The Contest Module
With the Contests module, you can create detailed contests where users can submit photos and videos as entries and vote on their favorites. You can control every phase of the contest, making it as simple or elaborate as you want.
In this article:
Adding a Contest Module to a Content & Apps View
Configuring Your Contest
About the Basics Tab
·
To create a new Submission Tag
About the Phases Tab
· Creating a
Phase
· Phase
Basics
· Submission
Tags
· Share
Options
· Phase
Pages
About the Entry Form Tab
· To add a form field
to your entry form
· Multiple Media
Entries
· Editing a
Field
About the Options Tab
· Advanced
Options
About the Contests Grid
Moderating Contest Submissions
About Metrics Recorded for the Contest Module
Adding a Contest Module to a Content & Apps View
Drag-and-drop the Contest module from the Forms section onto the View Layout. Give the module a name and any header text (optional), then click OK.
Note: This module can only be placed in the full-width position.
The dialog box will change to show you Configure Your Contest. Click that button and you’ll be taken to the Contests tab, where you will create the meat of the contest.
Note: You should not put more than 1 Contest module on a View at a time. Having multiple Contest modules causes errors on the View.
Configuring Your Contest
Each contest has tabs that you need to set up: Basics, Phases, Entry Form, and Options. Let's go through each of these tabs in detail.
About the Basics Tab
The Basics tab is where you set the basic information for your contest.
- Contest Name - the name of your contest as it will appear in Content & Apps
- Facebook Contest Name - the name of your contest that will appear on Facebook.
- Contest Description - a short description of your contest. This will only appear in Content & Apps.
Submission Tags
You can also create Submission Tags in the Basics area. Submission Tags help you control which entries to your contest appear on Facebook at times you decide. For example, if your contest will narrow the submissions to the Top Ten entries and you want those to appear in a specific phase, you will need to create a top ten submission tag that you can attach to those entries.
To create a new Submission Tag:
Click New Submission Tag. Enter the name of the tag in the text field that appears, then click Create Tag. The tag will then appear in the Tag List.
About the Phases Tab
The Phases is where you can configure different stages of your contest, like Entry Time, Voting, Top Ten Entries, Winner Announced. You can add as many phases as you want and can fully customize them.
To get started, click Add a Phase.
Creating a Phase
Each phase has several parts. Let’s start with the basics.
Phase Basics
Fill out the following fields for your phase:
- Phase Name - Give your phase a name. This name will only appear in Content & Apps.
- Start/End Date - Choose a start and end date for this phase.
- Phase Header - Give your phase a name that will appear on Facebook.
- Phase Description - Describe what is happening in this phase and any important details about it.
- Enable Voting - Check this box if you want users to vote on entries during this phase. either per day or per phase.
- Vote Rate Per Time Period - If you enable voting, use these drop downs to set how many times a user can vote during a time period. You can set per day or per phase.
- Show votes for submissions in gallery: This box is checked by default. Unchecking it will remove the vote count from the submissions in the gallery.
- Enable Multiple Submissions: Check this box if
you want users to be able to submit more than one entry to your
contest. If you check the box, two drop down menus will appear,
allowing you to choose how many submissions you want to allow per
time period. The options available for time period are: Per Day, Per Week, and Per Month. If you select Per Week, there will be an option for a Sunday to Saturday week, or a Monday to Sunday week.
Note: Multiple submissions are limited in when they can be submitted by how many submissions are allowed. For example, if you choose to allow 2 submissions per day, users will be able to submit once every 12 hours.
Submission Tags
If you want certain submissions to appear in this phase, you’ll need to add a Submission Tag to those entries and add that tag here. Check the box labeled Enable Submission Tagging, then use the Submission Tag for this Phase dropdown to select the Submission Tag (which you created in Basics) that you want to use in this phase.
Share Options
When a user shares this contest on Facebook, you can set how the following items in the Share dialog will appear:
- Title - Choose a title. We suggest either the contest name or the phase name.
- Image - You can upload an image from your computer.
- Description - Give a short description to encourage users to participate in the contest.
Phase Pages
Each phase can have multiple pages as part of the phase. Use the on/off radio buttons to choose which pages you want to appear in this particular phase. If you choose to turn a page on, click Show to see your options for that page.
- Landing Page - The landing page is a static image the user will click to start the phase. You can upload an image from your computer.
- Submissions - If you have submissions enabled for this phase, you can have an image display on the entry form, and a thank you banner display after the user has submitted their entry. You can also have the Thank You banner act as a link to an outside page. Enter the URL you want the user to be taken to in the text field.
