It’s that time of year again, Facebook has updated their Promotion Guidelines.

Here are the key take away right from the horse’s mouth:

1. Promotions on Face book must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or an app on a Page Tab.

2. Promotions on Facebook must include the following:
a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.
b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.
c. Disclosure that the participant is providing information to the applicable Sponsor and not to Facebook.

3. You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism.  For example, the act of liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter a promotion participant.

4. You must not condition registration or entry upon the user taking any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app.  For example, you must not condition registration or entry upon the user liking a Wall post, or commenting or uploading a photo on a Wall. You can have an app as designated in 1 above and ask potential entrants to like your page prior to entering.

5. You must not use Facebook features or functionality, such as the Like button, as a voting mechanism for a promotion.

6. You must not notify winners through Facebook, such as through Facebook messages, chat, or posts on profiles or Pages.

7. You may not use Facebook’s name, trademarks, trade names, copyrights, or any other intellectual property in connection with a promotion or mention Facebook in the rules or materials relating to the promotion, except as needed to fulfill your obligations under Section 2.

For all the details visit: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

The highlight of any Sweepstakes, Game, or Contest is the prizes offered. So when you notify a winner of their windfall you’d expect they’d be overjoyed – no? Half the time, yes. The other half, understandably, is suspicion before the joy, which it’s hard not to be in this day and age.

There are a few ways a consumer can validate the legitimacy of a promotion, and a few red flags to look for in a scam.

What to do:

1. Who’s calling you? Either the Sponsor will be contacting you directly, or their promotion administration agency. In either case, they should be providing you with a direct contact name/number for questions. Call it back, look it up online, or whatever other means to make sure they’re calling you from a ‘real’ location.

2. If you’re being contacted from a promotion administration agency, check out their website. Most have a list of past projects and current clients – review the list as a way to help validate the relationship between the agency and the Sponsor and the promotion you’ve won.

3. Check out the promotion that you’ve won. Do you remember entering? Oftentimes, consumers who have won via an automatic purchase-based promotion may or not be aware the campaign is going on since the entry mechanism is so passive. More often than not now, the promotion is advertised online so you can visit the microsite directly to review the details. If not, ask to see a copy of the Official Rules. Even when consumers enter promotions directly by filling out an entry form or by playing a game, they may forget entering – the Sponsor/agency contact should be able to walk you through the program details to help jog your memory so you’re making a well-informed decision before accepting a prize.

What not to do:

1. A legitimate promotion will never require you to pay to receive a prize. You also will never be asked to provide your credit card or other account information. Throw up the red flag if you are being pressured for this information.

2. Keep in mind that in compliance with Federal law, Sponsors are legally required to file a 1099-MISC tax form for all winners receiving prize(s) valued over $600 (winners will be required to pay taxes to the government in the year the prize is awarded). With this, winners will be required to provide their Social Security number on their Affidavit of Eligibility & Release, so it is key to make sure you’re comfortable your information is going to a secure, legitimate source before replying.

3. As a Sponsor, making sure your general Customer Service Representatives are apprised of your current promotions is key to making the winner validation process as smooth as possible. It is alarming when a consumer calls to validate a program and the 800# representative is unaware of the program. If they cannot validate the programs directly, make sure there is a process in place for agents to redirect such calls to the main marketing/promotions department to handle directly.

]]> http://pstblog.com/2011/04/whats-the-catch/feed/ http://pstblog.com/2011/04/florida-is-enforcing/ http://pstblog.com/2011/04/florida-is-enforcing/#comments Tue, 19 Apr 2011 20:54:36 +0000 sevansco http://pstblog.com/?p=399 Beware, Florida is enforcing the Florida Game Promotions Statue s. 849.094 (2) (e), F.S to the tune of $1,000 for the first violation. The statue states that it is unlawful for any operator to require an entry fee, payment, or proof of purchase as a condition of entering a promotion. With that said, Sponsors can no longer open Promotions to customers (even customers prior the start date of the promotion) with a paid service only; such as cable subscriptions, mobile plans, etc. You can run this type of promotion as long as the non-customers (general public) can also enter.

It is said that an image-attached post is the most effective post type on Facebook, which until recently was the “Share” method. The Like button will now be taking over the functionality of the Share button. Previously, when deciding to “like” something on Facebook, a small link to that specific page or story would appear on the user’s profile, often getting lost among all other wall postings and news feeds. Now, when users “like” a page, a detailed story with a thumbnail photo will be published to their page, similar to what the Share Button did before but without the ability to edit or personalize what is put on to your wall.

