In August, Facebook changed its Promotion Guidelines, now allowing businesses to host a Facebook contest directly on a Facebook Page without having to develop a Facebook app. Businesses can now use native Facebook features for contest entries, and use the Facebook "like" feature as a contest voting mechanism. However, businesses must not encourage users to tag themselves in content that they are not actually depicted in, must still state that Facebook will not be liable to contest entrants, and cannot carry out contests on personal Timelines.
Facebook used to require that contests be carried out through apps on Facebook, which created a barrier for businesses that couldn't invest in developing a Facebook app. These changes lift those barriers.
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