12 Very Frequently Asked Questions about Facebook Timeline Contests

Can I organize a Facebook Timeline Contest among those who share my post or Like my page?

As a result of the change in Facebook rules and regulations that became effective as of November 5, 2014, it can’t be a requirement that the users must share a post and/or be a follower of a Facebook page to be able to participate in a promotion. On the same note, the voluntary action of becoming a follower of a Facebook page and/or share a post to participate cannot be used to gain entry nor bonus entries to a sweepstakes.

How can I pick a winner in a Facebook Timeline Contest?

This will depend on how you created and published your contest post.

a. If you created the post with the Easypromos application, you should go to your Control Panel and find the post in the list in the section “Active Promotions”. Click the pencil symbol to “Edit”. You should follow the tutorial: Sweepstakes based on Likes or Comments on a Facebook post. Go straight to step 5.

b. If you created the post manually outside Easypromos and now you want to use the Easypromos winner tool to select the winner(s), you will start from the top with step 1 of the same tutorial. Once you’re in the sweepstake setup screen, in step 3, you have to select the post upon which you want to select the winners in the list of posts on your page that are shown in the tool. Upon selecting the post, a sweepstakes will be created automatically for this post. Now you’re ready for Step 6.

I can’t see the post in the list. Why is that?

With respect to 2b. above, your contest post will only become available in the sweepstakes setup screen after it has a minimum of one interaction. This interaction can be a like or a comment. Before this time, you will not see this post in the list as you don’t have any participants. Before you go to select the post to run the sweepstakes, make sure the post has at least one interaction.

Is it necessary to include Terms and Conditions in the sweepstakes?

It’s very important to have your own Terms and Conditions that regulate and inform the users about the conditions of the Facebook Timeline contest. These terms and conditions should be available to all the users who want to participate so that they can read them at any time. This guide on How to use the free tool for hosting the terms and conditions may come in handy.

I’ve deleted the post and I want to publish it again. Is it possible to recover it?

If you’ve deleted a post that was published directly on your fanpage, it’s not possible to recover it since Facebook doesn’t have a tool to recover deleted posts.This means that it’s not possible to recover the comments or the Likes of a post either, and you can’t run a sweepstakes on that post since it doesn’t exist anymore.

On the other hand, if you still have the post published on your Facebook page but you’ve deleted the sweepstakes in the Easypromos control panel, you should access the control panel again and create a new sweepstakes. Once you’re in the setup screen of the sweepstakes, in step 5 B, you select the post that you want to run the sweepstakes on and click on it to select it. A sweepstakes will be created automatically for this post. To import the published post you should follow this Tutorial: Sweepstakes based on Likes or Comments on a Facebook post from step 5 B.

Can I run one sweepstakes including both likes and comments to select my winner(s)?

Easypromos allows you to create a sweepstakes among people who like a post OR among people who comment on a post. You cannot include both interaction styles (ie. likes AND comments) in the same sweepstakes. You can however, run two sweepstakes on the same post offering a prize among those who have Liked the post, and another prize among those who have commented on the post. If this is what you want to do, you will need to be subscribed to the tool in any of our subscription plans.

Answers to the 12 most #FAQ about #FacebookTimelineContests Click To Tweet

I’ve published a post on my Facebook page but the image isn’t correct. Can I change it?

Once a post is published on a Facebook page, the social network doesn’t allow the modification of the image of a post. On posts that are already published, Facebook only allows to edit the text but not to edit or change other things such as the image.

In this case, there are two things you can do:

• If the post that you’ve published doesn’t have any participants yet, you can delete it and create a new post with the correct image.
• If the post already has participants, you can publish another post and run the final sweepstakes among the comments on both posts (the one you published first and the one you’re going to publish), so that both the users that have participated on the first and on the second post are all included in the sweepstakes. For this, we have a tool that allows you to select various posts for one sweepstakes.

In this tutorial, we explain this in detail: How to carry out a sweepstakes from multiple posts on your Facebook Page

Does is cost anything to run a Facebook Timeline Contest?

If it’s the first time you use Easypromos, the first promotion of this type is always free, with no limit to the number of entries. From the second sweepstakes in the same account or the same Facebook page, you will pay depending on the number of entries and the features you need. Click here to see more information about our pricing.

A users has participated with more than one comment. Does he/she have more chances of winning?

Even though a user participates with more than one comment, the user will only have one entry in the sweepstakes. If a user has made two comments it doesn’t mean that he/she has more possibilities to win.

I’ve run the Facebook Sweepstakes and selected my winner but neither the winner nor the alternate has claimed the prize. Can I repeat the prize draw?

Upon carrying out the prize draw and finalizing your winners and alternate winners, EASYPROMOS will issue a Certificate of Validity, which certifies the method used and the winners and alternate winners that have been obtained by means of this mechanism. This certificate will only be issued once per prize draw without the possibility to do any change and/or modification to the certificate.

This clause exists to guarantee the entrants that the administrator cannot carry out a second prize draw or change or add winners or alternate winners. This is also why it is recommended to select a number of alternates o avoid cases where your winner and immediate runners up don’t claim their prize, giving you a list of alternates to award the prize if needed.

Why should I add alternates to the prize draw? Is it necessary?

When you use the Easypromos Winners tool to draw one or more winners randomly, it’s important that you always select the number of alternates that you want to obtain. The alternates are the back-up winners, who have also been selected randomly and they can therefore replace the winner or the winners directly in case one of the winners rejects the prize, can’t be located, does not meet the cut-off date or has been disqualified.

State clearly in your terms and conditions your cut-off dates and means to claiming the prize, and if these are not met, how you will award the prize to an alternate.The certificate will ask the admin to document the circumstances of awarding the prize to an alternate.

Can the image in a post be a video or a GIF?

Yes, you can run a sweepstakes from a post with a video or an image in GIF format. If you want to do this, you have to do it directly in your Facebook page since the Easypromos tool to create posts only allows to use an image and at present it’s not possible to upload videos or GIFs.

Once the post is published on your page and you want to run the sweepstakes, you have to access your Easypromos control panel and follow this tutorial that will guide you step by step in process of your promotion (in this case you should continue from Step 5 B).

Create a Facebook Timeline Contest now. The first one is free!