Managing Promotions on Facebook (or, How We Spoke to a Live Person at Facebook)

CNN online ran an interesting article this week, “At Facebook, customer help from a real person can be hard to find.”

From our own experience in trying to contact a “live” person at Facebook earlier this year, I have to agree. But for us, we did find that there IS at least ONE way to snag a live person (even if it takes some time)…If you plan to spend at least $10,000 in advertising on Facebook, then you are assigned a sales rep who can answer questions, assist with your advertising efforts, etc. And while it’s not quite the same as for those seeking “general” customer service assistance, it does get you to a real person.

In our case, ND&P staffer Betsy Parkins was trying to secure Facebook-required approval to set up a promotion on our Facebook page. If you’re curious – she blogged about her efforts in a series (read Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four). The post below wraps up that series with what we learned when we finally got a live person.

ND&P Speaks to a Real Person at Facebook to Discuss Promotion Policies
How to run a “legal and approved” promotion on Facebook
(By Betsy Parkins)

$10,000 a month, minimum, and Facebook pre-approval. That’s right, that’s what it will cost you to conduct a Facebook promotion entirely on Facebook. But please, don’t quote Facebook on that, “per their request.”

Let me set the stage for this blockbuster. For several weeks this past summer 2010 ND&P pursued Facebook to secure approval of a contest for our Fan Page. We wanted to give away a board game.

We knew it was important to follow Facebook’s rules – namely – that any promotion run strictly on Facebook must be pre-approved by Facebook. So we made many online requests for a Facebook sales rep. Read about our odyssey. 

Finally, we successfully arranged a call with a Facebook sales rep, “Bob” [name changed per Facebook sales rep’s request, no kidding], who agreed to discuss our promotion and answer any other questions we had.

We learned pretty quickly that Facebook’s promotions guidelines are a little unclear. In a nutshell, though, Facebook won’t allow any contests (prize giveaways) on Facebook – unless you get prior approval, you use a third-party application or you simply promote the contest on Facebook but run it elsewhere. We break it down for you further:

What you CAN’T do.

You can’t conduct a contest within Facebook without prior approval and an investment of $10,000. Bob let us know that if you are thinking about a promotion for your Facebook page you must first contact a Facebook sales rep, then submit a written document outlining the promotion (prize, what participants must do to win, etc). You then wait for approval which he indicated, usually takes a few days to a week.

You must also purchase either “home page” engagement ads or “rest of site” ads (ads appearing on pages other than the home or “news feed” page.) The minimum investment is $10,000.

Bob also outlined a number of other regulations. For instance, under no circumstance, can you ever ask your Fans to:

• “Status updates” – Comment on your wall to enter to win a prize
• “Upload” – Post a photo or video to enter to win a prize

You can’t notify or contact the winner of your contest using your Facebook page. For instance, you cannot post the winner’s name on your Wall as prize notification or ask the winner for his/her email with a Wall post or via “messages.”

The prize cannot not include any of the following:

“The prize or any part of the prize includes alcohol, tobacco, dairy, firearms, or prescription drugs;”

(We asked about the “dairy” part since we saw Dairy Queen was giving away Blizzards – Bob responded: “We were advised by outside council [sic] to prohibit dairy products as prizes in contests, but an exception was made for ice cream.” Too bad for the “Got Milk” folks.)

Facebook promotions guidelines are found here.

What CAN you do then? The good news is there are several options.

You can promote a contest on Facebook so long as you:

• Send participants elsewhere, such as your website
• Administer the contest outside of Facebook
• Notify the winner outside of Facebook

You can use a third-party application to run the contest on your Facebook page. The apps are fee-based, and one, Wildfire, is low-budget. Options include (disclaimer – we are using Wildfire but have not used the others and we are not endorsing any of them):

No matter what you decide to do, stay in compliance with Facebook’s promotions guidelines. If you don’t, Facebook has assured us they may take down your Page.

We hope those of you with questions about setting up and conducting promotions on Facebook find our adventures helpful. And if you have tips or tales of your own to share (whether on Facebook promotions or simply reaching a "live" person at Facebook), we'd love to hear them.

