Check every contest, coupon and app on your Page before November 5, remove any step that requires a like, and ask entrants for something useful instead, such as an email address with clear consent.

Like our Page to enter

Many Facebook contests open with the same instruction: like our Page to enter. The entry form, the coupon or the free download appears only after the visitor has clicked Like.

Facebook announced yesterday that from November 5 this will no longer be allowed. Businesses that built their fan count this way have three months to change how their contests work.

What Facebook announced

The change is in Facebook's platform policy, the rules for apps, which is where most like-gated contests run, usually as tabs on the business's Page.

The new wording says businesses must not reward people for liking a Page, and must not hide an app or its content until a person has liked the Page.

Facebook said it remains acceptable to reward people for entering a promotion on an app's Page, signing in to an app or checking in at a place. Existing apps have until November 5 to comply.

Its stated reason was that it wants people to like Pages because they want to hear from the business, not because of a prize.

Why like-gating spread

A like-gated contest turned every entrant into a fan, and the fan count was the number everyone watched. A good prize could bring in a crowd of new fans within days.

Many of those fans came for the prize. They had never been customers, often lived far away, and lost interest in the business once the draw was over.

Facebook decides how widely to show each post partly by how the first people who see it respond. Fans who never respond make every later post harder to spread to the fans who would.

What to check before November 5

Most businesses ran like-gated contests through a contest app or a custom tab, sometimes set up years ago and forgotten. Look for these:

Whoever built the tab, inside the business or out, can usually remove the gate quickly. The rules and the wording around them take a little more thought.

What is still allowed

Contests run on the Page itself, allowed since last August, can still collect entries from people who comment on a post, like the post, or send the Page a message.

Asking people to share the contest on their own Timeline, or to tag friends to enter, was already against the rules and still is.

Every promotion on Facebook must also include a release of Facebook by each entrant, and a statement that Facebook does not sponsor, endorse or run it.

What a fair contest asks for

A fair contest asks for something the business can use and the entrant knowingly gives. An email address is the obvious one, along with a postal code to show who is local.

If entrants are also invited onto the newsletter, ask with a separate box left unticked. Canada's anti-spam law, in force since July 1, does not count a pre-ticked box as express consent.

Choose a prize that mainly your own customers would want: a meal, a class, a service. A gadget attracts everyone with a Facebook account; a gift card for your shop attracts people who will use it.

A worked example

A children's museum in a mid-sized BC city runs a draw for a family membership each school holiday, through a contest tab on its Facebook Page.

The tab showed its entry form only to people who had liked the Page, and every draw brought a burst of new fans, many from other provinces, who never visited.

Staff noticed that posts about new exhibits drew little response, and the entries told them nothing about who the entrants were or where they lived.

The fall draw will use an entry form on the museum's own website, linked from a Page post. It asks for a parent's name, email address and postal code, and the family's favourite exhibit.

The newsletter has its own unticked box, the rules sit on a page of their own, and nothing asks anyone to like anything.

A family membership appeals mainly to families who can visit, the postal codes and favourite exhibits tell the museum who entered, and every newsletter address comes with real consent.

Contest law sits underneath

Facebook's rules sit on top of the law, not in place of it. Contests in Canada are expected to publish rules setting out the prizes, the dates and how winners are chosen.

Most also use a skill-testing question for winners, and set out who may enter, by age and by where they live. This is a general outline of contest rules, not legal advice for any particular draw.

The fans you already have

Fans gathered through like-gated contests stay on the Page after November 5. There is no simple way to separate them from customers, and no need to try.

What changes is how the count grows from here: through posts that local customers respond to, and contests that ask for something real. It will grow more slowly, and mean more.

The counter-case

For some businesses the gate did little harm. A neighbourhood cafe giving away a week of coffee mostly attracted neighbours, and its fans are largely real customers.

Some owners will also feel the fan count was worth having, whatever its quality. Under the new rule the question is settled anyway: the gate has to go by November 5.

And a contest that collects consented email addresses keeps its value even if Facebook changes its rules again, because the list belongs to the business.

Before November 5

  1. List every tab and app on the Page.
  2. Remove any like gate from contests and offers.
  3. Rewrite posts and rules that mention liking to enter.
  4. Move entry to a form or to comments on a post.
  5. Ask about the newsletter with its own unticked box.
  6. Choose prizes that suit your own customers.
  7. Publish proper rules for every contest.

Step four is where a contest becomes useful rather than merely popular. A form that asks a few honest questions tells you who entered, which a like never could.

Ads can gather the same kind of fan, and choosing an objective that finds people nearby instead is what paying Facebook for likes instead of visits explains.

Frequently asked questions

What did Facebook change?

From November 5, businesses may not reward people for liking a Page, or hide an app or its content until a person has liked the Page.

Can I still run a contest on Facebook?

Yes. Entries can still come through an app's form, comments or likes on a post, or messages to the Page, as long as nobody has to like the Page.

What happens to fans gained through like-gated contests?

They stay. There is no simple way to separate them from customers, and no need to try. Concentrate on posts and contests that local customers respond to.

What should a contest ask for instead of a like?

Something useful that entrants give knowingly, such as an email address and postal code, with newsletter consent asked separately through a box left unticked.

Do Facebook's rules replace contest law?

No. Contests in Canada are expected to publish rules on prizes, dates and how winners are chosen, and usually use a skill-testing question. Facebook's rules sit on top.

When do existing contest apps have to change?

By November 5. Check every tab, app, post, ad and set of rules on the Page before then, and remove any requirement to like the Page.

West Coast Media Solutions Inc. provides web design, web development, hosting, digital marketing, and business consulting to organisations across Canada, drawing on more than twenty-five years in the field.

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