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Cheating is bad. Most of us learned this in preschool. Yet anyone who has run a contest or promotion on Facebook, or participated in one,  has probably wondered whether it’s on the up and up. Unfortunately contest fraud is a significant problem for businesses that are running contests.

The good news is that there are some things you can do to protect your contest and your brand. For starters, familiarize yourself with Facebook’s promotion guidelines.

Then check out this podcast about preventing contest fraud from Shortstack CEO Jim Belosic and Ben Mach:

If you can’t listen right now, here’s a recap:

1. Write a clear set of rules for your contest and require that users agree to the rules and regulations before they are allowed to participate. Make it known in this section that cheating will not be tolerated.

2. Let participants  know up front that creating a fake Facebook profile violates Facebook policy, is considered cheating, and will automatically make the participant’s vote not count and/or make him/her ineligible to win the contest.

3. In the Rules section of your contest, state that voting counts for a percentage of the contest but that the final winner will be determined by a panel of judges.  You can decide how many finalists there will be.This gives you more control as the brand or administrator.

4. In the Rules section of your contest state that if you suspect fraud, you reserve the right to adjust final vote totals because you…

5. Log everything!

6. If you are giving away something of significant value, require that participants give you their email address.