SPECIAL UPDATE, December 9, 2010: Since this post, Facebook has made major changes to their promotions guidelines, which you'll see reflected in the content links for the current rules. We review the new December 2010 changes HERE.

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)

Social Networking and the Future of Marketing: Find Your Niche

After reading countless blogs and articles regarding social networking’s impact on marketing and advertising, and as a young consumer who is all too familiar with the concept, it is impossible to ignore social networking as the future of marketing. It is an advertiser’s dream-come-true in the fact that there are endless opportunities to reach wide audiences at a cost of almost nothing, but the range and variation of sites that make up the world of social networking can be confusing and many are uncharted. 

By now we consider anyone who hasn’t heard of Twitter, Facebook, or YouTube seriously detached, but these are not the only sites connecting people and coordinating ideas. There are services catering to specific genders, ethnicities, aptitudes, and interests that seem to be untapped by the business and marketing world.

A few examples:

Fotolog, a photo-blogging site, and Flickr, a photo sharing and networking site, both boast over 20,000,000 members who can upload and share their experiences and travels through photos and commentary.

Foursquare, a location-based mobile social network where members share places they have explored through their mobile phone, connects people and places, and works in conjunction with Flickr and Meetup.

You may have heard of StumbleUpon which is a great way to kill time by “stumbling” through websites that match your selected interests and rating the sites for other users with your shared interests.

Google Buzz, which gives you capabilities similar to YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, and Twitter all in one, is yet another way to share your interests, news, photos, videos, and opinions with groups private or public.

Yelp, Inc. gives its 31 million monthly visitors the ability to search, rate and review neighborhoods, locations and businesses, and works hand in hand with Facebook to personalize your experience. You can even upload the Yelp application to your smart phone and yelp about the fabulous (or not so fabulous) meal you are eating at that very moment.

Last.fm uses a music recommender system to recommend new music based on the tracks you upload and share with the rest of the last.fm community. It also lets you connect your last.fm profile to Twitter so you can constantly tweet your opinions on new tracks.

Along with these are social networking sites dedicated to blogging, non-profits, genealogy, environmentalism, and even the vampire craze. While some are strictly for fun and entertainment, others can reap huge benefits (or damages, if misused) to a company’s reputation and brand.

Yes, Facebook may have over 500,000,000 users and is in a social networking arena of its own, but other sites possess similar capabilities for connecting, sharing and marketing, and advertisers should not overlook their potential. It’s time to get comfortable with social networking and take advantage of the possibilities of this cheap, accessible marketing goldmine.

Determining how these sites may (or may not) be incorporated in brand promotion and development depends on the nature of the individual organization. But at a minimum, it is important for companies to be aware of what their audiences are saying and doing, and find ways to stay involved.

(Sarah E. Barrish, ND&P Intern)

Texting, Blogging, Tweeting: Sherlock Holmes Steps into the 21st Century

I sat down last night to restring a necklace and turned on PBS’ Masterpiece Mystery! to find a newly imagined Sherlock Holmes in “A Study in Pink.” I thought it would be something I could easily tune out, but before I knew it my worktable was full of unattended scattered purple beads and my attention was focused on a fascinatingly current Holmes and Watson.

Holmes the Textaholic
A detective inspector Lestrade was holding a press conference, but was interrupted as everyone in the room (reporters, law enforcement, everyone) kept getting simultaneous texts that tantalizingly contradicted the official information he was sharing. (“Wrong”). Texts from a mysterious “SH.”

And so we met the new Sherlock Holmes, an avid texter and quite on top of the latest technologies:

After the press conference, frustrated coworker Donovan says to Lestrade, “You’ve got to stop him doing that. It’s making us look like idiots.” He replies, “If you can tell me how he does it, I’ll stop him.”

This Holmes is unlike any I've ever seen, or imagined. His home address may be the same familiar 221B Baker Street, but he’s using a new set of tools, some unconventional. This Holmes uses nicotine patches to help him think (it’s “impossible to sustain a smoking habit in London these days.”)

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch as Holmes, and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson, this version of our familiar sleuth story carefully weaves in the threads of current technology, and yes, even social media (Watson has his own blog). Among the many seemingly insignificant clues that Holmes uses to read people, is the ubiquitous cell phone (you’ll have to watch for yourself to see what he deduces about Watson, simply from his phone).

