Running a promotion or a competition with Cool Tabs should be a very fast and simple process, which shouldn’t take more than a few minutes. However, if we want this to be that simple, it’s important that we prepare in advance all the materials we may need to get our competition set up. Depending on the type of promotion or competition we have chosen, we will need some specific customised designs and contents.
If what you really want to know is which images and sizes you would need, we suggest you take a look at our Design guide for promotions and contests.
Key Content Needed to Run a Promotion
In this section, you will learn what text and images you should prepare, no matter what, before your promotion starts:
1. Text
The following are the copies you should come up with before you set up your promo or competition:
1.1. Tab name to be displayed on Facebook:
This option is only mandatory for the competitions which are to be posted on Facebook. The name or short text we include here will be linked to our Facebook application and it’s usually the promotion name or title.
1.2. Promotion name or title
If you have already decided what format you want to use in your campaign and what you are going to give to participants as a reward for their participation, you just need to put this into a few words, and that would be the title of your promotion. Come up with something original and able to attract the users you were targeting when you designed the campaign. The title can already reveal the objectives of the promotion: “Get a 50% off voucher“, or else, be a bit more attractive and arouse people’s curiosity: “Will you be the chosen one for the curse of the scorpion?”.
1.3. Description
This text will be displayed under the promo’s title and should briefly but clearly explain what the competition is about and how people can participate. You can change the font and size of your text and edit font styles (bold, italics, etc), include pictures, etc., to encourage visitors to become participants. You can also include your own html code, which can be very useful to fully customise your promotion or, for example, upload a video from Youtube or Vimeo.
1.4. Text to be shown after user participation
Once participation is complete, a message will be displayed for users. You can customise this message to make it your own thank you note, and include pictures and videos. You can use this section to inform participants, in case there is something else they need to do once they have completed their participation. You can also take this opportunity to remind users what steps they need to follow to have a chance to win the competition. As it so happens with the description field, this field also allows you to include your own html code to be able to fully customise this section.
1.5. Competition terms
The terms and conditions of your competition are not a mandatory field of the competition settings. However, we strongly advise you to incorporate them, as the default settings will only include the General Terms and Conditions as Service Providers.
In the competition’s terms and conditions you can explain how the competition works step by step, what criteria are going to be used to select the winner, and what kinds of actions can disqualify them from the contest, among other things. It is also important to provide users with information on how their personal details will be used. Don’t forget that the promotion administrator/s will be the one who manages user participation and selects the winner or winners through Cool Tabs, since our applications allow him/her to do so. However, our platform doesn’t take responsibility for this, so it would be advisable to inform of this in the terms and conditions of your competition.
Here you will find a template for you to draft your own terms and conditions (ES).
2. Pictures
Pictures are a major player in your promotion. They enable you to create a promotion with more personality and originality. The best thing to do is to prepare these graphic materials before you start to fill in the form that enables you to create a new promotion or competition. Cool Tabs supports the following image formats: .jpg, .gif, and .png. The maximum file size for any image that is uploaded to the campaign is 1MB.
All our applications can resize any images that you want to use throughout the promotion. However, if you take the final size of the image into account when designing it, the results will be better, as the image won’t lose its quality.
The following are the most important pictures for a promotion or contest (none of them are compulsory, but strongly recommended for the campaign to become more attractive to users):
2.1. Promo’s main picture
This is the star of your campaign, as it’s the first thing users see on the landing page of the promo. The main picture of the promotion performs two distinct functions: To let users know what is the theme of the promo or competition, and to provide them with relevant information about it. Often, it also describes the procedure users need to follow in order to participate in the competition. Then, further details on how to participate are included in the description section of the promotion.
Size: 810px wide and unlimited height.
2.2. Picture to be shown after user participation
This will be the last image to be displayed and it will appear after user participation is complete. It is normally used to thank users for their participations and to provide them with some useful information (such as when and where the names of the winners are going to be announced), recommend actions to get more votes, to score more points, etc. You can also use this section to offer discount vouchers.
