Facebook Contests on the Timeline? – Pros and Cons

Facebook recently announced the change of their promotion guidelines. From now on you can do what could not in the past two years: run Facebook contests on your wall.

Is this a good thing?

It depends on what you want!

With timeline contests you can ask people to enter your promotion with a like, comment, or sending your page a message. A like can be a voting mechanism. You see, the barrier to entry is very low as fans can enter with a single click. If you want to engage with your current fans it's a great way to do that.

App contests allow you to collect email addresses and new page likes. (Wall contests can't do that.) Setting up an app contest obviously takes more time and money, but it is a fit if you have an email or social media strategy.

Let's see in details the pros and cons of third party apps and Timeline contests with this infographic.

(Full disclosure: The creator of this infographic is a third party contest app provider company I am a co-founder of. We tried to be very objective with the provided information, this is how it could spread so well, hence Kim invited me to present it to you.)

Here is an example of a Timeline contest, if you haven't seen one yet.

And this is an app contest.

Timeline contests vs. app contests?

Should you want to engage with your audience on Facebook, then run a Timeline contest. If you want to have more likes and email addresses to reach fans out of Facebook, then use apps.

Also these two types can work very well together. Think about that: pump up the TAT (talking about this) number of a page with a wall contest so fans might see more of your posts, then run an app contest to gather new likes and email addresses.

What do you think?

Will you try Timeline contests, or stay with apps? Let us know in the comments below.

About Author

Kim Garst

Kim Garst is a renowned marketing strategist and speaker who is trailblazing the use of artificial intelligence in digital marketing. With over 30 years of experience as an online entrepreneur, Kim helps entrepreneurs grow their business and authority online by using AI technology. She is leading the way with proven AI frameworks that help entrepreneurs build authority in their space.

She is keynote speaker and an international best-selling author of Will The Real You Please Stand Up, Show Up, Be Authentic and Prosper in Social Media.

Named by Forbes as a Top 10 Social Media Power Influencer, Kim is well-known for her skill to simplify complex technology and make the use of AI understandable for business growth. Her relatable, actionable advice helps guide new entrepreneurs to harness the power of AI to succeed in digital marketing. Kim is leading the way in combining human and technological skills to create a new model for AI-powered marketing.

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