Run Giveaways On Facebook: The Rafflecopter Facebook App

Run Giveaways on Facebook

Update: this blog post is over a year old and we have improved our Facebook app since the time this was written. For an update, please check out the post about the new Facebook giveaway app or check out our up-to-date knowledge base.

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If you’ve signed into your Rafflecopter dashboard recently, you might have noticed a new button on your embed page that says ‘Install To A Facebook Page‘.

Yup – it’s the Rafflecopter Facebook app! Running sweepstakes and giveaway promotions on your Facebook page with Rafflecopter is now a piece of cake :)

Highlighting The Rafflecopter Facebook App…

On the embed page of your Rafflecopter dashboard, clicking the ‘Install To A Facebook Page’ will give you the ability to place the Rafflecopter widget you just created on any Facebook page tab that you’re an admin for with a few clicks. It’s super easy!

The Rafflecopter widget will then be placed on a Facebook page tab. You also have the ability to edit HTML above and below the Rafflecopter widget.

… And Now For The Fine Details!

Just like after creating any other giveaway on Rafflecopter, you’ll be taken to the embed page on your dashboard. To put the widget that you just created on a Facebook page tab, click on the ‘Install To A Facebook Page’.

A window will pop up, asking you to ‘Log in w/ Facebook’. Once you click the first button, you’ll be taken to a Facebook pop called “Rafflecopter Tab”. Click “Log In with Facebook”, and then you must give the “Rafflecopter Tab” permission to manage your pages by clicking “Allow”. Once completed, you’ll be shown a drop down box of the pages that you’re an admin for. Choose the page that you’d like to run the giveaway on. That’s it! You’ll be linked to the Facebook page tab where the giveaway is located.

On the page tab, you’ll see the widget in the middle of the page tab. To edit the HTML above and below the widget, simply click on the text where it says to edit and go to town!

Displaying Your Giveaway On Facebook

When you launch a giveaway on your page, the app icon that will be displayed is an image of Sprocket the Rafflecopter as the ‘Tab Image’ along w/ some text ‘Giveaway!’ as the ‘Tab Name’.

You’re more than welcome to edit the tab image and name. To do this, sign into your Facebook page on Facebook. On the top right of your Facebook page, click on Admin Panel > Edit Page. Then, on the left hand side of the page, click on ‘Apps’, find the ‘Rafflecopter Tab’ under the apps page, and click on ‘Edit Settings’. Here, you can edit the tab image and name to how you see fit :)

Run Your Giveaway On Your Blog & Facebook Page Concurrently

Yup – it’s true! You can run your Rafflecopter giveaway on your Facebook page and on your blog/website at the same time. Not to worry, if you have your Rafflecopter giveaway widget located in several locations on the web, folks who enter will only be able to enter the giveaway once.

Once you’re done setting up the giveaway on Facebook, go back into your Rafflecopter dashboard and simply copy and paste the widget code into your blog post like any other giveaway you’d run using Rafflecopter.

Running More Than One Giveaway?

The Rafflecopter Facebook app was designed for you to run one giveaway at a time on your Facebook page.

When your giveaway is over and you want to replace the giveaway in your Rafflecopter page tab, go into your Rafflecopter dashboard, select a new giveaway to install on Facebook, and you’re all set! The HTML from your previous giveaway will still be there for you to alter it to see it fit your new promotion.

Share Code Page? Twitter URL?

Want other folks to share your giveaway on their Facebook page? Using the share code link on your Rafflecopter embed page, you can partner with other Facebook pages and run the giveaway in different locations.

And yes! If you create an entry option via ‘tweet a message’, the tweet URL will point to the Facebook page (not an iframe page, app page, etc).