- Gallery - If you want submissions to display
in a gallery, you will set up the options for that here. Use the
Gallery Image Layout dropdown to choose how many
submissions will display on each page of the gallery. You can also
have intro text that will appear above the submission thumbnails.
Enter the text into the text field labeled Gallery Intro
Text.
If you would like the gallery to have an image banner at the top of the page, you can upload that here. - Leaderboard - You can have the submissions
with the most votes appear in a leaderboard on your contest. Use
the Leaderboard Image Layout dropdown to choose how
many submissions will display on each page of the Leaderboard. You
can also have intro text that will appear above the Leaderboard
thumbnails. Enter the text into the text field labeled
Leaderboard Intro Text.
If you would like the Leaderboard to have an image banner at the top of the page, you can upload that here.
Once you have finished setting all the options for the phase, click Save this Phase at the bottom of the page.
About the Entry Form Tab
The Entry Form tab is where you will build the entry form for users to enter your contest.
All the form fields you will need appear on the left hand side of the screen. The fields are divided into 2 categories: Standard and Custom. Standard fields are simple, like Name and Email Address, fields that require specific information. Custom fields allow the user to enter their own information and give you various methods to allow that, like Labels, Long Answer and Text Area.
To add a form field to your entry form:
Hover over the field name in the left hand menu. A green plus sign will appear - click on the field and it will appear in the form space on the right.
After you have added a form field, you can move it above and below other fields you have added by dragging and dropping.
Multiple Media Entries
You can allow users to submit multiple media entries with their entry form. So you can allow them to enter two photos, or a photo and a video, etc. Say you are running a contest for your weight loss drink; people can enter a before and after photo of themselves for the contest.
All you need to do is drag two Media Upload fields into your form.
Editing a Field
If the field doesn't do exactly what you want it to, you can edit certain aspects of it.
Edit the field by clicking the field to select it, then clicking the pencil icon on the right side of the field. The left menu will change to the Edit Field area. Each field has different editable options, so you'll have to check to see which options that one has. However, there are several that are universal.
- Field Labels - Change what the label of the field says. For example, you can change "last name" to say "Surname".
- Validation - Checking the required box makes the user have to verify the information they enter into that field. They can verify it by email, zip code, or URL, which you select from the dropdown.
- Make Answer Visible on Facebook - If you check this box, the answer the user enters into the field will be visible on their entry on Facebook.
- User Instructions - Any text you enter here will appear under the field. If the field needs specific instructions, this is the place to enter them.
- Additional CSS Classes - If you want this field to be styled in a specific way, you can enter that code into this box.
Once you are finished adding and editing fields, click Save.
About the Options Tab
The Options tab is where you can add four different types of information to your contest: Terms and Conditions, Contest Rules, Frequently Asked Questions, and Privacy Policy.
You can either manually enter this info yourself in the provided text field, or enter a URL that hosts that information. However you enter the information, it will appear as a link on your contest.
Advanced Options
Your contest will display on Facebook using our default theme. If you want to change its appearance, you can do so by linking to a theme folder in this section. The theme you link to can contain external stylesheets, javascript, or layout files.
Copy and paste the URL of the theme folder you want to link to in the text field.
Note: Please make sure to use a secure URL for accessing your theme folder.
Once you are finished entering options, click the green Save Options.
About the Contests Grid
After you have created and configured your contest, it will appear in the Contests Grid on the Contests tab. From the Contest Grid, you can edit your contest, and view or moderate your contest submissions.
Moderating Contest Submissions
Once your contest has begun, you will need to view and/or moderate the contest submissions. To do this, you’ll need to go to the Contest Grid on the Contests tab.
Find the contest you want to moderate in the grid and click View/Moderate. You’ll be taken to Submissions area for that contest.
All the submissions to the contest will appear here. You can download all of the information from those submissions in a CSV file by clicking the Click Here text.
From the Submissions Grid, you can delete submissions and assign submissions tags, either for individual submissions or in bulk. All the submissions tags you created in the Basics area will appear both on each submission and at the bottom of the grid.
To add a submissions tag to every submission at once:
Check the Select All checkbox at the top of the Submissions Grid, then click the tag you want to add from the list at the bottom of the grid.
Any actions you do on the Submissions area will be automatically saved.
About Metrics Recorded for the Contest Module
Content & Apps captures metrics for:
- Module views
- Forms submitted (found in module configuration)
- All data submitted (found in module configuration)