Has anyone played with different time periods  to see how long is too long to have a contest running?  I’ve been playing around with trials on our Facebook page to see if I could find the best app for me to use (that was still cost efficient since I have to run contests on 3 pages).  I finally decided on shortstack.com.  The last trial I ran was for just over 2 days.  I ended up with 24 entries and most of those (18) were within the 1st 24 hours.

I’d like to hear what contests have worked best for you . . . and how long you run them.

I’m actually cool  with Shortstack.  It does what I want (a lot), creates easy to understand interfaces, etc . . .

My question is more about types of contests that generate the most interest among current fans as well as gain more new fans. and how long is the best length of time to run any certain type of contest.

With golf courses, pretty much anything can run . . . photo contests, “My Story” contests, random entry contests (give us your email, random winner chosen), etc . . .

@russellallert, thanks so much for your valuable info and insight about Facebook’s contest guidelines.

I’ve heard of some apps leaving you stranded. By this I mean that, for example, if I were to use ShortStack’s design tools and later stop using the service would I lose what I used the tools to create?

Or am I missing the point of those tools?

Forgive the newbie questions, but I gotta start somewhere. 

@daveholmes ~ if I understand correctly, you’re asking if you’d have the code to be able to move those pages/contests someplace else.  From what I’ve seen so far, you don’t have your code. 

Personally, I’m only using them temporarily until I develop code of my own to run them off my own sites.  Running contests and such that I’ve developed through them will help me see what I want in my own design.

I chose to pay for my service through shortstack while I am using it because 1)  I liked that they had my entries on a database that I could access, and 2)  I want to do voting and photo contests . . . which I would need their databases for.

@russellallert I have a question about

“No Notification Through Facebook

You cannot notify winners through Facebook. This includes via messages, chat or posts. This means that you will need to collect their email address so you can contact any winners.”

So, the following is unacceptable?

Thanks to everyone who tried that last contest app out. I liked it ~ it didn’t seem to confuse anyone and all entries were received (that I know about, some people didn’t post and let me know). Looks like we’ll be using that app to do contests

We do have a winner for the second time (since I accidentally had it pick one yesterday, LOL). Jeff Stolaruk ~ check your email to find out about claiming your prize. Congrats!

Next question . . . what do you think about photo contests? Keep in mind that most of the ones you see (where people are “Liking” pics to vote) are NOT LEGAL by Facebook’s terms. The app software we just used will allow us to run photo contests. Anyone have an idea for a themed photo contest that we can do a trial run with?

@russellallert  LOL . . . that was actually part of my fan page post, I should have put it all in quotes.  Since it’s not season yet, I didn’t want to throw a theme out that no one would have pics of.  Once season starts, I’ll give them a week (or two) to take pics based on a certain theme, then start a contest.  We need new pics of each hole, so I’ll probably base the first contests (in season) around each hole.

When I announce the winner like that, I always tell them to check their email for the info.  That way Facebook knows that their prize is not coming through the site.

@russellallert ~ OOPS!  We have golf courses

I’m betting it makes more sense now

@dedimason

It really depends on the prize.  If you’re giving away a free coffee, not more than a day.  If you’re giving away something bigger like an iPad, 2 weeks or so.  I gave away a few vacations with a client and those ran 3 months with a lot of success however after month 2 the entries were barely trickling in.  People don’t typically want to wait a long time to receive the prize they signed up for but are willing to wait if it’s good.

@dedimason Sounds good! The prizes you mentioned sounds good as well.

@karendecker http://www.shortstack.com has a free subscription but I chose to use a paid subscription ($15/month) to try them out.  The paid version gives you access to their databases, which is a nice addition, making it all very simple.  I will be upgrading to the $30/month version now that I’ve given them a try and know that I like their system.  I have 3 active pages and more in the works, so I needed to be able to use the app on multiple pages at once.

I use Rafflecopter.com.  I love it because it is free and the entrants are the promoters.  I use it for book launches and the results have been very good.

@janisfriesler ~ I tried rafflecopter.  I didn’t like that my fans were confused.  Some thought they had entered when they hadn’t.  I wouldn’t have known had it not been a trial, but I asked them to comment when they entered.  I also like the wide variety I have with shortstack . . . I can even rework the css if I want to.

I had always heard that northsocial and wildfireapp were the best for contests – anyone used them?

@Russellallert

 Is there a free app to organize contest for a fan page with more than 2K?What are the key points to remember while organizing a theme based photo contest? I have run my previous contests from few days to few weeks but each time I see my fan base decreasing. How to make a contest go viral?

While I haven’t been using FB for contests or sweepstakes, all of our data from other media has pointed to shorter competitions always getting more bang for the buck. People are rarely willing to wait for things these days, so the more immediate the better. Obviously the bigger the prize the longer you can extend it, but you don’t want to give people time to forget about it. In the fast paced world we live in, I think any competition lasting more than 2 weeks will begin to lose interest. Just my 2cents.