Introducing Facebook Flash Giveaways by Rafflecopter

Run a Facebook Flash Giveaway

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Facebook promotion guidelines have changed recently: as of August 27th, 2013 Facebook page owners are now permitted to run promotions on page timelines. Running a giveaway on your timeline certainly has its pros and cons, but a timeline promotion is a great way to have fun and give back to your Facebook community.

*READ THIS* It’s possible some of the contents of this article are outdated. Check out our Facebook Promotion Guidelines page for current info.

To run a contest or a giveaway though – that’s the question. A contest is where a winner is chosen based on skill where a giveaway (technically referred to as a sweepstakes) is based on luck. Since Rafflecopter has traditionally been the easiest way to run a giveaway online, we wanted to make it just as easy for you to run a giveaway on your Facebook page and choose winners in a non-biased (random!) way. That’s why we’re excited to introduce you to the Rafflecopter Facebook Flash Giveaway App.

Timeline Giveaway App: How Does It Work?

Our new FB flash giveaway app makes it easy for any Facebook page admin to randomly select any number of individuals that have liked or commented on a Facebook page update that has been set up for the purposes of giving out a prize to a random winner.

And the best part — it’s free!

In order for you to be offered this functionality, you’ll be asked to grant our app permission to access your public profile (universally required by all Facebook apps) and to manage your Pages (which will allow us to access your giveaway posts to choose winners).

Once connected, you’ll find the process intuitive and magical. There are three steps:

  • select a page you’re an admin of
  • highlight a post where you’ve run a giveaway (limited to the most recent 30 posts)
  • click the ‘pick a random winner’ button

Individuals that liked or commented on your page status will be chosen at random and displayed on the bottom of the page. Clicking on the winner will take you to their Facebook profile, where you can message them to coordinate how they’ll accept the prize (contacting winners on Facebook is now permissible).

Facebook Timeline Giveaway App

Timeline vs 3rd Party App?

With the new updates to Facebook promotion guidelines, you’re now able to decide if you want to run your next giveaway through a 3rd party app or directly on your timeline. In the upcoming week, we’ll introduce the pros and cons of each, best practices surrounding your Facebook timeline giveaway, and maybe have a few giveaways of our own on our Facebook page. *Keep your eyes peeled!*

*Update:* – Before running your first promotion on your Facebook timeline, check out our new article describing five best practices for your Facebook timeline giveaway.

Have you run or planned on running any promotions on your Facebook timeline yet? Let us know in the comments below!

About the author

Greg Goodson

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

  • Emily

    We run giveaways through Rafflecopter for our sugar free candies & chocolates at facebook.com/drjohnscandies. Love this new addition to what you offer.

    • Jordan Sanders

      Nice, looks good / yummy! ;)

      • Barbara Fehmel

        I love the look of this Knife Block set, it would update my kitchen.

  • ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

    the old rafflecopter app was becoming a pain in the backside to use by being over abused by competition holders. hopefully this might make it esier for the users.
    some of the competitions involved signing up and commenting on more than several blogs, liking umpteen facebook pages,twitter accounts and god knows what else.
    I have started to swerve rafflecopter competitions because of this.
    hopefully this might have some restrictions to make it easier for the user.

    • Anna

      There’s an easy solution to your “complaint” – If there’s to many requirements, don’t enter the contest.

      • ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

        I dont anymore honey due to the abusive use of it by competition holders i am subscribed to 100’s of silly blogs that i have no interest in that emails go directly to my trash folder but the fake followers seem to please the bloggers.

        • Sarah

          I read a lot of nail blogs, and a lot of the giveaways are put together by multiple bloggers and/or polish companies. They can’t just say follow one persons blog when everyone has chipped in for the prize! And why shouldn’t they provide you with the oppurtunity to enter via whatever your prefered social networking site. You’d be complaining more if you had to open an account somewhere just to enter because they didn’t provide entry on other sites you are already on! I suggest you try and learn how something works before you criticise the way it works!

          P.S – you’re complaining about winning free stuff, seems a little entitled to me.

        • I completely get where you are coming from, and I am one of those bloggers. Public Relations firms want us to have all of these followers to review products and work with them on other things. That is why these bloggers are doing this. Personally if you not interested in a blog, Unsubscribe and stop following. I would rather have 500 followers that actually like my blog and will look at the products I post about then 8000 that never take a look at my blog again.

        • Jordan Sanders

          The folks at Rafflecopter are in the “middle of the road” here —

          I agree w/ (Cat Person) – giveaways w/a ridiculous amount of FB Pages you have to like can be overwhelming and a big turn-off for entrants.

          That said, Sarah and @HollyB:disqus also bring up valid points. We actually encourage bloggers and companies to band together and run “joint giveaways” for better results. It’s just an issue of striking the right balance. Teaming up w/a small handful of folks to get better results is great. Running a mega-giveaway with 30 other pages = not so great.

          Does that make sense?

