Facebook Promotional Guidelines

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Facebook has become a dream to marketer’s and business owners’ world wide because you have the potential to access to 500 million people.

What many marketers and business owner do not understand is that Facebook does have guidelines concerning promotions and sweepstakes. If you choose to ignore these guidelines Facebook has the authority to remove any material related to the promotion and they could disable your page.

Here are the most important guidelines in a nut shell

1. All promotions that run on Facebook must be fully located on either
a. The canvas of an application
b. In an application box or tab on the Facebook page
2. AND you must get prior approval from Facebook before the promotion starts.


All contest promotions must be run through third party applications, and must be approved by Facebook at least 7 days in advance of the start date!

The guidelines clearly state that users can not be required to purchase a product or complete a lengthy task in order to enter.

The promotion or competition can not in any way indicate that Facebook is a sponsor or administrator of the promotion.

I have included a list of reputable third party applications for you to use when you deicide to run a promotion.

So what does this mean for you?

You cannot condition the entry in the promotion upon user providing content, like upload the best picture, liking your page, liking your update, etc.

You cannot tell users that they are automatically entered into a completion if they become a “like of your page

You cannot notify winner through Facebook, like direct message, wall posts, or Chat.

I have included a complete list of reputable third party applications to take care of all your promotion and sweepstake needs.

Vitrue, Wildfire, Buddy Media, Fanappz, Involver, Context Optional, Votigo, and theUKbuzz.

To read Face books Promotion Guidelines you can visit the website at:
http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

Facebook Place vs. Foursquare

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I get asked all the time, “Melissa should I use Facebook Places or should I use Foursquare and what is the difference?”


In case you don’t already know, both Facebook Places and Foursquare are Geo-location services that allow users to “check in” at certain locations, like the supermarket, restaurants, etc. This service also allows business to create coupons or deals.

So which one is better? Well that depends on your objective.

Facebook places is now available on the iphone, Androids and the Blackberry. You simple click or touch the Facebook Places icon and “check-in”. Your location and message will be posted on your Facebook wall.

As a business owner, you can claim your business. Simply use the Facebook app to check-in at your business and there is a link at the bottom that says "Is this your business?" Click that to begin the verification process.

Once you have claimed your business, you can use Facebook Places to create “deals” for you customers.

However, there are draw backs.

First, if you are a Blackberry user, you cannot access any deals on Facebook Places. I image that this will not always be these case, but for now, it is.

Second, when you “check-in”, this information is only posted to your Facebook wall and there is no option to have it post anywhere else.

Foursquare is an app that is also available on the iphone, Andriods, and the Blackberry.

Just open the application and “check-in” to your location. The big difference between Foursquare and Facebook Places is that Foursquare gives you the option to post your where-abouts to Facebook, Twitter and to send it to your Foursquare friends.

Businesses can claim there location by simply logging on to the website, Fouraquare.com and going through the verification process.

Once you have claimed your business, you can use Foursquare to create deals and coupons for your customers. As long as you have a smart phone, you can see the deals.

Staying Social while Mobile

Mobile Tips

There is an app for almost anything these days and being able to stay social while mobile is critical and fun!!

One thing that bugs the heck out of people is the endless scrolling. You have to scroll through one app then you have to scroll through another app. By the end of the day your poor little index finger is cramped and tired.

Here are some tips to save your index finger and make your mobile social life a little less stressful.

Scrolling down the page to read all the updates is the easy part, but scrolling back up to the top to catch the most recent updates is a pain. Well you don’t have to scroll up.

Blackberry Users:

Just push the T on your keyboard . This will take you back to the top.

Now if you have a touch screen Blackberry you can do this one of two ways.

1. Pull out the keyboard and press T.
2. Press the menu button
• click show key board
• then hit T.

iPhone Users.

This is simple; hit the bar at the top of the screen with the battery life and viola…your back to the top.

Android:

I have ask every android user I know with a touch screen how they get to the top without scrolling, everything single one says they don’t. Sorry android users, I don’t know the answer. So if you have an answer, please share your knowledge.