Fan Gating / ‘Like’ Gating

The Rafflecopter Facebook app has ‘automatic fan gating’, meaning that in order to see the contents of your Rafflecopter giveaway tab, users are required to “like” your page first. If someone comes to your page to enter your giveaway and doesn’t like your page, here’s what they’ll see:

Rearrange Your Facebook App Icons

Once added to your page, your Rafflecopter giveaway will be placed in the page apps section, where you can shuffle them around by clicking on either the drop down to the right of the first row of apps, or by clicking on the app and swapping positions with another Facebook app that you have installed on your page:

Facebook Page Guidelines and Promotions

Rafflecopter gives you the unique ability to create and customize your sweepstakes promotions. That said, each Facebook page owner is responsible for the administration of the promotion they’re running. While we love for you to be creative with the ‘choose your own task’ entry option, we also want to be sure that you use this entry option within Facebook page and promotion guidelines.

*Psst* Want to learn about Facebook’s rules pertaining to giveaways? Check out our Facebook Promotion Guidelines page.

Having entry options that ask folks to write on your Facebook wall, post a photo on your Facebook wall, or specifically share a message / status update as an entry option is not allowed! We wrote a blog post regarding running giveaways on Facebook that you might find helpful. We suggest that you familiarize yourself with the Facebook page guidelines, specifically regarding promotions.

Questions? Comments? Ideas? Please Share!

The foundation of the Rafflecopter Facebook App is now in your hands. We hope this new feature makes it really easy to launch and manage giveaways on Facebook. If you have any questions, suggestions, or feedback for us, check out our GetSatisfaction community. We want to hear your thoughts!

Last but certainly not least, a big thanks to Justin & JR for their hard work making this available for everyone! This is one of the many features that we’re preparing to release. Feel free to send them a meme on Twitter at @justinratner and @runningskull.

Happy Tuesday & ‘Au Revoir!’ :)

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About the author

Greg Goodson

Greg Goodson is the cofounder of Rafflecopter. 25x ultramarathoner, bluegrass guitarist, & weather enthusiast. Owner of one doge.

  • Brilliant!

  • Awesome! Will we have the ability to change the ‘fan gating’ image?

  • andrewhughes76

    That’s awesome! Can multiple people run the same sweepstakes on their own facebook page? If we create a sweepstakes for our brand and share it with bloggers, could we all run the sweepstakes on a FB tab on our FB accounts?

  • I’m giddy with excitement about this!!!

  • Had difficulty using this a while back. The app took so long to install. It got stuck in the pop-up page that said something like “We’re now installing your copter.” Ended up copying the code provided on a static iframe app. :)

  • This is so exciting! I can’t wait to use this! I appreciate all of this free info!
    xo
    Sharon

  • AWESOME!!!! KISSING YOUR FEET!!! As a side, I tried to add an image of my prize with the html code you provided a few weeks back and it did not work. :(
    BTW, thank you for keeping this freemium!!!

  • Christine Luken

    Thank you, Jesus!! You guys are a lifesaver! :)

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  • Teresha

    sweet!

  • Prabhkiran

    We are running a giveaway through Rafflecopter, and we have enabled “Like the Blog Post” Feature to win an entry.

    But when we added the app as a Tab on Facebook. The “Like the Blog Post” does’nt hold any meaning so far. Do help us out.

    • You’re right – if you’re running a giveaway w/ the “like the blog post” entry option, it has no value in a FB giveaway. I would recommend simply leaving that entry option out :{

  • abhk18

    But Facebook recently have removed all tabs! Does it mean people will not able to see what we are going to create. Pls let us know before we dive in to create the giveaway

    • I’m not sure what you mean about removing tabs :[ can you explain further?

  • Is there a way to use this on a “Group” or is it only for pages?

    • Tracebooks

      I would like to have an answer for this question, too.

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  • SweetSoles

    Will it be contestants be able to enter via mobile?

    • Right now, if you access a canvas app or a page tab on mobile or through their app, you’ll be redirected to the mobile web url or get an error. Page tab apps and canvas apps are simply not supported by Facebook’s mobile site; there’s no currently any way to see App-provided Page tabs on the m.facebook.com site.

      On top of that, for your page to fall within Facebook page guidelines, you must run all promotions (sweepstakes, contests, etc) on a page tab of canvas app. That means that no one can access a sweepstakes or contest app from their mobile device. It’s a little crazy, but that’s just the way FB page tabs work right now.