At one point in the story, he constantly pages/calls Watson to come home so he can use Watson’s cell phone to send a text to the murderer. (He prefers, texts, did I mention that?). Why? Because his own cell number would be recognized, as it’s posted on his website. What’s that? Yep – This Holmes has his own website:

He calls it “The Science of Deduction,” and Watson runs across it while conducting an internet search on his prospective flat-mate. ("I looked you up on the internet last night.") Now if PBS REALLY wanted to have some fun, they’d have secured an available URL and put up a site…

Holmes on Twitter
Given our newly “social” heroes, PBS fittingly celebrated this first airing with a live Twitter event during last night’s episode. The official hashtag was #sherlock_pbs. Tweets are still flying a day later.

If you missed the new tech and social-savvy team of Holmes and Watson, you can catch the episode until December 7 here.

As for me, I’ll be tuning in on October 31 and November 7 for the next episodes...(wondering if Holmes is on Facebook, too!)

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)

The Eye Has It: Science Museum of Virginia uses Facebook to Celebrate

A “brand” isn’t really much without an audience. In fact, it’s your audience that helps define what your brand really is. Establishing and maintaining that connection with your consumers is critical.

And sometimes it just takes the blink of an eye (or the theft of one) to remind you just how loyal your supporters really can be.

As initially reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch, early on Saturday, October 2, 2010, thieves literally stole an "eye" from the Science Museum of Virginia. And museum supporters were not happy about it.

For those unfamiliar with the museum, the iconic downtown Richmond venue houses something called a “Grand Kugel” prominently outside the main entrance to the museum. Part of a sculpture, the Kugel is a large (ok, HUGE) 29-ton globe of the earth that rotates/floats on a thin layer of water. To help celebrate a special exhibit that tied in with Halloween, the museum purchased and installed a special “wrap” for the Kugel, adorned with the image of the biggest eyeball you’ve probably ever seen. And it wasn’t even up for a day when thieves stole it.

As the cover originally cost $4,000, it was unclear at the time if the museum would replace it. However, as a subsequent report in the local paper on October 19 revealed, they would indeed:

“When our eyeball was stolen a few weeks ago, there was so much community support that we had to replace it,” Richard Conti, the museum’s director, said in a statement.

The new eye was installed and unveiled, and to celebrate, the museum asked the public to visit their Facebook page and post “eyedeas” to help protect the new eye in an “Eye’m Back” raffle. (The winner received an “eyepod” and a family membership to the museum).

Making lemonade from lemons, the museum rallied from the theft, garnered some unexpected public relations coverage, and gave loyal supporters a “social” way to join in the celebration.

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)

Outdoor on Steroids: Out-of-Home Advertising More than Just Billboards

Things used to be simple.  The biggest media decisions for outdoor advertising were what size boards, how many do we need, and where will they be.  Those decisions are still relevant for traditional outdoor campaigns, but outdoor, or what is now called out-of-home encompasses a huge number of advertising vehicles and endless ways to execute. 

OOH can be ads on buses and trains, shelters, steps, escalators, projections on buildings, sculptures, airplane banners, air-writing, video screens, and the list goes on…  Digital billboards allow advertisers to change their message anytime, and consumers to post via texting or Tweets.  The possibilities are almost endless, and very creative executions are hitting the streets everyday. 

Here is one (see image) that traveling parents have to appreciate.  It is for a bank at an airport with one objective.  “Tire your kids out so they sleep on the plane.”  The sign with kid-sized handprints makes one revolution every 30 seconds.  Kids put their hands in place, and walk around, and around, and around… hopefully!

 Used with permission, FirstBank in Colorado

Inwindow Outdoor uses 3D technology to turn windows into interactive games.  How cool are these?

 PNC Bank

"The Sorcerer's Apprentice"

Most OOH vehicles are not going to reach mass numbers of people, but they can make a major impact on those that they do reach.  If the creative idea is the perfect fit for the brand and objective, some of these out-of-the-box vehicles just might be a great solution.

(Tammy Harris)