This can be a very good thing for marketers! When a user “likes” your site, an automatic story and thumbnail will be posted to their wall more prominently then the small link that was posted before the switch. With the amount that users are currently using the Like button on a day-to-day basis, we believe this will increase page traffic along with awareness of sites or PROMOTIONS!

However, at the same time, this can be annoying to other Facebook users. Are you one of the many Facebook users who has a habit of “liking’ a lot of things? Things that we were “liking” in the past so nonchalantly are now more notably seen on our pages, making us think twice before “liking” something moving forward.

The question is…if you are to now “share” something every time you “like” it, will you “like” as many things as before? Consumers may start to think twice before they “like this or that!”

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT DID I JUST SAY???????????????

A new language exists surrounding digital marketing and digital promotional marketing.  While foreign to many, it is slowly becoming part of our everyday vernacular. Remember the first time you heard e-commerce, social networking, blogging, pinging & chatting?  Slowly but surely everyone will start to understand what we are saying, assuming we actually speak with one another.

Here’s a link that can help get you started.

http://www.converstations.com/blogging_glossary.html

By the way, you know it is still catch up time for everyone, even for Microsoft.  Every new term in this blog came up as a spelling error in Microsoft spell check.  Go figure…

Billy Joel (yeah, the Piano Man Billy Joel) was once asked how he can explain his incredible talents and achievement.  His answer was remarkable when he replied “I consider myself competent in an incompetent world”.  How is that for modesty?  Our clients are often astonished when we send over our deliverable based on the time frame we committed to.  Our suppliers are shocked when we pay our bills in 30 days as we committed to.  Pretty amazing huh, just for doing what we said.

How many times are we disappointed as consumers when we are let down by a claim or promise made.  For example, just the other day I purchased a 10oz container of foot powder for the family.  Brought it home, put it on the counter and noticed in the light that package was 50% filled.  The weight was correct and I assure you, powder does not settle.  The product will be returned tomorrow out of principle, or fraud depending how you look at it.

So where are we going here?

In our industry, Official Rules are considered the “hidden type” intended to deceive and exploit.  That is the exact opposite from the truth.  If done properly, honestly and with integrity (which most are), they are there to protect consumers, disclose the promotion details and ensure any concerns customers may have are addressed.

It is unfortunate that there are those that use promotional tactics to defraud consumers. It is heart warming to know that reputable sponsors and agencies change people’s lives on a daily basis.  So next time you read a set of Official Rules, know there is a very good chance they were written with the best intentions of total disclosure.

7-Eleven stores have just created a model that can take the brand engagement one step further. The store has partnered with online payments provider Kwedit to allow gamers and users to pay in store for virtual goods they have bought online. Consumers print out an electronic invoice that they can bring in store to purchase their virtual wares. This opens up the market for those who don’t like to – or cannot - pay virtually, including teens who don’t have the plastic to pay for their digital barns and tractors.

The store currently offers a number of gaming gift cards in store, with the non-virtual-virtual-payments model being a new way to drive in store traffic in an online world.

With $1 billion spend projected for 2009 in virtual gifting, there is no telling if this is an industry that will soon plateau or how far it will reach. One thing is certain - everyone loves a good gift or prize. And with $1 billion in sales and more of our lives online– it begs the question: Is a virtual prize as good as the real thing?

According to techcrunch.com, today Facebook is nearly twice the size of MySpace worldwide, with 100 million more worldwide users as of January 2009 (and growing!). So what is driving the change?

From appearance, Facebook is a clean-cut platform. Users can customize their profiles in many ways, but only in limited, designated spaces – so sifting through information is a streamlined and clean experience. MySpace is completely customizable – through backgrounds, streaming music, videos, images – pretty unlimited if the user is savvy enough with HTML. While this customization is appealing (or, initially was) to the teen population, ultimately this key feature of the site has become one of its downfalls – the heavy backgrounds and pages have made the site sluggish and difficult to navigate. People do not have time to clear through the clutter for on-the-go status updates.

From a communications perspective, Facebook has more applications available –and platforms to build the apps - to communicate with others through mobile interfaces or between other networks. This is key to marketers who are using the site more and more as part of their own marketing reach. This, and the share-factor of Facebook is key – Facebook users have two feeds – their “wall” page with personal updates/posts, and their “home” page with updates of all their Facebook friends. In essence, if a user shares a marketer’s promotion on their home page, it is broadcast to all of his/her friends. MySpace users need to seek out friends’ profiles to receive updates – limiting the share factor tremendously.

Where it stands today, MySpace has carved its niche with the music population and band websites, and Facebook for connecting with friends. Google Buzz is the new player in the space, trying to jump in and steal all markets; while micro-blogging space, Twitter has grown tremendously since its inception in 2006. In the ever-changing social media space, the future of these sites – or the next big thing - remains to be seen.