Facebook recently relaxed their requirements for running promotions on the social networking site. Companies that previously were effectively priced out of the Facebook promotions market are now taking advantage of the new policy to run their own sweepstakes or giveaways. However, the following legal issues must be addressed in order to run a successful Facebook promotion:

1) Comply with the Facebook Policies. Although Facebook no longer requires requesting prior approval for a promotion, they have laid out strict guidelines with which all promoters must comply. Noncompliance can mean immediate suspension of the company's Facebook Page.

2) Draft contest rules specific to your promotion. There are multitudes of sample contest rules to peruse online, but it is unlikely that a sample rule will meet all of the requirements for a new promotion. Consult with an attorney to avoid running afoul of state or federal promotions laws.

3) Obtain prior approval before using images of items in a giveaway. If the promotion is designed to give away a product or service that you do not own (think: Apple iPad®), make sure you have followed the product or service owner's trademark or copyright guidelines or obtained prior written approval before using their images or other trademarked or copyrighted material in your promotion.

According to Andrew Martin, an attorney with Scott & Scott, LLP: "It is critical to resist the temptation to ignore these key legal issues before running a Facebook promotion. An otherwise successful promotion can quickly and sometimes permanently damage a company's reputation if Facebook deactivates the company's Page for violations of its policies or a third-party's intellectual property." For more information, please contact Mr. Martin at 800-596-6176 or amartin@scottandscottllp.com