How to Run a Facebook Giveaway or Contest (Within Meta’s Rules)
To run a Facebook giveaway or contest, pick a format (comment to enter, a photo contest or a hosted giveaway), write short rules, and follow Meta’s promotion rules: entrants must not be required or rewarded for sharing, reposting or tagging friends, and your post must say the promotion isn’t run by Meta. Close entries on time, draw at random or judge against set criteria, and check the winner before you announce them.
Most Facebook giveaways that get reported break the same rule: “like, share and tag 3 friends to win”. Here’s how to run one that doesn’t.
What are Facebook’s rules for giveaways?
Meta’s rules for promotions on Pages, groups and events are in its Pages, Groups and Events Policies, in the “Promotions” section. In plain words:
- You’re responsible for running the promotion lawfully, including official rules, eligibility and prize terms.
- Don’t require or reward sharing, reposting or tagging. “Share this post to enter” and “tag a friend for an extra entry” are both out. Meta’s wording goes further: your promotion must not require or reward people for publicizing it “in any other way”. So extra entries for referrals, or for sharing a link anywhere else, are out too.
- Entrants release Meta from liability and acknowledge the promotion is “in no way sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Meta”. Put that line in your post and your rules.
- Meta won’t help you run it, and you run it at your own risk.
- Say who collects the data. If you collect names or emails from people who interact with your Page, group or event, tell them first, get their consent, and make clear that you, not Meta, are collecting it.
Liking a post, commenting or answering a question aren’t on Meta’s list, so they’re fine ways to enter, as long as the comment doesn’t ask people to tag friends. Read Meta’s page yourself before you launch, as the wording changes from time to time.
Which Facebook contest format should you choose?
Comment to enter
The quickest option. Ask a question in your post (“Which flavor should we make next?”) and every comment is an entry. Then draw from the comments with a Facebook comment picker.
Good for: engagement on your Page, small prizes, quick turnaround. Downside: you only get a Facebook name, no email, and contacting the winner means a message they might not see.
Photo contest
Entrants upload a photo or video, and either the public votes or you judge. It’s the format most people mean by “Facebook contest”.
Good for: user-generated content and community. Downside: more effort to enter, so fewer entries, and you need clear judging or voting rules.
Hosted giveaway
Entrants enter on a giveaway page you share on Facebook, with their name and email, and earn entries for actions like visiting your Page or joining your group.
Good for: building an email list, combining Facebook with other platforms, and contacting winners easily. Downside: one extra click away from Facebook.
How to run a Facebook giveaway, step by step
- Set one goal. Page engagement, group members, email signups or sales. The goal decides the format.
- Choose a prize your audience wants. Your own product or a gift card to your store attracts people who might buy later.
- Write the rules. How to enter, who can enter (age, country), start and end time with time zone, how and when the winner is picked and contacted, the Meta acknowledgement line, and a line saying that you, not Meta, collect entrants’ details. SweepWidget has a terms and conditions generator that fills in a template from your details.
- Set up the entry. For a comment giveaway, that’s your post. For a hosted giveaway or photo contest, build it first (below).
- Publish and pin the post to the top of your Page or group, with the prize photo and the end date in the first line.
- Promote it in your stories, email list and other channels. Remind people once near the end.
- Close entries on time, then draw or judge.
- Check the winner, contact them, then announce (with their permission).
Setting up a Facebook giveaway in SweepWidget
SweepWidget has these Facebook entry methods:
- Visit Page. Entrants visit your Facebook Page (free plan). You can ask them to like it as an optional extra (Pro), which keeps you within Meta’s rules because the like isn’t required for the entry.
- Visit Post. (Pro) Entrants visit a specific post and like it, then confirm the username they used. Use the post’s direct link (Meta’s Embed option shows it).
- Visit Group. (Pro) Entrants join your group and confirm the username they joined with.
Entrants can also sign in with Facebook so their name and email fill in automatically.
Facebook doesn’t let outside tools confirm a page like, post like or group join, so these actions are taken on trust. Check the winner by hand: are they in your group, did they like the post? It takes a minute.
Add actions on other platforms or a newsletter signup if your goal needs them. Leave out any action that asks people to share your Facebook post or tag friends on Facebook. If you announce the giveaway on your Facebook Page or group, also switch off refer-a-friend and any “share for extra entries” action, even if people would share on other sites. Meta’s rule covers rewarding people for publicizing the promotion in any way.
Running a Facebook photo contest
SweepWidget’s photo contest builder (Pro plan and above) lets entrants upload a photo or video (JPG, PNG, GIF, MP4, MOV or AVI, up to 100MB) with a caption. You then choose:
- How the winner is decided: most votes, or picked by you
- How often people can vote: for example once in total, once per hour or once per day
- Whether voters must log in, to cut duplicate votes
- Whether you approve uploads before they appear in the gallery
Share the gallery link on Facebook and ask people to vote there. Don’t reward entrants for sharing their own entry to collect votes. If you’d expect sharing to decide the winner, judge the entries instead. Entrants upload their photo or video from their own device.
How to pick and contact the Facebook winner
For a hosted giveaway, go to Manage Entries > Pick A Winner > Randomize the Selection. The draw is weighted by entries and never picks the same person twice. For a judged photo contest, write your criteria down before you look at the entries and apply them the same way to everyone.
Then:
- Check eligibility against your rules.
- Contact the winner within 24 to 48 hours. SweepWidget doesn’t email winners for physical prizes; their email is on the Winners page.
- Set a reply deadline, and draw again if they miss it.
- Announce the winner on your Page, and warn followers that you’ll never ask for payment to claim a prize. Fake “prize” accounts target giveaway comment sections on Facebook too.
For more on drawing and checking a winner fairly, see how to pick a giveaway winner fairly.
Looking for something to give away? Browse our Facebook giveaway ideas.
FAQ
Not as a requirement or for extra entries. Meta’s Promotions policy says your promotion “must not require or incentivize participants to share, repost, tag others, or in any other way publicize your promotion”. You can still share it yourself and promote it elsewhere.
Yes. The same Meta rules apply to Pages, groups and events. A group join can be one of your entry actions in a hosted giveaway.
Meta expects you to give entrants official rules and to follow the law where you run the promotion. A rules generator gives you a starting template; check it fits where you and your entrants are. This article isn’t legal advice: for a large prize, or entrants in several countries, have a lawyer check your rules.
Use a comment picker that loads every comment, removes duplicate users and draws at random after the deadline. Then check the winner before you announce them.
No. Facebook doesn’t allow it. Ask entrants to confirm, keep likes optional, and check the winner by hand.
