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Facebook is changing its policies, allowing state and provincially owned lotteries to take full advantage of this powerful marketing platform. Has the time finally come for lotteries to embrace social media?

On Wednesday April 14, 2010, Facebook announced an important change in its policy regarding lottery commissions controlled by government entities in the United States and Canada.

The big news: Facebook is finally lifting its prohibition on lotteries from promoting themselves on Facebook. At the same time, they announced two important “enhancements” to manage the age and geographic location of viewers of lottery-run Facebook pages and ads. In doing so, Facebook has blown away two of the most significant impediments for lotteries to using Facebook.

First, let me recap the changes:

• Lottery commissions can now advertise on Facebook.  Ads must be “age-gated,” meaning access is limited to at least 18 and older depending on local law, and “geo-gated,” meaning the ads will only be seen in the region that controls the lottery commission.  For example, the Atlantic Lottery Corporation must restrict ads for its local products to Facebook users in the Maritimes and Newfoundland.
• Lottery commissions can now establish Facebook pages and create content on those pages without review by Facebook.  Pages must be age and geo-gated.
• Lottery commissions can now market contests and sweepstakes on Facebook. Pages must be age and geo-gated. The prizes for these promotions cannot be gambling products, such as lottery tickets.

Another important change relates to the “organic impressions” generated by a Facebook ad. If a person takes an action (watches a video, RSVPs, becomes a “fan” of the sponsor), their response — and the accompanying ad message — is broadcast to everyone connected to that user on Facebook. These secondary impressions are akin to word-of-mouth advertising, and are free to the advertiser. With the announcement, Facebook is committing to age and geo-gating these impressions as well.

Now that Facebook has laid out the welcome mat, will lottery commissions step up? We think there are several important questions any lottery marketer must ask themselves as they contemplate a move on Facebook:

• Are your products “social enough” for Facebook? When it comes to social media, not all products are created equal. Some, like sports betting games, are inherently social which means Facebook users need little encouragement to engage with them. But most lottery products need to work a lot harder to engage Facebook users. We encourage our clients to evaluate the “socialness” of each product in their portfolio on the basis of three factors – entertainment, educational and emotional value.
• Do you have something interesting to say? Broadcasting jackpots and winners does not make for particularly engaging content in social media. Nor does repeatedly asking users what they would do with this week’s Powerball payout.  Engagement on Facebook demands a thoughtful, substantive content to spark lively and self-sustaining conversations.
• Have you considered the organizational implications of social media like Facebook? Social media is not a short-term marketing campaign; it’s a long-term commitment that will potentially touch everyone, from customer service reps all the way up to the minister’s office.  So you need to plan accordingly.

One last consideration:  How will social media influence your product design? In this era, smart marketers are designing features into their products which make them inherently more social, and ideally suited to social media like Facebook.

Peter Coish is president of Cloud AdAgents, a digital and social media communications agency based in Toronto. Peter can be reached at 647-291-5567 or at pcoish@CloudAdAgents.com.

Tags: engagement, Facebook, social media, terms of services