Using contests to promote your brand on your Facebook Page is a great way to continue to engage your customers and keep them coming back.  As anybody who uses Facebook knows, the platform changes often, and sometimes with that, there’s a change of the Terms of Service on how you’re allowed to use the platform for both personal and business use.  Over the evolution of Facebook, there have been a number of changes, especially when it comes to companies promoting their brand through non-paid (i.e. paying Facebook for advertising) routes.

There's a lot of legalese and rules surrounding what you can and can't do in terms of running promotions on Facebook (Click here to read more about Facebook’s Promotional Guidelines).  The main thing to know here is that you cannot automatically enter people into contests who LIKE your page or post a comment on your wall.  The bottom line seems to be that Facebook wants to insure that they don't end up having any culpability in any "promotions gone wrong", so they prohibit promotions and contests that aren't specifically run by third-party apps (Third-party apps can be installed, and you can read more about them here).

For those of us that remember “the old days of Facebook”, it’s important to note that most of the old ways of running contests on the platform are now deemed "illegal" (in terms of violating Facebook’s Terms of Service), and while people freely continue to engage in “the old way” of running contests on Facebook pages without 3rd party apps, you need to know when this happens, it's done at your own risk, and that risk is getting your Facebook page shut down, and losing access to however many users you've acquired on the page.

I've read that Facebook isn't really paying too much attention to small businesses and pages with less than 5000 people, since they're typically deemed "small fries" and don't bring in that much revenue to the company, but I think it’s important that you be as informed as possible moving forward, if you’re interested in running contests on your Facebook Page.

In a later post, I’ll delve into some of the third-party Facebook applications out there that let you run a contest on your page, but in the meantime, I can tell you I’ve heard good things about ShortStack (a newer company, offering a free contest option).  And Wildfire Apps (one of the first companies to do Facebook Contest Apps really well; They have a great low-cost option).

Check out this cool article on Mashable on How to Successfully Run a Social Media Contest.

What’s been your experience with Facebook Contests?

The last option for Facebook Commerce relates to how you can deliver f-commerce options through your Facebook page either through iFrames vs. Facebook Apps.  iFrames allow you to customize your own content that’s displayed through your Facebook Page and it gives you the freedom of creating and hosting your own information that’s displayed within the 520-pixel middle column of your Facebook Page.  The advantage of using iFrames is that it’s fairly easy to use, and you can set it up so that it looks and feels very similar to your website, thus further enhancing the relationship you have with your customers.  The drawback to using iFrames would be the restriction of “real estate” where you’re relegated to the 520-pixel middle column for your selling space.

 

Using Facebook Apps is another option for displaying content for sale, however the cost of creating and maintaining a Facebook Application can be cost-prohibitive for small businesses on a tight budget.  Facebook Apps do come with the distinct advantage of providing a 46% increase in visible selling space, as they allow for the control the left most 760 pixels on the page.  A good cost-benefit analysis will determine whether or not investing in a Facebook App is the way to go for your brand.

 

What are your thoughts about the future of Facebook for business?

The next method of f-commerce is Complete Selling through Facebook, where Facebook operates as your company’s store and takes customers through the entire shopping process within the Facebook platform. 

Big companies like 1-800-Flowers and Delta (right) have customized shops powered by expensive social commerce provides like 8^th Bridge, but smaller companies will want to take advantage of free and low-cost options like Payvment that offers social sharing, analytics, product management, and order processing within your very own Facebook Store right on your Facebook Page.

 

Ever tried selling through Facebook? How did it work out?

The second type of f-commerce that takes place with Facebook is Facebook-Initiated Selling, which pretty much uses one of the tabs of a business’s Facebook page as a “Store” that links to a website that completes the sales transaction.  The popular opinion of folks who specialize in Facebook Marketing says that you should always keep the user within the Facebook site, as users generally hate to leave it. 

Through Facebook-initiated selling, the idea is that customers start on Facebook (a place where they’re comfortable), and then build trust with the brand (like in the case of Best Buy) through browsing and sharing it with their network, then they’re primed to close the deal on your site.  In this type of Facebook Commerce, you’re essentially using Facebook as a storefront.

 

Had any experience with Facebook-initiated selling? Tell us about it.

You can’t just jump onto Facebook, set up a Facebook page, and expect the money to start rolling in.  A large part of the success (or failure) that a small business will face will come down to the investment of time and resources expended into developing relationships and engaging your customers on this particular platform.  The following information will assume that you’ve done the necessary legwork to make Facebook work for you, and as such will show you how you can augment the great relationships you’ve built when it’s time to monetize these connections at your organization.

The first type of Facebook commerce is the Facebook-Facilitated On-Site Selling Method.  With this method, a company brings an element of Facebook (usually the Like Box or Button) to their company website through social plugins.  You may have noticed this if you’ve ever been logged into your Facebook account and visited a website like Chick-Fil-A.com.  If you scroll down to the bottom of the website, you’ll see an integrated LIKE button, the number of people on Facebook who liked the brand, as well as a number of the Facebook friends I’m connected to that also clicked the LIKE button.  The idea here, is if you’re on a company’s site, and can see what your friends think about them, you’ll be more inclined to shop there.

What are your thoughts about the future of Facebook for business?