Giveaways with broad prizes collect likes from people who wanted the prize, not your business, so the page looks bigger without reaching more customers. Pick a prize only your customers would want, and follow Facebook's promotion rules.

The giveaway that worked on paper

A giveaway post goes up: like the page, share this post and tag two friends to win a tablet computer. Within days the follower count jumps.

The count looks like success. Then the draw is made, the winner collects the tablet, and the new followers do what they joined to do, which is nothing.

Posts about the week's specials reach much the same people as before, and the comments come from the same regulars.

Many of the new followers live hours away. Some enter every giveaway they can find.

Who a broad prize attracts

The first is the group that skews the figures most. People who enter giveaways for fun are good at it: they like, comment and share quickly, then move on to the next page.

Why the numbers mislead

A page like is one click with no cost attached. It tells you the person wanted something at that moment, and a giveaway tells you exactly what.

Facebook shows each page post to only part of the people who like the page, and how they respond helps decide how far it travels.

Followers who never respond add nothing to that. They also blur the page's figures, because reach and engagement are spread across a crowd that will never buy.

A bigger number of likes is easy to report. What matters is whether more local people see and respond to ordinary posts, and a broad giveaway does little for that.

What Facebook's rules say

Facebook allows promotions on pages, with rules. Personal timelines and friend connections must not be used to run them.

So entry cannot require people to share the post on their own timeline, and cannot require them to tag friends. Both are common in giveaway posts, and both are against the rules.

The business is also responsible for running the promotion lawfully, with official rules and eligibility, and for making clear that Facebook is not involved in it.

In Canada, contests usually come with written rules, the prize's approximate value and a skill-testing question the winner must answer. A lawyer can confirm what a particular contest needs.

A prize only customers want

The strongest filter is the prize itself. A tablet appeals to everybody; a month of your own product appeals mostly to people who would buy it.

Prizes that only work locally filter further: something collected in the shop, a service at the customer's home, a table on a busy night.

A smaller, local prize draws fewer entries. That is the point, since the entries that remain come from people who might come back.

A worked example

A Portuguese bakery on a busy street in an older neighbourhood is known for its custard tarts, its corn bread and the cakes it makes for christenings and birthdays.

Two winters ago it ran a giveaway for a tablet computer: like the page, share the post and tag two friends. The follower count leapt within a week.

Page Insights later showed that many of the new followers lived nowhere near the bakery. Posts about the day's fresh bread drew comments from the same regulars as before.

The prize had nothing to do with baking, and sharing and tagging spread it to friends of friends who had never seen the shop. The share-and-tag entry also broke Facebook's rules.

This spring the bakery tried again with a dozen custard tarts every Saturday for a month, collected at the counter. People entered by commenting with the pastry they would choose first.

There were far fewer entries, mostly from names the staff recognised. The rules sat on a page of the bakery's website, with the dates, the prize and the skill-testing question.

Entry that keeps it local

Ask entrants to comment with something only a customer would care about: a favourite item, the occasion they would use the prize for, the part of town they live in.

Commenting on the post or liking the post are permitted ways to enter. Require collection in person, which quietly removes entrants who could never come.

Allow one entry per person, so duplicate accounts gain nothing, and draw the winner the way the rules say.

Measuring what matters afterwards

Judge a giveaway by what happens in the shop: prizes collected, people mentioning the post at the counter, and sign-ups to your email list.

Those sign-ups need their own consent. Put a separate, unticked box on the entry or rules page for anyone who wants your emails, so the consent is clear.

A month later, check Page Insights for where new followers live and whether ordinary posts are reaching more people nearby.

The followers you already have

A page that ran a broad giveaway in the past does not need to start again. Followers who never respond do little harm beyond flattering the count.

Post for the customers who remain, build the next promotion around a local prize, and read the page's figures knowing the old giveaway is still in them.

The counter-case

A business that ships across the country may genuinely want a broad audience, and a broader prize can suit it, as long as it relates to what the business sells.

A brand-new page with almost no followers may also accept some noise to get started.

Even then, sharing and tagging cannot be entry requirements. For a local business the advice holds: choose a prize only your customers want, keep entry within the rules, and judge the result in the shop.

Before the next giveaway

  1. Choose a prize tied to what you sell.
  2. Require collection at the shop.
  3. Ask for a comment, not shares or tags.
  4. Publish written rules on your own website.
  5. Include the prize value and a skill-testing question.
  6. Offer email sign-up in a separate, unticked box.
  7. Check Page Insights a month afterwards.

Step one does most of the work. A prize only your customers would want keeps away the people who would never buy, before any rule or filter has to.

How the followers who stay respond to your posts is covered in Facebook reactions on a business page.

Frequently asked questions

Why do giveaway likes not become customers?

Because a broad prize attracts people who wanted the prize: contest hunters, people far away and friends of entrants. A like costs them nothing and says nothing about your business.

Can entry require sharing or tagging friends?

No. Facebook's rules say personal timelines and friend connections must not be used to run promotions, so entry cannot require sharing to a timeline or tagging friends.

What kind of prize attracts local customers?

Something tied to what you sell and collected in person: a month of your own product, a local service or a table on a busy night. Fewer entries, from likelier customers.

How should people enter instead?

By commenting on the post, or liking it, with one entry per person and the prize collected at the shop. A comment about a favourite item keeps entries relevant.

What rules does a Canadian giveaway need?

Usually written rules with eligibility and dates, the prize's approximate value, and a skill-testing question the winner must answer. A lawyer can confirm what a particular contest needs.

How do I judge whether a giveaway worked?

By what happens in the shop: prizes collected, people mentioning it, email sign-ups with clear consent. Then check where new followers live in Page Insights a month later.

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.

Planning a giveaway on your Facebook page?

Send us the prize and the post you have in mind. We will check both against the rules and your customers.

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