      It’s a bummer because I’d love for folks to enter the giveaway we’re running on our Facebook page through their mobile device, but it’s just a restriction that we’re held to.

  • abhk18

    can we get the contact details from the people who entry into the raffle??

  • Excited about the news & all the great information!

  • Can’t get the app to install on my page; shoot! The pop-up just sits there and doesn’t proceed forward. Am I doing something wrong?

  • Nico carter

    can’t edit the content again after clicking save button. I just want to make some change…

  • Thanks, Greg! This should make things really smooooooooth!

  • Thanks for the help! I just added my giveaway to my facebook page as well ;) http://www.facebook.com/MyFreebieAddiction

  • sherry

    i failed to add the giveaway to my facebook page, do you have any vedio guide?

  • Nice addition! Looking forward to using it.

  • More “awesome sauce”!!

  • If there was a way to “pre-load” multiple giveaways based on date, now that would be something I’d go “ape-$#%t over!

  • Hilani Ellis

    Doing Cartwheels

  • Jessica

    I deleted a giveaway that I didn’t like on my FB page (chose to go a different route with the prizes). The giveaway hadn’t started yet, so I figured I would delete and make a new one. Now it wont update to the new one and since I deleted the old one, I can’t just go in and change the prizes. The old one is all I can bring up on FB and there are none showing on Rafflecopter. Help!

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  • Vicky@Dilettante

    Being new to running online contests and giveaways, I have to say that Rafflecopter seems to be a breath of fresh air. I’ve spent a lot of time lately looking into the best provider for this type of service (aka ShortStack and Wildfire) and I am excited to have found Rafflecopter. A simple, straight-forward platform, great customer support and perfect price-point ;) – What more could you ask for?

    Here’s to hoping all goes well as I implement my first giveaway this week! Thanks Rafflecopter Team!

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  • disqus_RNIG81pvLC

    Okay this blog was interesting. Still complex to read. But honestly, why can’t you guys just paste like “FB SAFE” on each selection you have for us to use in the app? Or just create an rafflecopter that is FB friendly than having us remember EXACTLY how to rephrase certain options or blah blah. If it’s not safe to have people “like” our FB page, then why even include it in your app? That’s just asking for trouble on our parts. Why don’t you rephrase that then? Why are WE supposed to do your job? I mean this is why we came to you for, right? I suggest that you add FB friendly options for us then say so right on the option “Facebook Safe”. I mean what’s the point of the rafflecopter then? I don’t wanna worry about using your app and going, gosh I hope this is SAFE because I’m trusting YOU to give me SAFE options. I am very busy and I just do NOT have the time to dig through all of the complex wording and blah blah for contests. It would also be nice if you add “rephrase options for fb” as well right on certain options, so we can click on it and see safe wording for facebook as well. We can’t always come back to this blog post or others constantly to check the EXACT wording or suggestion how to set the contest up.

  • DeBossman

    you know that you wrote rafflecopter wrong in all the banners on the site right? (the ones with rafflecpter 101 in stead of rafflecOpter 101

    • oops – haha :( *good find*

    • so we finally got around to fixing this. funny story, almost made the same mistake :P

  • Mary

    I tried to add Rafflecopter after opening an account and starting a giveway. I clicked the button to add it to my facebook page and it comes back saying I have no page. I do have a page, what went wrong?

    • Mary

      this is the message I get:
      It seems that you don’t have any pages. The first step is to create a Facebook page.

      • Same here – so annoying

    • When you click the ‘Install to Facebook Page’ button the first time, you’ll be taken to a pop up window, asking you to ‘Log in w/ Facebook’. Once clicked, you’ll be taken to a Facebook pop called “Rafflecopter Tab”. Click “Log In with Facebook”, and then you must give the “Rafflecopter Tab” permission to manage your pages by clicking “Allow”.

      However, if you click “Skip” instead of “Allow”, the next page’s drop down box won’t have any of your FB pages listed because the app won’t be able to connect to see them :(

      If this sounds like what happened, here’s what you can do to fix it: log into your Facebook and go to your ‘account settings’. On the left side of the page, click on ‘Apps’, and on the next page, find the app “Rafflecopter Tab” and remove it. Return to your Rafflecopter dashboard, click “Log In with Facebook”, and make sure you give the “Rafflecopter Tab” permission to manage your pages by clicking “Allow”.

