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Competitions on Social Media
How do you create more buzz around your business brand? Run a competition on social media! It can’t be that difficult can it? Hmmm you might want to think again!
Until late summer 2013, if you wanted to run a competition on Facebook, it had to be administered via a 3rd party app. However, the rules have changed giving “more freedom” to small businesses to run a competition via their Facebook business page. However you still have to stay within the rules (otherwise you risk having your Facebook business page being taken down).
What are you allowed to do?
- Ask people to comment on a post
- Ask people to like a post
- Ask people to comment on your page
- Ask people to private message your page
- Use “likes” as a voting mechanism
What aren’t you allowed to do?
- Ask people to tag themselves in content or a picture in exchange for a chance to win a prize
- Ask people to share the competition on their personal timeline
- Ask people to invite others to enter the competition
It’s worth taking a look at these GUIDELINES for a fuller picture of what you can and can’t do
Argh, it’s still complicated! What can I do?
Why don’t you have a specific post/image made up which specifies exactly what you want your Facebook fans to do? i.e. “like this post and comment to be in with a chance of winning xxxx”. Wording like this will keep you within the guidelines!
What about Twitter?
At Red Desk, we are about to start looking at running a competition on Twitter for a client. Again there are a few rules to abide by which can be read here but we think it might be a little easier!
If you are thinking about running a competition and need some help. Get in touch!
Virtual Conferencing Tools
Have you ever tried to have a three-way conversation on Skype and been frustrated by speed/quality of the connection? There are other virtual conferencing tools out there for you to use and we’ve done the research for you!
If you work with colleagues and clients in different locations, getting on the phone together for meetings is the perfect way to catch up. Each person who registers is given their own PINs (a chair PIN and a participants PIN, which they use to dial in). Just use the local rate telephone number to dial in and punch in the code and you will be connected together in your own virtual meeting room.
What is great about BT Meet Me is that you can record these calls and play them back later. Perfect if you are hosting training!
GoToMeeting
You can use GoToMeeting’s facilities to provide online meetings for up to 25 attendees, webinars for up to 1000 people and interactive training sessions for up to 200 people.
You can try their services free for 14 days with a trial, a perfect way to test the waters. Or jump in and sign up a monthly plan starting from £29+ VAT or a yearly subscription which brings the price down to £23+ VAT per month.
They pride themselves on the fact that you only pay for your own 0844 number. It seems relatively simple, using your email address to generate your PIN and you share this and your dial-in number with the other participants.
They also offer a “premium” service which allows you unlimited conference calls.
Many people have migrated from Skype and are now using Google hangouts. Calls to the US and Canada are free and other calls are charged at very low rates. If your colleagues are using Google+ then it might be worth a try.
Which to choose?
If you are only using conferencing facilities once in a while then PowWowNow will probably be sufficient however, you might as well take advantage of GoToMeeting’s 30 day trial as you might be pleasantly surprised.
If you need any assistance with organising web conferences or virtual meetings, do get in touch with us:
Find me on Twitter @reddeskVA
Find me on Facebook Red Desk VA
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