Facebook contests are a great way to engage with your students. Here are a few tips to create successful Facebook contest campaigns.

1. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 1
4 Steps To A Successful
Facebook Contest

2. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 2
1. Learn about Facebook contest rules
2. Define your Facebook goals
3. Create a visual contest that fits your goals
4. Publicize your contest
Overview
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

3. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 3
Gone are the days when you could just ask your students to
upload pictures on your wall and vote for the best
picture. Facebook recently reviewed its contest rules and not
respecting them could result in the shutting down of your page.
You can no longer:
 Use Facebook features such as Likes, comments, uploads and
messages to determine a winner.
 Run a contest without making clear that it is in no way endorsed by
Facebook.
 Notify winners directly on Facebook. You can only contact them
directly through emails or through your college’s website.
1. Learn about Facebook contest rules
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

4. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 4
Facebook now encourages you to use 3rd-party
applications to create a special contest tab on your
Facebook page.
 This change has both a positive and a negative side.
 These applications allow you to create a Friend gate, which means they
make Liking your page a condition to being a participant. But Like Gating the
contest entry form cannot be sufficient to enter the contest. You will need to
add a call to action such as “Click the Like button to reveal the entry form
and run the chance to win a -----!”
 Also, 3rd-party applications make it easy to create calls to action and to
generate leads to your website.
 Running several contests using applications can be quite pricey.
 Also, Facebook does not support tabs in their mobile applications yet, so it is
hard to engage mobile students.
1. Learn about Facebook contest rules
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

5. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 5
What will be your Facebook goals?
 Get more “Likes”?
 Increase engagement on the platform?
 Attract your students’ friends?
What will be your goals for your website?
 Increase visits to a certain program?
 Subscriptions to your newsletter?
2. Define your Facebook goals
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

6. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 6
Also define how you will track and quantify success.
 What parameters you will use to track your contest’s success
through Google Analytics or Facebook Insights?
 For instance, if you use a 3rd-party application, and your goal is
to generate leads to your website, you will be able to track leads
on Google Analytics.
 But if your goal is to gain brand awareness, you may ask
students to share the content of your contest with friends and
see how your reach increases during the time of the contest.
2. Define your Facebook goals
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

7. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 7
Make sure your contest is based on visual content that will be
easily shared by your students.
In order to create this contest, you will need to:
 Pinpoint what you want participants to do on your page and your college’s website
 Choose one visual that conveys the emotions you want to associate with your
contest
 Decide how you want to pick a winner
 Define powerful calls to action
 Draft rules including participation, dates and contact info
 It is also important to think of a relevant prize for your students. iPads have been
very popular, but tuition reductions, gift certificates from the bookstore, or
entertainment (tickets to the movies, restaurant, etc.) are also sure to resonate with
them
3. Create a visual contest that fits your
goals
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

8. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 8
4. Publicize your contest
Have a precise idea of how you will create the buzz around
your contest.
 It could be relaying it on other platforms such as Twitter, or
LinkedIn, or directly on campus.
 You can consider running Facebook Ads to increase your
reach.
 Whatever you choose to do, make sure you pick tools that
will allow you to track your results. This will help you learn
from each of your contests and continuously improve them.
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

9. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 9
What have you tried that you found work for your
Facebook contests?
Source: Higher Education Marketing – 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook Contest

10. 4 Steps To A Successful Facebook
Contest
Slide 10
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