      That should do the trick!

  • Lauren

    Ok I tried. Like 5 times. And I’m not seeing the giveaway on my FB page. I don’t know what I’m doing wrong! I seem to be completely all the steps…

  • Michelle

    FB app was super easy to install. Thank you!!!

  • Wisitech

    How can and Pinterest,
    or another social mediaPinterest, Linkdin or another social media

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  • Marie Kazalia

    Yes it is super easy to go through the steps to add to Facebook–however finding the tab is not so easy on my FB page. Facebook has changed. Was this article written before Timeline was added to FB?

    • This post was written for Facebook timeline – we never created a Facebook app for the pre-Facebook timeline days. If you’d like for us to help – shoot us a message at support@rafflecopter.com :)

  • Francesca Ebeli

    I cant get past the log on with Facebook pop up box? Nothing happens.. Any suggestions? Its my first competition for my facebook page… Do I need to pay? As I did modify the original??? Cant work it out, read all the info but its not working? Help Please…. :-)

  • I just set up a giveaway to try it out before I recommend it to my readers but the way the fan gating is set up for the Facebook app it’s kind of useless. Why would anyone be compelled to Like the Page without knowing why? All they see on the app landing page if fan gating is turned on is a big graphic saying they need to Like the Page to participate. Participate in what? We need to be able to edit that page to make this usable as a way to generate Page Likes.

    Sure we can tell people what the contest is in a post on a blog or something but what about the people who visit our Timeline and see a Giveaway button and click it?

  • Hello. Is it possible to post a Rafflecopter giveaway on a Facebook group page? I’m the administrator of the group. Thanks.

  • marian

    Is there a way to embed a giveaway as a post rather than an app in my tabs? I want to run a facebook ad campaign promoting giveaway post. I can not set up the campaign to promote the app. If I make a post which only refers to app page i will loose a lot of clicks potentially because of CTR. Any thoughts??

  • Hi, My Facebook app is not displaying correctly when I open it up. What can I do?

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  • chris

    How do i find out a random name for a winner of the giveaway??

  • TME

    So if you have the option as “like fb page” but someone already “LIKES” your fb page… then how do THEY get in on the raffle if you are wanting to do it with ALL your fans?

  • D Banks

    How do I notify the winner? It looks like facebook wont let you announce winners through facebook?

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  • Laura Barfuss

    If you want to use this app do you have to have the upgraded rafflecopter account? I am using the free and I can’t find anything that even talks about facebook.

  • I would like to try this app to collect likes for sure :P

  • kat

    How can i do this on a group, instead of a page?? Anyone?

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  • Carol Wright

    Thanks Greg… being new to Rafflecopter I appreciate your help.

  • Prabin Thapaliya

    this article is way good than this facebookhelp. One of my friend recommended this one but couldn’t remove my thirst.Great work bro!!

  • Michelle Birbeck

    It would be nice if we could install the app and just plug the code in, so we could share other people’s giveaways, such as company giveaways and such. I’ve just sent far too long trying to sort this out only to find it’s impossible unless I’m personally running the giveaway myself.

  • Leslie

    A little confusing but I think I’m getting it.

  • thanks! i’ll give this rafflecopter facebook app a try

  • Marlena

    Hi Greg, I am thinking of using a contest app for running my contest.
    Will your app work for this?
    Scarf Design Contest.
    Artists and photographers create and email us their design.
    The best design wins a 12″ x 48″ scarf with their art. A really nice give away, yea!

    The contest goes on for a month. In the past my partner and I have been choosing the winner. In our new contest, we want our fans the their friends to pick the winner.

  • Josh Simpson

    Well I make 1 post and it gets deleted for asking a question… looks like I will pass on this.

  • I am having a nightmare trying to use Rafflecopter app on my facebook page, every time I try it says I don’t have a Facebook page… help please!