    • Chelle

      I am one of those blog owners that hosts giveaways and I also enter giveaways when I get the chance and the thing is… you don’t have to “like” all those Facebook pages, follow all the Twitter accounts, etc. They are all optional entries. If you want a better chance of winning, then by all means “like” and follow them all. If you think it is too many then just choose a few that you truly think you would be interested in following and gain the contest entries for those instead and ignore the rest. It is not required that you follow them all… you have to realize that obtaining nice prizes to give away is dependent upon the blog’s following… the more followers a blog has, the bigger and better the prize the sponsor’s are usually willing to offer for a giveaway. You also have to realize that some giveaways are completely blog sponsored… meaning that one or more persons decides on the prize and then everyone chips in money to help pay for the prize to be given away… shouldn’t everyone that contributes have a chance at gaining followers to help improve the following of their blog? You also have blogs that help promote the giveaways when the prize is provided by a sponsor, they should be afforded the same opportunity to gain followers as well. So your complaint about the options of a giveaway is silly because no one is making you enter the giveaway in the first place… and then when you make the decision to enter, the power is still in your hands at which entries you decide to complete… if you feel it is too much, just complete a few of the entries and then stop. I find it ridiculous that bloggers work hard to coordinate things with sponsors to bring FREE giveaways to people and then people want to complain about it… *sigh

  • Tammy

    I’m a blogger and I started a blogging community in Facebook using rafflecopter to hold campaign entries and giveaways. I think this would be a good change for me as its not hidden from timeline anymore.

    • definitely pros and cons to running a giveaway on your wall vs through a 3rd party tab / on your blog. glad we can offer you the additional options!

  • Christy

    Is it possible to notify winners via message from the business page? I can’t find a way to do that, and I don’t want to send the messages from my personal page.

    • Christy – your page can attempt to write to the person, but usually will end up in their spam box unless they have written to your page, first. So my question for rafflecopter is: have you figured out a way for us to contact people on facebook (as a page, or with our personal profile) without ending up in that pesky “other” mailbox that most people don’t know about?

  • Annette

    That would b great to have for you tube too

  • Cindy Bonnette

    I’m new to trying to use Rafflecopter…. would like to clarify how this new app works…..if I understand correctly….there is nothing to be done with Rafflecopter prior to the giveaway…..you just use the new app after the giveaway to select a random person….. is that correct? or have I misunderstood???

    • That’s correct! It’s up to you to post a status update that contains info surrounding your giveaway — here’s a blog post we recently wrote that explains some best practices surrounding a timeline giveaway –> http://blog.rafflecopter.com/2013/09/facebook-timeline-promotion-best-practices/

      We created this app b/c it’s not possible to choose a random winner on a Facebook post w/ some outside help. We want to be that outside help ;)

      • Cindy Bonnette

        Thank you

  • Spit Up is in Style

    Awesome!

  • 1WholeLotta_Mama1

    so awesome! RC ROCKS!

  • I haven’t tested it out yet so my questions may become obvious when I test it:

    Does it include likes, comments and shares of the wall post, how does it handle multiple people doing more than 1 comment, does a like + a comment equal 2 entries…etc. Or is it stripped down to 1 entry per unique person whether they did a like or comment or both?

    • Hey Justin – folks that either ‘like’ or ‘comment’ on the post are entered. As it sits now, you won’t get an additional entry for commenting and liking. On that note, folks that comment twice will still receive one entry.

      As far as shares go, we don’t have anything programmed to look at the # of shares a post might get as admins cannot ask entrants to share a post for an entry. Hope that helps!

      • Perfect thanks, so 1 entry per person only, you can’t get more entries by just dropping 5 comments for example, that is what I wanted to know.

        • you got it! 5 comments still equals 1 entry ;)

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  • What a great news!

  • I used this on my giveaway, and I think it is best way to gain more entry, its easy to use.

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  • Kaley Hill Ehret

    I am trying out the app, but my issue is that my giveaway post was written prior to my 5 most recent posts (I post often). Is there any way to select a post that was written earlier than that?

    • Hey Kaley – this is something we might change, but right now you can only access your recent 5 posts!

      • Briana CraftLab

        I also hope y’all increase the number of posts to choose from, I’d love to try this out but I post frequently as well so it won’t work for me. It’s a great idea though!

        • Melissa Vicinanza Kuczera

          Yes i am in the same pickle.. i need to get beyond 4 posts in order to use this. Boooo.. I was all excited to try it out.

      • Jennifer

        You should really mention this on the page somewhere!

    • Chriss Connor Pooler

      We definately need to change this! I use this app often, I just want to be able to post more often! I have to watch what I use, so I don’t push the contest below the 5 recent posts. You need to make it 20! :)

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  • zeta_mcmillan

    this is great news!

  • Wendy Bull

    Is the app not working at the moment? I get as far as choosing which page I am running the giveaway on then it repeatedly gets stuck there – cog whirring but not going on to the page for me to select the post?

  • Jo

    Hi, just a question… picking the winner from a post is great but was
    wondering does the giveaway detect if the person who liked and comment
    is a fan of my page? I rather have a fan win the prize than a non fan so
    I dont know if this is really suitable and might just go back and use
    the other rafflecopter app.

  • jo

    thought this was great but it only shows status from 24hrs, and mine was put on a week ago, so will not allow me to do it

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  • Bonnie

    Thank you for this wonderful app. It worked perfectly for me this morning and SO easy! Thanks for making giveaways fun for everyone!

