Facebook Sweepstakes Tab
Learn how to End the Sweepstakes
Learn how to Download Entries and Pick a Winner
What is a Facebook Sweepstakes?
A Sweepstakes is like a raffle. So by entering a Sweepstakes, you’re essentially putting your name into a hat for a chance to win something. When running a Sweepstakes on Facebook, you can ask for their email address in order to enter the Sweepstakes. Then you have their information so you can continually market to them! Running a Sweepstakes on Facebook is a proven way for restaurants to grow their Facebook Fans and increase their email membership. We’ve built a simple way for restaurants to create a Facebook Sweepstakes Tab right from Fishbowl.
Create a Sweepstakes:
Once logged into Fishbowl, hover over the “Social Media Tab” and click “Manage Facebook Tabs.” Here you’ll see your Custom Tab, and the Sweepstakes Tab. Click on Sweepstakes, then click Create New.
This page will look similar to the Custom Tab. At the top, you can easily see if your Sweepstakes Tab is on or off, and click to turn it on or off.
On the Sweepstakes Entry Tab, we’ve provided a default image for you at the top of the page. You can change this image by clicking on it and uploading your own. The max height for this image is 400 pixels tall so that guests can see and complete the entry form below. Be sure to highlight what they’ll get if they win the Sweepstakes – perhaps a $50 gift card to your restaurant! For best results, keep this image to 790 pixels wide and we recommend 600 pixels tall.
Thank You Page:
We've included a Thank You page, which your guests will see after they've entered the Sweepstakes. By default, your guests will see the confirmation message of "Success! You've entered the Sweepstakes" once they've successfully entered. You can upload your own image on this thank you page. So perhaps include a graphic or image to entice guests to make a reservation. Optionally, you can link the entire image to a website - such as your reservations page on your website.
Settings:
You can add to the Sweepstakes Rules by clicking the blue link or by clicking the Settings link.
You can write additional Terms and Conditions if you like. Here are Tips for Writing Sweepstakes Rules
App Icon and App Name:
You can adjust the App Icon and App Name. The App Icon is the image that’s shown as your Facebook Tab on your Facebook Page. We suggest you change this image to be representative of what a guest would get if they win your Sweepstakes – ex: an image with a great plate of your food. To upload a new image, just click on the default trophy image. Same with the App Name. The default App Name is “Enter To Win,” but again we suggest you change this to be something representative of what a guest would get if they win your Sweepstakes – ex “Win a $50 Gift Card.”
Publish:
When you’re done creating your Sweepstakes, click the Publish button. In the Publish modal, you’ll see your synced Facebook accounts. Click the Facebook account avatars to choose the accounts you’d like to publish to. Your Facebook personal profile pages will not appear here, since personal profiles do not have Tabs, we cannot publish a Tab to them. You can add more Facebook accounts by clicking the Add an Account button. If your Facebook accounts are out of sync with Fishbowl, you’ll see the yellow alert icon. Click on the Facebook account name to re-sync the account with Fishbowl.
Selecting an End Date:
You may select an end date for your Sweepstakes. The default is for the Sweepstakes to end two weeks from the day you publish it at 12 midnight. You may adjust the date and time. You may also opt to leave your Sweepstakes open ended, and take down the Sweepstakes on your own. You can be notified when your Sweepstakes has ended. Check the box to notify the denoted email addresses on the end date, and enter in all email addresses that you’d like to have emailed once the Sweepstakes is taken down. Once you’re happy with your selected Facebook Accounts, end date and email address notifications, click the Publish button.
Manage Facebook Tabs Page:
Once your Sweepstakes has published, you’ll be brought to the Manage Facebook Tabs page, where you’ll see an On button denoting that your tab has been published. Here you can quickly view which Tabs you have published to which Facebook Accounts. If you need to turn a tab off, click the On switch to switch it to Off. If you’d like to make edits to the Sweepstakes, click the Edit button.
Send out the Sweepstakes:
Once your Sweepstakes is published, you need to send it out to your email list or post about it on social media. To do this, you’ll need the url to the Sweepstakes. This is located on the Manage Facebook Tabs page, with your Sweepstakes selected. Next to the Facebook accounts where you’ve published the Sweepstakes, you’ll see a bit.ly link and a Copy This Address button. Click the Copy This Address button to copy the bit.ly link to your clipboard and send out that URL to get folks to enter your Sweepstakes.
The bit.ly URL for your Sweepstakes Tab is a Mobile Smart Short URL. This means that if a guest is reading your email or post about your Sweepstakes on their Mobile phone, they can still enter the Sweepstakes. Due to a Facebook limitation, you will not be able to collect Facebook Likes from guests who enter the Sweepstakes on their phone, but you can still collect their email address.
Running the Sweepstakes:
Once you’ve told everyone about your Sweepstakes, you’ll start to get entries. You can check to see how many entries and views your Sweepstakes has seen on the Manage Facebook Tabs Page.
Who Can Enter the Sweepstakes?
Only one entry is allowed per email address. Validation is performed to make sure that email address has not already entered the Sweepstakes. If the email address has, the guest will see the following message: “Oops, looks like you’ve already entered the Sweepstakes.”
Existing members of your Fishbowl database CAN enter the Sweepstakes. If an email address is unsubscribed from your list, and they enter your Sweepstakes, they will re-subscribe to your list by entering the Sweepstakes. Once a guest successfully enters your Sweepstakes, they’ll see the following message: “Success! You’re entered into the Sweepstakes.”
Where Do Email Addresses Go?
As a guest enters your Sweepstakes, they’ll be subscribed to your General Mailings list, and assigned to their favorite store as they chose on the Sweepstakes Entry Form.
Create a New Sweepstakes:
Ready to create another Sweepstakes? Just click the “Create New” button on the Manage Facebook Tabs page under Sweepstakes. The history of your old Sweepstakes will remain, and you’ll still be able to export entries and see winners from previous Sweepstakes. Hover over your old Sweepstakes to see these functions.
