Businesses will ‘Like’ Facebook’s Updated Promotion Guidelines

If you’re in the business of administering promotions on Facebook, your job just got a whole lot easier. On 27 August 2013 Facebook released various updates to its Page Guidelines that significantly impact upon the conduct of promotions on Facebook. Ultimately, Facebook wants to make it easier for businesses to create and administer promotions on Facebook. The key changes to Facebook’s Page Guidelines are summarised as follows:

• Promotions no longer need to be administered within apps on Facebook. Promotions may now be administered on Pages and within apps on Facebook. Just make sure that you adhere to Facebook’s Page Guidelines. Facebook considers the distinction between administering a promotion via an app or directly on a Page as follows:

 “Creating a promotion within an app on Facebook allows a Page to create a more personalized experience, more in line with your branding strategy. Apps provide more space and flexibility for content than Page posts alone. Promotions run through apps can collect data in a secure, structured way that may be appealing to advertisers, particularly large brands.

Creating a promotion with a Page is faster and easier. Additionally, as with all Page posts, Page posts about promotions are eligible to be displayed in the News Feeds of the people who like the Page and can be promoted to a broader audience.

Businesses always have the option of using both an app and their Page to administer a promotion.”

•  You may now condition registration or entry upon the users taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality as well as use Facebook features and functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, you may now collect entries by having users post on the Page or comment/like a Page post, or by having users message the Page. However, as before, personal Timelines must not however be used to administer promotions, for example “share on your Timeline to enter” or “share on your friend’s Timeline to get additional entries” are not permitted.

•  You can now utilize likes as a voting mechanism.

•  Tagging or encouraging users to tag themselves in content that they are not actually depicted in is now prohibited. For example, while you are able to request users submit names of a new product in exchange for a chance to win a prize, you are not permitted to request users tag themselves in pictures of a new product for a chance to win a prize.

•  Facebook still requires a complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant, as well as an acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook. Facebook however no longer requires a disclosure that the participants are providing information to the promoter and not to Facebook.

• Facebook is now also silent on its previous prohibition on notifying winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles (Timelines) or Pages.

We are experienced in assisting with Facebook promotions, so if you have any queries or require any legal assistance with an upcoming promotion on Facebook, feel free to get in touch with us.