A presentation that describes the pros and cons of using Facebook applications for organizing user contests. The presentation utilizes the knowledge gathered by whole BrandFriendz team. Although the presentation was created shortly after Facebook's allowance of on-wall promotions, the findings are still valid at the time of this upload.

1. FACEBOOK
ON-WALL PROMOTIONS
VS.
APPLICATIONS

2. 156 Facebook apps in 2012, over 350 overall
1.600.000 users in our apps
2.870.000 fans in analyzed FB Pages
Managing 1.000.000 USD in FB Ads
BRANDZ
FRIENDZ

3. 1. USE NATIVE FUNCTIONS OF FACEBOOK AS
A VOTING MECHANISM
Like, comment, share, in limited scope, tagging
2. LET USERS UPLOAD CONTENT DIRECTLY
TO YOUR WALL
3. CONTACT WINNERS VIA FACEBOOK TOOLS
That means announce winners publicly in posts, comments
and messages
THE
CHANGE
ALLOWS
YOU NOW

4. 1. TO FORGET ABOUT THE COMPETITION’S
“ADMINISTRATIVE PART”
Rules description, organizer statement
2. VIOLATE FACEBOOK RULES REGARDING
RESTRICTION ON TOBACCO, FUEL...
3. BREAK SPECIFIC RULES NAMED FURTHER
In case you seek this part, please skip to slide 22.
THE
CHANGE
DOES NOT
ALLOW
YOU NOW

5. NATIVE
FACEBOOK
FEATURES AS
MECHANISMS

6. LIKE AS
A VEHICLE
MOST
LIKED
COMMENT
If you have 15 likes at
5 pm, you win!
NUMBER
OF
LIKES
LIKES
COMBINED
WITH TIME
LIKES
COMBINED
WITH A
DRAW
All post likers
will be put into a
drawing drum
Comment on our
post, if it get s the
highest number of
Likes, you are the
winner
Highest, exact

7. COMMENT
AS A
VEHICLE
RIGHT/
BEST
ANSWER
Fastest, posted
exactly at selected
minute...
MOST
ENGAGING
COMMENT
COMMENT
COMBINED
WITH TIME
COMMENT
COMBINED
WITH A
DRAW
All post likers
will be put into a
drawing drum
Trivia style, tips...
Number of Likes,
number of reactions

8. Tagging of users who actually ARE in the picture is
from now on allowed. That means, if John is in the
picture, John can tag himself in the picture.
(Hails such as “Tag yourself and your five friends and win is not
allowed…)
That means, tagging of not depicted subjects, such
as items, as has been used in famous & illegal
campaign of Ikea, is still now allowed.TAGGING

9. 1. PRIVATE MESSAGE AS PROMOTION
MECHANICS
All on-wall promotion mechanics are very hard to administrate.
They open big space for “professional complainers” to accuse
the organizer of misbehavior, but at least are public. In case of
private communication, the threat is even higher and you can
end up in big problems while proving the user is wrong, being
forced to publish private communication in case of a clash.
2. #HASHTAGS
Not native to Facebook, not adopted widely, and, it seems, in
fact lowering virality of posts. Altough, on the other hand, easy
to scrape.
OTHER
ALLOWED
MECHANICS
WE DO NOT
RECOMMEND
USING

10. ON-WALL
PROMOTIONS
VS. APPS

11. IN BRIEF
WAY MORE OPTIONS
LIKE BUTTON
PERMISSION (OAUTH)
DIALOGUE
DATA COLLECTING
CLOSER TO BULLETPROOF
EASILY MANAGED
IN-LINE WITH FB RULES
MOBILE FRIENDLY
SMALL BUSINESSES
ENGAGING EXISTING FANS
EASY FOR EVERYONE
FAST & FURIOUS (ADMINS,
AFTER THE
COMPLAINSTORM COMES)

12. ADVANTAGES
OF TIMELINE
PROMOTIONS

13. 1. WORKING ON MOBILE DEVICES
2. USAGE OF FACEBOOK NATIVE FUNCTIONS
Users create stories by taking basically any action within the
promotion.
3. ON AVERAGE, BIGGER AMOUT OF
AGGREGATED CONTENT
With the exception of comparison with advertising-driven apps.
4. PAGE ENGAGEMENT
With the exception of comparison with advertising-driven apps.
5. FAST AND EASY, NO “THREATS & OBSTACLES”
No complicated steps for unskilled users, less feeling of privacy
violation.
ADVANTAGES
OF ON-WALL
PROMOTIONS

