Up until last week, Facebook required pages to run contests through some kind of third party app. This had caused some page owners to shy away from the concept of having to use yet another app to run a contest for their fans or Facebook friends, and Facebook users to have turned away from contests because they would have to allow access to yet another app.

With changes made by Facebook last week, administrators of pages can now use Facebook itself to run a contest without having to utilize a third party app.

 What does this mean to faith-based marketers?  This change directly helps ministry and company brands who are seeking to use social media to increase their audience and build both awareness and interaction.

Here are some of the ways you can use benefit from this change:

 -Faith-based organizations can now create giveaways, and have users enter simply by liking your page. Increasing your likes increases your reach, since your future updates will appear in the new fan’s page.

-You can also create a giveaway where users enter by commenting on or liking a post on your page. Utilizing this feature means you can promote a particular photo or posting and therefore increase its ranking and/or reach as well.

-You can also create a giveaway that has users message your page. This will not work on a personal page, but does on fan pages.  You can tell the difference between pages based those that have the ability to be “liked’. Pages that can be liked can utlize this option.  This is the least marketing-friendly option, since users’ messages will not be public, but it does offer ease to Facebook friends/fans.

You can read all about the new Facebook Contest changes here. Remember to bookmark the FrontGate blog so you can stay updated on the latest faith-based marketing and social media tips.  You’ll get to learn from our experience serving as “Your Gateway to the Christian Audience.”

For more tips, explore our tips archives for Faith-based Marketing in general, or specifically for Social Media.