To help our clients keep abreast of the ever changing rules around social media contests, we've compiled this handy guide covering Facebook, Twitter, Instagram & Pinterest

1. Merlin Entertainment January 2015
| Social media competition update September 2015

2. Social media competition update September 2015
Hello!!
In this short document we’ve laid out what we believe to be
the latest Do’s and Don’ts around social competition
mechanics.
In the ever-changing online landscape it’s important to note
that what follows is our current view of the situation – and
any of the guidance could change at any point.
So it’s always worth double-checking before any activity
begins. We’re only a phone call away and are always happy
to try & answer any specific queries.

3. intu Merry Hill WiFi presentation August 2015
The big one!
Facebook

4. Social media competition update September 2015
Facebook / What you can do!
✓Ask your followers to post on your page to enter
✓Ask your followers to comment on a post to enter
✓Ask your followers to Like a post to enter
✓Ask your followers to send you a message to enter
✓Use Likes as a voting mechanism

5. Social media competition update September 2015
Facebook / What you can’t do!
✗ Ask your community to tag themselves in a picture or
post that they don’t appear in
✗ Make Liking your page mandatory before the competition
can be entered (this used to be common and was called
‘fangating’)
✗ Ask your community to share a post on their or their
friends’ timeline in order to enter or get bonus entries

6. Social media competition update September 2015
Facebook / Good to know!
• Remember: you can promote your competition as
much as you want through your timeline. But if your
post looks like an ad and sounds like an ad,
Facebook will curb it’s reach unless you pay to
boost it.
• You’re responsible for the legalities of the promotion
– Facebook won’t publish anything to cover you
here. So always show terms & conditions, official
rules and eligibility requirements

7. intu Merry Hill WiFi presentation August 2015
The brief one!
Twitter

8. Social media competition update September 2015
Twitter / What you can do!
✓Ask your followers to reply to a tweet with some personal input – for
example “Reply to @username and tell us why you love Christmas”
✓Ask your followers to post a tweet that includes a particular hashtag
✓Award a prize to the first person to reply to a particular tweet (but
beware: this can be seen as unfair!)
✓Ask people to follow you to enter (with a winner selected from all your
followers)
✓Ask people to share content they’ve created (images, videos etc.)

9. Social media competition update September 2015
Twitter / What you can’t do!
✗ Set volume based tweet targets in return for entries
(for example “whoever retweets this the most wins”)
✗ Give prizes to follower [x] (e.g. “Our 1000th follower will
win a prize”). This will simply encourage people to unfollow
and re-follow you.

10. intu Merry Hill WiFi presentation August 2015
The visual one!
Instagram

11. Social media competition update September 2015
Instagram / What you can do!
✓Ask your followers to post their own image that includes a particular
hashtag
✓Ask your followers to send you a direct message
✓Ask your followers to tag a friend in the comments area of one of
your posts
✓Ask your followers to Like or comment on an image to win
✓Ask your followers to repost one of your images (using a hashtag)

12. Social media competition update September 2015
Instagram / What you can’t do!
✗ Unlike the other platforms, very little information is
available around Instagram don’ts. While this may
make it look like anything goes, the same common
sense rules apply as for any other channel.

13. intu Merry Hill WiFi presentation August 2015
The inspiring one!
Pinterest

14. Social media competition update September 2015
Pinterest / What you can do!
✓Ask your followers to post an image that includes a
particular hashtag
✓Ask your followers to Pin an image of their choice
✓Create judge-based contests where the winner is
chosen by a qualified expert

15. Social media competition update September 2015
Pinterest / What you can’t do!
✗ Ask people to add pins from your selection – they should be
able to pin anything they like to enter.
✗ Use pins, boards, likes or follows to represent an entry or vote.
✗ ‘Encourage spammy behaviour’ such as asking participants to
comment in order to enter.
✗ Require a minimum number of pins to enter a contest.
✗ Call any contest “Pin it to win it”.

16. Social media competition update September 2015
Sources!
• https://www.facebook.com/business/news/page-promotions-
terms"
• https://support.twitter.com/articles/68877"
• https://help.instagram.com/179379842258600"
• http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/pinterest-contest-
without-breaking-rules/

17. Merlin Entertainment January 2015
| Thank you