News & Insights

Social media contests can be a great way for businesses to engage with existing customers, drive up new user participation, increase brand visibility and foster new sales through marketing data and analysis. However, running a successful campaign requires knowledge of, and compliance with, the social media platform rules and regulations along with applicable laws.

Part of this involves having clear and transparent rules that are set out in legally compliant terms and conditions. Whilst it might seem overkill for a giveaway type campaign, it is important. This shows your business is on top of its obligations and is using social media platforms responsibly and legally for its business marketing which can only be a win-win for everyone.

Key considerations

Social media contest terms and conditions need to take account of each social media platform’s terms and conditions for running contests as well as other rules, regulations or codes of conduct stipulated by the Advertising Standards Agency.

You will therefore need to ensure that you tailor your rules (terms and conditions) for each competition and potentially each platform.

Types of contest

To tailor your terms and conditions, you will need to understand the nuances of each contest you wish to promote.

For example, a simple giveaway of your product where followers are asked to share and like a social media post or placing individuals who subscribe to your newsletter into a draw may seem straightforward on the face of it because it does not require any purchase. However, consideration will need to be given to:

• whether you need consent to gather email addresses;
• whether there is a requirement for anyone sharing to have a public account for you to track if they have shared; and
• if your prize needs any caveats expressly stipulated to the potential winner. For example, if it is a food product and contains nuts, this will need to be made very clear. Age restrictions may need to be considered too, depending on your prize and its suitability for younger users.

Another more complex example would be a contest where purchase is required by the participants. Would any purchase be deemed eligible for consideration for the purposes of forming a contract between your business and each participant? Does extra consideration need to be given to purchases that are discounted?

In addition, further questions will need addressing, such as:

• how would proof of purchase be shown?
• how can you make it clear that purchasing does not guarantee winning the contest?
• does multiple purchases result in multiple entries into the contest?

As marketing teams become more creative with consumer engagement campaigns, the terms and conditions will need to be adapted and updated in order to best protect your business.

Benefits and risks

While in some instances there is currently no legal requirement to have terms and conditions accompany each social media contest campaign you promote, it is clear that good practice would warrant having the terms in place even if it is optional.  Some pertinent benefits include:

• Terms and conditions will give transparency about the rules of the contest.
• You would be reducing the risk of participants complaining they have been induced into entry without fully understanding the risks to them.
• The more detail you can lay out in the terms and conditions, the more compliant you will be with the use of social media platforms for your business marketing.
• Having terms and conditions in place, even when you are not obliged to, shows credibility and how seriously you take running social media campaigns responsibly.

On the other hand, choosing not to have terms and conditions in place (or just writing the rules of the contest in a few lines in one post) could expose you to risks that might be more costly than putting the terms in place at the start. Examples include:

• Reputational risk; if your rules are not clear and participants enter without fully understanding the rules, this could impact your business reputation with your online followers.
• Social media platform suspension; if a participant reports you for misleading or not being clear in how you run a contest, you could potentially face a ban or suspension from the social media platform, impacting your ability to market.
• If you forget to mention pertinent points in your post such as allergy risks, where participants should reside etc, you could face backlash and worse still, a complaint to Trading Standards or a similar agency.

In some cases it will be a legal requirement to have terms in place, and action can be taken if you have not provided the minimum information required of you. In short, having appropriately drafted terms and conditions tailored for each competition you decide to run is good business sense.

How we can help

Our team of commercial solicitors can work with you to produce appropriate terms and conditions bespoke to each contest type and social media platform used.

For more information, please get in contact with our Company and Commercial Team.

This article is for general information only and does not constitute legal or professional advice. Please note that the law may have changed since this article was published.