Since I started blogging about competitions, I’ve noticed that many promotions that would previously appear on-pack, on entry forms, or in magazines have now migrated to Facebook. This has offended many more traditional compers, as it is excluding them from taking part - essentially, you CAN’T enter these competitions unless you sign up for a Facebook account! Now, not everybody wants a Facebook account. Some compers I’ve spoken to have told me that they’re keen to enter Facebook competitions, but they don’t want to get involved in the ‘chit chat’ that Facebook was originally intended for. Indeed, Facebook has changed a lot since the early days - we would log in to check out what our friends had been up to, perhaps post a ‘Hello’ message onto their walls or upload some photographs. These days Facebook is a huge advertising and promotional tool for savvy brands and promoters - many of us consider Facebook to be something ‘for young people’, but research suggests differently - according to digital marketing agency iCrossing, the users targeted by promotions are actually more likely to be aged between 35-45!
So, if you’re new to the wonderful world of Facebook, how on earth do you get started? First of all, decide whether you’re going to set up an account using your real name - this depends on if you intend to use Facebook just for comping, or if you want your friends to be able to find you! Lots of people set up two accounts, one for networking with friends and one for competitions, but personally I think this is too confusing! There are also people who set up accounts using nicknames with the words ‘Comper’, ‘Contest’ or ‘Comping’ in, and you’ll also see many users with ‘MSE’ (Money Saving Expert) as their middle name. Rather than this I would suggest using a nickname, but perhaps one that’s not too far removed from your real name - and add a photograph rather than just leaving the ‘Facebook silhouette’, as promoters may be happier dealing with a ‘real’ person they can actually see!
Once you’ve registered with Facebook, what next? You can successfully comp without adding any friends, but adding friends is a great way to find out what promotions are running. When you log on to Facebook, your ‘Home’ page shows you a News Feed, this is an update of what your friends have posted on their ‘Wall’, and which competitions they’ve been entering. As well as updates from your friends, you will see updates from ‘Fan pages’ - these are brands that you can ‘Like’. If you want to enter promotions then often you will have to ‘Like’ a Facebook fan page before you’re able to take part. A good way to get started is to visit (and 'Like') pages like Indesit, Chat Magazine (who run regular competitions) and PayPal and just have a browse through their Wall posts and the ‘Tabs’ down the left side of the page. If you're confused by seeing a Wall full of competition entries, click on the name of the page rather than 'Top Posts', at the top right of their wall.
To find friends on Facebook, simply search for their names in the Search box. Once you’ve added one friend, Facebook will suggest other people you might know - you can always start by adding me!
To comp successfully on Facebook, you really need to be logged in as much as possible and have Facebook constantly open in a browser window. Keep an eye on your News Feed (choose ‘Most Recent’ rather than ‘Top News’) for updates from promoters, and if you see a friend posting a competition link or comment then click on it to enter the competition yourself (it’s a bit like stalking but less sinister!). If you have keen comping friends, click on their name to visit their Wall and see what they’ve been entering! I’ve not yet found an easy way of searching Facebook for promotions, as if I try to search status updates for ‘competition’ there’s no way of narrowing that search to the UK - if I do discover a way of doing this I’ll let you know. I have a few more suggestions on finding comps which I will cover in Part 2.
There are several types of giveaways and competitions on Facebook:
• External ‘Apps’
Facebook has a strict policy on promotions (which is rarely adhered to!) and one of the requirements is that they are run independently of the promoter’s Facebook fan page, by using an ‘App’ (Application). In order to take part in these promotions, you will be asked to ‘Allow’ the App access to your information. Initially this will probably seem quite frightening, but essentially you’re only letting that promoter access the information that you’re sharing with everyone else on Facebook. I use hundreds of Facebook Apps, and have only received a couple of emails from promoters so I don’t think the information is used much at all.
• Giveaways for pages to increase their fan base
This is a common one. Companies set up Fan pages - but they need to get fans! In order to do this, they need their current fans to recruit new ones by messaging them or posting links onto their wall. The promoter will promise a prize to the person who refers the most friends, or perhaps a giveaway when their page reaches 300 fans.
• Most ‘Likes’ promotions
These are very common in the US and Far East, and unfortunately becoming more widespread in the UK - even though they violate Facebook's Promotions Policy. Promoters will offer prizes to the person who gets the most ‘Likes’ for their photo, video or comment within a certain time period. You can’t ‘Like’ the entry until you ‘Like’ the promoter’s fan page, so it’s a method of getting lots of new fans. Initially people will ask their friends for votes, but this will never be enough to win, so there are now Facebook groups set up where you can exchange votes with people in other contests. These competitions are hugely stressful and can result in a lot of trauma for contestants and adverse publicity for promoters, and from personal experience you should think twice before entering them!
• Judged competitions
My favourite kind of promotion, as these are the ones most closely related to the slogan/tiebreaker competitions that compers love the best. They are fair, as the winners are chosen by the promoter rather than by voting. A promoter may post up a comment or question on their wall and invite their fans to ‘reply’ or ‘post on the wall’ with their responses. Recent examples have been to suggest your top party tune, a joke, a caption for a photo, a seven word status update, a recipe, a tip, a scary photo and many more. Often you’ll need to think quickly as the competition might end the same day! What I usually do is bookmark the page and return to it close to when it’s finishing - then I can browse through all the entries and make sure mine will stand out!
So, that was Part 1 of my Compers guide to Facebook. Part 2 will cover finding competitions on Facebook, how to avoid annoying your non-comping friends, Facebook vs Twitter and more! If you have any specific areas you’d like me to cover, please leave a comment for me below.