  • Helena Alkhas

    Hi, I have a question. Will we be able to leave a message on the winner’s timeline or message them through their personal profile. I run a test now with one of my posts and I don’t see a way of contacting the “winner”. Help? Thank you!

    • Best to contact the winner is through email, log in to your account on rafflecopter and add winner after your giveaway ends, you can see all info of the winner and how to contact the winner.

  • Lawrence

    Is it fan gating as well?

  • Helena Alkhas

    Hi Greg, how do I run a giveaway for a post older than 5 days ago?!

    • Obviously a delayed response to this, but this is a feature that’s been fixed!

  • Eric

    How did you get that dynamic tab at the top of your page?? That is soo cool!

  • MakeupAnBeautyJunkie

    How does one use the app one a Fan page?

  • Aundra Thompson

    Where is the pro/con post you mention ?

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  • Steeeeveoo

    It wants to “manage my page”.. I do not not want it to manage my page, is this correct ?

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  • Pam

    Why don’t I see the flash giveaway app when I log into my account? I had NO idea this was an option until I read this post and have been a customer for MONTHS!

    • Josh @ Rafflecopter

      Hey Pam — Sorry you missed it. We advertise the Flash Giveaway app on our website, blog, and facebook page. Hope you enjoy using the feature and please don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any questions :)

  • sdk

    is there a way to pick more than one winner for a flash giveaway?

  • Jade

    If the same person comments 10 times, are they more likely to be chosen a winner?

  • Chriss

    I wish it wouldn’t push your posts down, and give more room. I noticed if I do too may post on my page, I can not select the giveaway from the post I need to. Can this be changed?

  • Hi Greg! I am new here, as I just learned of RC a few days ago. Am looking into doing my first Giveaway on FB. I want to keep it simple, and my goal is this: I want to increase my Page Likes for my artist business. I have learned that it is helpful in gaining visitor traffic, and with good graces – visitors to my website who may be interested in my art. So when the Page Likes reach a numerical goal, say 1000, then select the winner at random (from any/all persons who have liked the page). Can your Flash app do this? or what do you recommend?

  • sue

    i am doing reviews and giveaways for companies. i can not remember if i put their link in first of facebooks link then theirs?? please help.!!!

  • The Facebook giveaway app is a great addition to Rafflecopter. I only use it if I don’t feel like creating a page for a specific giveaway or submitting it to our site. Although, you really want the traffic going to your site. It’s a quick, easy option and useful at times.

    • Josh @ Rafflecopter

      Great to hear you like the app!

  • Jennifer

    What if your giveaway post isn’t in the recent post selection they display? How do I get to my giveaway post. There is no options to scroll through additional post or to go to another set of post.

    • Dave Criswell

      Hey Jennifer, we recently increased the number of past posts you can select from to 30.

  • Christy Moore

    I just found this awesome app for my page….but I have a question…I was running a post for a giveaway once my page hit 100 likes….can I set the app up to pick from my page likes?

    • Dave Criswell

      Hey Christy – it’s not possible to set it up as you’ve described. You would need to pick manually after the post reaches any threshold you decide.

  • loveezra

    Hi, I have a giveaway running on my page and the last day of it in on Friday. I just logged into Facebook Flash giveaway app but because my giveaway post is older than the list of recent posts that come up in the app i cannot select any. what can I do???

  • Evie Milo

    This is rubbish – thought I’d be able to use it to select a random winner from my giveaway post, but at no point do you bother to mention that you will only show the last 7 posts from a facebook page to select from – My giveaway post was written 7 days a go and I have posted a lot on facebook since then. I want to draw a winner randomly using your app and it’s impossible because I can’t select the giveaway post. I’ll have to revert to analogue mode and write all the names out on pieces of paper and draw the winner out of a hat. yolur app is unusable!

    • Dave Criswell

      Hey Evie, thanks for the feedback! We’ve increased the number of posts to 30 and updated the information in the blog post.

  • Is there a way to pick a winner for a post if you are using FB comments instead of the native wordpress commenting system?

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  • a quick question… If someone shares the contest post… will the people who click on the shared post also be entered into the contest???

    • Dave Criswell

      Hey Mike and Sheila, no. The random selection is taken from likes and comments. Let us know if you have any other questions!

      • Mr Dave… What if they like or comment on the shared post is what I was trying to say?

        • Dave Criswell

          Thanks for clarifying! The selection only uses the original post.

      • Mr Dave, What if someone comments and likes or comments like 2 times and likes 1 time? will they get an entry per action? Sorry for the questions

        • Dave Criswell

          No problem! There is one entry per person, regardless of how many times someone comments or likes.

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  • Jasmine Wythe

    Hi Greg,
    I’m aware that this is an old post, but this is a question about FB Flash…
    Is there the functionality for collecting email addresses when using Facebook Flash?

  • Bronwyn Britten

    Can you charge for entry to your raffle? Is that an option you have with Rafflecopter? e.g. charge 50 cents for a ticket, and use the raffle for fundraising. Or can you only run giveaways based on Facebook likes, etc.