you can also generate a video showing the sweepstakes title, prizes, and winners/alternates.
This video can be published via URL or downloaded in different formats, ready for your wall or Stories.
See the tutorial Winners video: how to show the result of your sweepstakes.
2.6. How to contact the winners
Next to the winner's name, you'll find the Facebook icon. Meta doesn't allow direct access to the user's profile, but clicking it will take you to the comment the winner made on the giveaway post.
Check the tutorial How to contact the winners of your sweepstakes to learn how.
3. Other specifications
This app is included in all our plans, starting from our most affordable option (the Stone Plan). You can also use it during the 7-day free trial of any plan.
If you have any questions during the process, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.
4. Related content
Create your Facebook sweepstakes now
How to create a sweepstakes on Instagram and choose winners
How to create a sweepstakes on Twitter and choose winners
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