14. We are explaining this to both users and our clients
at least once a week:
With app. every second Facebook user globally being a “m” one,
both from apps and m.facebook.com, people able to become part
of the promotion from mobile is a great advantage.
WORKING
ON MOBILE
DEVICES

15. Not all user actions are transformed into Stories
on Facebook. In applications, if these are not using
Open Graph functions, most user actions (such as
uploading picture into a photo-competition) are not
these storytelling ones, meaning that they are not
creating traffic.
In Timeline (wall) competitions, user actions
are transformed into messages like “XY has
commented on…”.
NATIVE
FUNCTIONS

16. In most of the competition apps we do, we succeed
in transforming from 90 % - 70 % of users coming
through the so called “Permission Dialogue” (OAuth
Dialogue), while speaking about reasonable amount
of data requested (such as basic permission set +
access to photos and videos for photo-based
competition.
That means that we lose up to 30 % of all users who
actually made the first step in entering the promotion.
No such threat in Timeline promotions, making the
conversion user -> competitor up to 100 %.
BIGGER
AMOUT OF
AGGREGATED
CONTENT

17. As discussed in point 2, native Facebook user actions
that means Like, Comment, Share & Post lead into
creation of Facebook stories, a powerful digital trace
that is being trasformed into various messages, such
as notifications, Ticker messages, newsfeed posts,
on-profile markers.
These actions lead into higher engagement towards
the Page, affecting the Edge Rank and future quality
of relationship in between the user and Page posts.
On-wall promotions demanding Likes, comments
and wall-posts thus lead into higher engagement.
PAGE
ENGAGEMENT

18. Discussed at point 3, no permissions, staying on-Page,
no design change… Way less things to worry about
for privacy-guarding users, way less surprising features
for inexperienced users.
NO “THREATS
& OBSTACLES”

19. DISADVANTAGES
OF TIMELINE
PROMOTIONS

20. 1. NO DATA COLLECTION
Users actually remain perfectly anounymous.
2. IT’S QUITE COMPLICATED TO OBEY FB RULES
Stating all the demaned features is making the simple
mechanism way less simple and is hard to fulfil elegantly.
3. LOTS OF MANUAL WORK
Counting exact numbers of Likes, judging comments…
4. HUGE, HUGE SPACE FOR MISTAKES AND
ARGUMENTS
Who had more Likes under his/her picture at 15:00, Tom or
Liz? And that’s just the beggining…
5. NEW FANS ACQUIRED ONLY IF…
Clicking on Page Like button is demanded only among those
uploading content/posting on wall.
DIS
ADVANTAGES
OF ON-WALL
PROMOTIONS

21. “...the best long term businesses
are emotions first, data second.”
Jason Goldberg,
Founder & Chief Executive Officer at Fab.
NO DATA
COLLECTION

22. One sentence such as “Most Likes win” is not
enough, you have to make publicly available:
1. Exact conditions
2. Who is the Organizer
3. Claim that Facebook itself is not involved in the promotion
4. Conditions and ways of contacting and awarding the winner
COMPLICATED
TO OBEY FB
RULES

23. Counting Likes, judging comments… all this can be,
on larger scale, very time consuming.
On the other hand, Page posts (and related comments,
Likes and shares) can be easily scraped, creating yet
again a space for small-scale applications.
LOTS OF
MANUAL
WORK

24. From serious to absurd claims, organizers
of promotions heard it all: too early, too late, to vague,
too discriminating, cheating organizers, cheating
admins, cheating competitors…
In case of apps, you have clear database entries.
Timeline competitons are very hard to prove.
HUGE SPACE
FOR MISTAKES
AND
ARGUMENTS

25. Fans in apps are generated via fan (like) gate
(it’s placement is a part of the know-how of preparing
a successful app).
The member-get-member style of apps, mastered
by FarmVille, can bring amazing results.
Timeline promotions seldom achieve this - all actions
except posting on wall, ie. submitting competing
content, can be done without user being a fan.
NEW FANS
ACQUIRED
ONLY IF...

26. facebook.com/brandzfriendz
@brandzfriendz
pavel.hacker@brandzfriendz.cz
BRANDZ
FRIENDZ