This week I was lucky (or perhaps silly) enough to win £2000 of Indesit kitchen appliances in the Indesit Party Launderette competition, which was a Facebook external application - you had to upload a story, photo or video either about you doing your laundry, or partying. I combined laundry and parties in my video! Yes, of course it's a bit embarrassing - but you should have seen my mother-in-law's face when I told her she was getting a new cooker, washer, fridge-freezer and 'washing-up machine'!
Click here to continue to Part 2!
So, if you’re new to the wonderful world of Facebook, how on earth do you get started? First of all, decide whether you’re going to set up an account using your real name - this depends on if you intend to use Facebook just for comping, or if you want your friends to be able to find you! Lots of people set up two accounts, one for networking with friends and one for competitions, but personally I think this is too confusing! There are also people who set up accounts using nicknames with the words ‘Comper’, ‘Contest’ or ‘Comping’ in, and you’ll also see many users with ‘MSE’ (Money Saving Expert) as their middle name. Rather than this I would suggest using a nickname, but perhaps one that’s not too far removed from your real name - and add a photograph rather than just leaving the ‘Facebook silhouette’, as promoters may be happier dealing with a ‘real’ person they can actually see!
Once you’ve registered with Facebook, what next? You can successfully comp without adding any friends, but adding friends is a great way to find out what promotions are running. When you log on to Facebook, your ‘Home’ page shows you a News Feed, this is an update of what your friends have posted on their ‘Wall’, and which competitions they’ve been entering. As well as updates from your friends, you will see updates from ‘Fan pages’ - these are brands that you can ‘Like’. If you want to enter promotions then often you will have to ‘Like’ a Facebook fan page before you’re able to take part. A good way to get started is to visit (and 'Like') pages like Indesit, Chat Magazine (who run regular competitions) and PayPal and just have a browse through their Wall posts and the ‘Tabs’ down the left side of the page. If you're confused by seeing a Wall full of competition entries, click on the name of the page rather than 'Top Posts', at the top right of their wall.
To find friends on Facebook, simply search for their names in the Search box. Once you’ve added one friend, Facebook will suggest other people you might know - you can always start by adding me!
To comp successfully on Facebook, you really need to be logged in as much as possible and have Facebook constantly open in a browser window. Keep an eye on your News Feed (choose ‘Most Recent’ rather than ‘Top News’) for updates from promoters, and if you see a friend posting a competition link or comment then click on it to enter the competition yourself (it’s a bit like stalking but less sinister!). If you have keen comping friends, click on their name to visit their Wall and see what they’ve been entering! I’ve not yet found an easy way of searching Facebook for promotions, as if I try to search status updates for ‘competition’ there’s no way of narrowing that search to the UK - if I do discover a way of doing this I’ll let you know. I have a few more suggestions on finding comps which I will cover in Part 2.
There are several types of giveaways and competitions on Facebook:
• External ‘Apps’
Facebook has a strict policy on promotions (which is rarely adhered to!) and one of the requirements is that they are run independently of the promoter’s Facebook fan page, by using an ‘App’ (Application). In order to take part in these promotions, you will be asked to ‘Allow’ the App access to your information. Initially this will probably seem quite frightening, but essentially you’re only letting that promoter access the information that you’re sharing with everyone else on Facebook. I use hundreds of Facebook Apps, and have only received a couple of emails from promoters so I don’t think the information is used much at all.
• Giveaways for pages to increase their fan base
This is a common one. Companies set up Fan pages - but they need to get fans! In order to do this, they need their current fans to recruit new ones by messaging them or posting links onto their wall. The promoter will promise a prize to the person who refers the most friends, or perhaps a giveaway when their page reaches 300 fans.
• Most ‘Likes’ promotions
These are very common in the US and Far East, and unfortunately becoming more widespread in the UK - even though they violate Facebook's Promotions Policy. Promoters will offer prizes to the person who gets the most ‘Likes’ for their photo, video or comment within a certain time period. You can’t ‘Like’ the entry until you ‘Like’ the promoter’s fan page, so it’s a method of getting lots of new fans. Initially people will ask their friends for votes, but this will never be enough to win, so there are now Facebook groups set up where you can exchange votes with people in other contests. These competitions are hugely stressful and can result in a lot of trauma for contestants and adverse publicity for promoters, and from personal experience you should think twice before entering them!
• Judged competitions
My favourite kind of promotion, as these are the ones most closely related to the slogan/tiebreaker competitions that compers love the best. They are fair, as the winners are chosen by the promoter rather than by voting. A promoter may post up a comment or question on their wall and invite their fans to ‘reply’ or ‘post on the wall’ with their responses. Recent examples have been to suggest your top party tune, a joke, a caption for a photo, a seven word status update, a recipe, a tip, a scary photo and many more. Often you’ll need to think quickly as the competition might end the same day! What I usually do is bookmark the page and return to it close to when it’s finishing - then I can browse through all the entries and make sure mine will stand out!
So, that was Part 1 of my Compers guide to Facebook. Part 2 will cover finding competitions on Facebook, how to avoid annoying your non-comping friends, Facebook vs Twitter and more! If you have any specific areas you’d like me to cover, please leave a comment for me below.
This week I was lucky (or perhaps silly) enough to win £2000 of Indesit kitchen appliances in the Indesit Party Launderette competition, which was a Facebook external application - you had to upload a story, photo or video either about you doing your laundry, or partying. I combined laundry and parties in my video! Yes, of course it's a bit embarrassing - but you should have seen my mother-in-law's face when I told her she was getting a new cooker, washer, fridge-freezer and 'washing-up machine'!
Click here to continue to Part 2!
