Where to Put the Rules
Although we provide a Promotion Rules field in the Form Settings, this isn’t necessarily the best place to put the full text of your promotion rules. Two drawbacks to this approach are that it clutters your entry form with a long, boring block of text; and the rules disappear if the Form Widget is set to disappear (usually, you’ll want the rules to be available even after the entry phase is over).
Use a Rich Text Widget Configured as a Popup
If you’re certain you don’t need the rules to be available beyond the life of the campaign, you can add a Rich Text Widget configured as a popup and activate it from a Links Widget. For instructions on how to do this, see the Action Widget help doc.
Use Widget Scheduling
If your campaign is published to Facebook, and the contest must begin or end at a certain time, use the widget visibility settings to designate when the Form Widget(s) are visible and when they are hidden. See the Widget Visibility help doc for more information.
Have Separate Entry and Voting Phases
To make your voting contest more fair to those who enter late, consider having separate entry and voting phases. During the entry period, users can join the contest, but voting isn’t available. Then, during the voting period, entries are not accepted.
Dealing with Fake Facebook Accounts
Users WILL create fake Facebook accounts to circumvent entry and voting restrictions. Here are some tips to help limit this practice:
- Restrict voting as much as possible. For example, use "once only." Or, "once per entry only." This makes a fake Facebook account hardly worth the effort if it’s only good for one vote.
- Use two rounds to determine the winner. In the first round, votes determine which entries make it into the second round. In the second round, use some other method to determine the winner from the pool of finalists, such as a random draw, or subjective judging. See Pick Random Entry.
- Instead of using two rounds, you can choose a winner at random from all entries, but using the vote totals as a way to increase the odds of winning. Users who cheat will increase their odds of winning, but they won’t be guaranteed to win. See Pick Random Entry.
- Make it clear in the promotion rules that all entries suspected of being fraudulent will be deleted.