Take a look at your social feed right now. Look on any platform — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat — and start scrolling. How long does it take for you to find a post or story or tweet running a “giveaway?” The “giveaway” is everywhere on social. Mommy bloggers, Instagram dogs, major brands, and influencers are all running giveaways. And while the chance to win some swag might be appealing to some, the giveaway sponsors need to avoid clickbait tactics as social platforms have had so many bad actors and fake giveaways that a legal social sweepstakes could get mistaken for a scam.

In addition, social channels like Facebook, in the wake of the #fakenews scandal and clickbait posts, have begun to crack down on brands and influencers that encourage users to engage ingenuously on the platform. A giveaway post may not be approved, or will display less frequently, if it uses these tactics.

Here are 4 calls to action your social sweepstakes or  giveaway should avoid if possible:

1. Sharing: The words “share” or “sharing” have earned a negative connotation in the organic or paid post world of social. If you have a call to action that says something like “share this to enter” or “RT to enter,” then your ad might not be approved, or your post/tweet might be relegated to the end of the feed. And according to Facebook’s promotions guidelines, asking a user to share to their timeline for an entry is actually prohibited.
2. Tagging: Facebook and Instagram both prohibit tagging someone as a method of entry into a giveaway in their respective promotion guidelines. And while it seems that everyone is doing it anyway without consequences, the fact that it is now a common annoyance on Instagram is one more reason not to be asking people to do it. You don’t want your brand to be one that people remember (and unfollowed) when they were tagged in in a comment without being asked.
3. Reactions: The newest clickbait on Facebook is the post that asks you to click the various emojis to polarize how people feel about an image or post. Some giveaways have tried to use this tactic, but these types of posts are being relegated to the end of the feed by Facebook. Facebook did not intend for their emojis to be used this way, and they get to decide how thay are seen.
4. Follows: While there can be legitimate reasons to ask people to follow your brand, asking someone to follow you for an entry is against most social promotions guidelines.

 
And here are 3 things that you should do:

1. Official Rules: Any giveaway needs official rules to be legally compliant.
2. Encourage genuine engagement: Ask people a question and allow their answer, either as a comment to your brand post, as a tweet, or an Instagram post, to be an entry.
3. Hashtags: Use hashtags according to FTC guidance for proper disclosures. The FTC views a post that is a sweepstakes entry to be similar to an endorsement of a product or brand since the one posting could gain something (a prize) for making the post. Hence, a hashtag disclosing that the post/tweet is being made as an entry needs to be included.

 
Avoid the clickbait and stick to tactics that engage and comply with legal guidelines to make your social giveaway a success!

If you need help with writing official rules, or tracking your giveaway on social, contact us for pricing on our sweepstakes administration services or the use of our social tool (to track entries).

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