2.2. Facebook allowed actions.
3.1. Instagram banned actions.
3.2. Instagram allowed actions.
3.3. Instagram API restrictions.
3.4. Instagram Sweepstakes between photos from different profiles.
5. Multi-platform Sweepstakes.
1. Introduction.
Cool Tabs' sweepstakes applications allow you to collect participants of sweepstakes you have run on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter and select the winner/s randomly.
Before running sweepstakes, it is indispensable to know the regulations regarding sweepstakes and promotions on social networks. Not all dynamics (like, comment, share…) are allowed and Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter APIs do not allow accessing all these data.
2. Facebook Sweepstakes.
2.1. Facebook banned actions.
The first thing you should bear in mind is that sweepstakes can only be carried out on a fan page, not on personal profiles or groups.
Facebook's promotion policy expressly prohibits the use of personal biographies and friends' connections as a means to administer promotions. So, you will not be able to force users to share a post in their bio or tag friends to participate.
In addition, on Facebook's developer page, the social network also prohibits incentivizing users to become followers.
Therefore, it is forbidden to run sweepstakes on Facebook asking for:
- Become a follower.
- Share a post.
- Tag other users.
- Mention other users.
It is also not possible to run sweepstakes on Facebook using a hashtag, in which the user has to post a photo/video on his/her wall and include the hashtag of the sweepstake or mention the brand to participate.
2.2. Facebook allowed actions.
- Like and react to a post.
- Comment on a post.
You can combine both actions in your sweepstakes, but keep in mind that it is only possible to collect entries from users who have commented or reacted on a fan page post. You are not allowed to run sweepstakes on personal profiles or groups.
Cool Tabs Facebook Sweepstakes app allows you to run
- Comment draws among those who comment on your post.
- Like draws among those who give 'Like' or other reactions.
- Facebook Ads Sweepstakes among users who have reacted to your publication.
Although on Facebook it is not possible to run a photo contest using a hashtag, on Instagram and Twitter, you can launch photo sweepstakes among users who, in the sweepstakes' publication, comment and share a photo. It is not a very widespread or visually attractive mechanic, but it is allowed.
To run a likes and/or comments draw, follow this tutorial: How to create a sweepstake on your Facebook wall and select winners.
If you are going to run comments and/or likes draws on a sponsored post (with an ad campaign), follow the steps here: How to create a sweepstake on a sponsored post on Facebook and select winners.
3. Instagram Sweepstakes.
3.1. Instagram banned actions.
Instagram's promotions policy is similar to Facebook's. Users cannot be encouraged to tag themselves in photos in which they do not appear.
3.2. Instagram API Restrictions.
Although Instagram does not establish further prohibitions, its API imposes some limitations on external tools when it comes to accessing and collecting data. This happens with likes and with the condition of following an account.
Instagram's API does not allow checking in an automated way that the participant has liked or become a follower. Therefore, if you ask for it in your Instagram sweepstakes, keep in mind that, once you select the winner, you will have to manually check that he/she has followed you and/or liked your post. You will only be able to check this if they have a public profile.
3.3. Instagram allowed actions.
- Comment on a post.
- Mention friends.
- Comment with a hashtag on a post.
- Like a post (you will have to check this manually).
- Become a follower (you will have to check this manually).
- Upload a post, adding a hashtag.
- Upload a post, add a hashtag, and mention an account.
- Upload a post, mentioning an account and several friends (you will have to manually check when selecting winners, that they mentioned friends).
- Upload a post on Instagram Stories, mentioning an account (you will have to check this manually).
You can combine these actions.
Cool Tabs Instagram Sweepstakes app allows you to run:
- Comment or mention sweepstakes
- Hashtag sweepstakes
- Instagram Ads sweepstakes
- Sweepstakes among multiple accounts
If you are going to run a sweepstake that involves comments and/or mentions, follow this tutorial: How to create sweepstakes on Instagram and select winners.
If you want to run the sweepstakes on comments and/or mentions that have been made on a sponsored post (with an ads campaign), follow this other tutorial: How to create sweepstakes on a promoted post on Instagram and select winners.
If in your sweepstake the participants have to upload a photo or video to their feed and add a hashtag, follow the steps here: How to create an Instagram hashtag monitoring.
Keep in mind that:
- You can only run sweepstakes on Instagram with Business profiles, not personal profiles. In addition, they must be linked to a Facebook fan page. If your Instagram account is not linked, here's how to add an Instagram account on Facebook Business for your sweepstakes.
- On Instagram, hashtag monitoring will only reflect content from the last 24 hours.
3.4. Instagram Sweepstakes between photos from different profiles.
It is also possible to run sweepstakes on Instagram between posts that belong to different profiles. The Instagram Sweepstakes application allows you to launch the sweepstake, whether you have permission as an administrator of all the profiles or not. The Cool Tabs collaborator system allows users of other accounts to add their posts to the sweepstakes.
4. Twitter Sweepstakes.
4.1. Twitter banned actions.
Twitter's promotions policy prohibits encouraging a user to create many accounts to participate in sweepstakes. It is also forbidden to encourage them to retweet many times, for example, to share a post several times on the same day.
At the moment, it is also not possible to run sweepstakes in which one or more friends must be mentioned in order to participate.
4.2. Twitter allowed actions.
- Retweet a post.
- Include a hashtag.
The Twitter Sweepstakes app allows you to run:
- Retweet sweepstakes
-
Hashtags sweepstakes
In addition, the Social Listening & Analytics tool allows you to run:
- Hashtags sweepstakes
- Replies sweepstakes
- Mention sweepstakes
If you want to select a winner among users who follow you and/or have retweeted a post, follow these instructions: How to create sweepstakes on Twitter and select winners.
If you want to run sweepstakes among users who posted a tweet including a specific hashtag, follow this other tutorial: How to create a Twitter profile monitoring.
Please note that, by default, Twitter only allows you to collect tweets from the last 7 days.
5. Multi-platform Sweepstakes.
It is possible to run several sweepstakes on different social networks and then unify all participants to choose one or more winners.
You will be able to collect sweepstakes entries with Facebook Sweepstakes, Instagram Sweepstakes, etc. Then, the Multi-platform Sweepstakes app allows you to collect participants and select the winner randomly.
You must keep in mind that, in multi-platform sweepstakes, users are counted as unique participants. If a user has participated more than once, in the multiplatform sweepstakes, it is not possible to give him/her more chances.
Here's how to run multiplatform sweepstakes.
6. Other specifications.
Why can't you run, for example, sweepstakes on Instagram with the URL of the publication? Or on TikTok? From Cool Tabs we perform the data reading, so you can make your sweepstakes, through the official APIs of the different social networks.
Other platforms use scraping. This technique allows them, through software, to extract data from social network websites in an unofficial and unethical way.
Keep in mind that, due to the growing demand for greater privacy and data protection by users, as well as regulatory compliance, social networks have been forced to make changes to their APIs, so that data collection has been limited.
In addition, on many occasions, the social networks themselves, in their usage policies, prohibit access to their content using this technique.
If you have in mind any dynamics for your social media sweepstakes and want to ask us any questions, contact us at help@cool-tabs.com.
7. Related content.
How to create a Sweepstake on the Facebook Wall and choose winners.
How to create a Sweepstake on Twitter and choose winners.
How to create a Sweepstake on Instagram and choose winners.
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.