Size: 810px wide and unlimited height.
2.3. Picture to be displayed when users share the promotion on Facebook
This picture will appear when a user or fan page shares the link to the promotion or contest, or to his/her participation. This picture will include a title and a description that you can also customise in the “additional details” section of your promo’s settings. If no image is uploaded in this section, the promo’s main picture will be displayed by default.
Size: We recommend 1200x630px (the minimum size is 600x315px)
2.4 Picture to be displayed in the Applications section of the Facebook page
If you are planning to post your promotion or competition on Facebook, you will need a picture for the Applications section of your fan page. This section will be found on the left-hand side of the Facebook page, on the space reserved for the apps you have installed.
Size: 111x74px (smaller or bigger sizes are not supported)
3. Additional graphic materials
3.1. Picture to be displayed at the top of the participation form
This picture will appear on the top of the form, as a banner, taking up the full width of the page. If you want to include a picture on the heading of the form, we recommend you use a picture that is not very high, so that the scroll bar of the page is not too long. We can also use a particular header picture and, then, ask questions about it on the participation form, or else, use this space to upload some text or video for it to appear at the beginning of the form and provide users with useful information about the details they need to include on the form.
Size: 810px wide and unlimited height.
3.2. Promo’s background picture
Our templates feature a white background that we personally love. However, depending on the design of your promo, you may want to customise the background image. In this case, you will need a picture which is 810px wide and whose height takes up the full length of your promotion page. Don’t forget that the background image you select here will appear in all the pages of your promotion or contest.
Size: 810px wide and unlimited height (the image can be smaller, in which case, you can select the option to horizontally or vertically repeat the picture, or in both directions).
3.3. Picture to be displayed on the description section of the competition
Besides including some text, you can also add a picture to the description section. These pictures can be uploaded through the editor option available in the ‘Promotion description’ section.
Size: 672px wide and unlimited height.
3.4. Picture to be displayed before the promotion starts and picture to be shown when the promotion ends.
It is possible to show different content to visitors before the promotion starts and once it has ended. This content, as it so happens with the main description of the promo, is created with our html editor, which also enables you to upload pictures. This option can be very useful if we are planning to publish the application before the contest starts. Instead of showing the “there is no promotion available” message (which is the default message that is displayed before the promotion or competition starts), you can go for a different message, one that arouses user curiosity and informs them, for example, of the start date of the promotion. Moreover, a picture can also be useful once the competition has ended, as we can inform participants of future editions of the contest or the names of the winners with a special made-to-measure creativity.
*If you want to show winners names using the automatic option available with Cool Tabs, you don’t need to enable the option to show a different design when the promotion ends.
Size: 810px wide and unlimited height.
3.5. Pictures for the customised questions and answers of the participation form
If the format of your competition is a quiz in which participants need to answer questions, you can include different images on the question or answer pages, so that the quiz looks more attractive to participants. These pictures can be added on the ‘Customised questions to be included in the form’ section.
Size of the pictures for the customised questions: 628x353px.
Size of the pictures for the customised answers: 300x168px.
3.6. Picture to be included in the email sent to users after participation.
Sending an email to participants after their participation in your promotion or competition is a good way to strengthen your relationship with them. This email can include a short text to thank them for participating and let them know when the winners will be selected and/or how this selection will take place. You can also add a picture to this email so it’s more original.
Size: We recommend 560px wide and unlimited height.
4. Materials to be used on white label applications only
4.1. Icon for the application created with Facebook Developers
When you use our Cool Promo White Label and create your own application with Facebook Developers to post your promotion, you need to prepare a picture that can be used as an icon for your app. This way, when the application requests the relevant permissions to users before they participate, the icon of your new application will be displayed.
Size: 1024x1024px.
4.2. Small icon for the application created with Facebook Developers
Even though it is not compulsory to upload the icon in a smaller size, we do recommend it so the icon stands out as much as possible on invitations or in any other place where it appears in a much smaller size.
Size: 16x16px.
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