The Advantages of Using Apps For Facebook Promotions

A recent update to Facebook's page terms removed the requirement that promotions be administered through apps. This means that brands are now allowed to run contests, giveaways and other promotions directly through timeline posts.

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should"

While timeline promotions are simple and inexpensive, they don't provide brands with the customization and control available from 3rd party apps like North Social and Wildfire. Below is an example of a simple promotion run on a company page timeline.

Long before this announcement, brands were running "organic" contests using timeline posts without repercussion. Even though Facebook was clear about their promotions policy, it would have been nearly impossible to enforce across Facebook's 15 million plus brand pages. My take is that Facebook threw in the towel, realizing they have bigger battles to fight.

Seems like a smart consolation for a company that's facing intense pressure from shareholders to increase ad revenue, yet still does not have phone support for small advertisers.

7 Reasons Why Apps Are Better Suited to Run Promotions Than Timeline Posts

1) Apps allow for a clean, branded experience that can accommodate multiple images, links and blocks of promotional text. A timeline post is limited to a single image and displays up to 5 lines of text (~250 characters), which limits branding and storytelling efforts.

2) You can't capture email addresses in a timeline contest. Gathering emails is one of the best ways to maximize the value of your promotion and it allows you to reconnect with highly-qualified users for future announcements and promotions.

3) Apps allow you to like-gate your promotion, ensuring that all participants have liked your brand's page. Promotions that require entrants to like and comment on a post often end up getting one and not the other. Apps on the other hand provide a clear process and reduce the likelihood of confusion.

4) Timeline promotions are difficult to reshare or reference once they have been posted. When it comes time to remind followers about the promotion or add details, you have to reference the initial post and hope people find it. With apps you can make changes to the app content on the fly and clearly reference it with subsequent ads or posts.

5) Most apps come with analytics that track entries over time, which is useful for determining the ideal time and duration to run a promotion. Facebook Insights will track likes, comment and shares for a post in aggregate, but won't show you statistics by day or hour.

6) Shares remain one of the most effective ways to increase a post's exposure, however Facebook prohibits brands from making post sharing a requirement for entry. Most apps allow for pre populated share text which increases the liklihood that someone will share your post.

7) External URLs in timeline posts look clumsy and often get hidden. Most people prefer not to leave the Facebook bubble, but for those who do it's important to make learning about a product or service as easy as possible.For basic, low-budget promotions, a timeline promotions can be a great solution. However, if you're running larger, more complex promotions with ambitious engagement goals, apps are the way to go. If you're going to use apps to run your next promotion, which platform should you choose?

North Social vs Wildfire. Which app platform is best for my brand?

Both Wildfire and North Social are excellent platforms, but they are targeted at distinctly different audiences. Prior to Google's acquisition of Wildfire, they had low-cost DIY offerings as well as fully customized solutions, but recently their focus has shifted almost exclusively to enterprises and agencies.

In contrast, North Social offers a subscription-based app menu that savvy marketers can use to run a wide variety of promotions. If your company has in-house graphic design, copywriting and social media resources and a budget of under $3k for your promotion, North Social is your best bet. However, if your budget is over $10k and you want to execute a unique, customized promotion then you want to consider Wildfire.

For additional information about the Facebook policy update check out this article from Social Media Examiner. 

If your brand is interested in running Facebook promotions through customized apps, please contact us - we love this stuff.