**Please Read All, We have a Giveaway at the End!**
There is a place that many call ‘home' and others call ‘complicated'. I'm talking, of course, about Facebook! Facebook is known for many things, but did you ever realize how many Facebook giveaways are out there? Whether you're new to Facebook or are a Social Media Queen (or King), Facebook Messaging is an innovative way for companies to reach you to let you know you've won a prize. This blog will help you stay on top of your Facebook Messages and make sure you hit that ‘grace period' before it is too late to claim a prize!
Here are some Pro Tips as it comes to Facebook Messaging:
1). Take a look at the image above and you will see the most recent Facebook Messages that has been sent/received by this individual.
1a) Notice the different coloring, gray and white; If you see white that means one of two things. If you see white with an arrow pointing back towards the photo as pictured above with Debbie and Linda that means that you've not only seen, but you've also read and replied to the message. If you see where Megan has written in white but do not see an arrow pointing back, that means you've read the message but have not replied.
1b). If the message is a darker gray, those are messages that have not yet been clicked on or read. THIS is where you want to look to find the winning messages! I cannot stress how important it is to click on these messages as they could contain unclaimed wins.
2). The average Facebook Contest gives the winner 48 hours to claim their prize. Our suggestion is for you to check Facebook at least once a day. You can easily do this as part of your routine of checking your junk email folder in your regular email for wins along with your regular inbox.
3). The “other” folder is VERY important as well. MANY wins will go missing in that folder because if the person is not a ‘friend' of yours and tries to contact you then you will not get a notification. If you look up at the image, next to “inbox” it will say “other”. You have to click it with your mouse on a daily basis to see who's trying to contact you, it could be a winning message!
**Thank you for taking the time to read this and you now have “The Advantage”! As promised, we have a giveaway where all you have to do is complete the following actions below and make a comment. Use the these tips to check this weekend for a message from us saying that you've won! The randomly chosen winner will receive 3-months of FREE SweepstakesPlus.com access! Restrictions: 18+ US Only, Ends 1/23/2015
1. Follow us on Facebook:
2. Comment below your experiences with Facebook.
🙂
I would like to check my messages on facebook and see " You won a car". I can dream can't I ?
Thanks for the tips!
It's interesting.
I have missed some wins before because I did not realize the Other fb mailbox option. Now I make sure to check throughout the day to avoid missing anything. Thanks for the tips.
I always check my messages on Facebook, but I sometimes forget to check my "Other" folder. My tip is to remember that folder.
Great tips! I definitely will check Facebook at least once a day and my emails, too. Thanks for the giveaway!
Love this site. period. Just LOVE it…
Gmail tells me when I have facebook messages.
Thank you for the helpful tips
Thanks so much for the helpful info!
Interesting… I didn't even know there was an "other"!!
I try to stay on top of my emails. I also check my "other" folder. I also have messages emailed to me.
🙂
You're very welcome! We don't want you to miss out on a win 🙂
You're very welcome. Unfortunately it happens more often than people think, but if they take your advice and stay on top of it they won't have to endure what so many have.
That's a great idea. Many wins will end up as 'spam' when they should end up in the 'WIN' folder.
You're very welcome, and thank you for entering!
<3 Thank you!
Yes, thank you for bringing that up. You can get notifications through Facebook as well which is also a very good way to keep up so you don't miss a winning message!
You're very welcome!
Anytime, that's what we're here for!
Yep! You never know what your email will consider 'real' vs. 'spam' so its very important to check both!
Sounds like you have things in check! Very good to hear 🙂
Thanks for offering the sweeps!
These are helpful tips. I won on Facebook once, that I wouldn't have known if a friend hadn't messaged me. I also saw one I would gave won, but didn't see it in time. Thank you!
thanks for the tips
I've found a few messages in spam that I can't even open, so that has been frustrating with Facebook.
Facebook is a fun way to keep up with family and friends.
Thanks for helping those new to sweepstakes!!
I've won a few fb contest, just won a tee shirt yesterday and I've missed one fb prize, a box of candy bars and so I do try to check every day.
Facebook is a great way to keep up with family and friends.
I love being able to chat with my friends in other countries.
In truth, only use FB for contests ☺ Thanks for the help!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, sorry to hear about the one you missed. Sometimes pages will even just send you an @Nicole Flynn message that appears on your wall. Very difficult, but diligence paid off. I hope you shared your win with your friend, haha.
You're very welcome Shelley! It is our pleasure. We don't want anyone to miss out on a win.
I'm sorry to hear about the troubling experience. Have you tried searching the forums for an answer? I know the 'customer service' for Facebook is lacking but a lot of times other users will have encouraging and helpful tips to bypass bugs/problems.
For the longest time, I never knew about the "other" messages and missed a few wins 🙁
I agree completely! Many people I do not get to talk to or see on a daily basis is always just one click away, I love it!
You are very welcome! We will soon have a Twitter Messaging Tutorial so stay tuned 🙂
There's nothing wrong with that 🙂 Always grateful to help a fellow sweeper. Best of luck in 2015!
Thanks for sharing your experiences. That is a great tip to those who want to stay connected. We've come a long way from classmates.com haha
Sweepstakes Advantage ☺ I just got your message, thank you. I take it my FaceBook account is set correctly in order to receive Win Announcements – yes?
Oh wow, that's great that you won a t-shirt! Where did you win it from? Ah, sorry to hear about missing the prize but we've all been there so I completely understand. Due diligence definitely pays off.
I very rarely have messages in my other inbox but I still keep checking, you never know!! Thanks for all the tips SW!!
thanks
great tips
I found one I lost over a year ago by googling my name and they never sent a message just posted it on their timeline
Yes, thanks for the tips! I wish FB would change the settings so we can see an alert when a new message is in the "other" folder.
Great advice as usual. I signed up for alerts a long time ago. My last two sweeps wins were in my SPAM folder so I check that daily also.
How do you know a win when they post it on their site? Do you just have to go back and check yourself?
I've won a prize or two on Facebook, but I never knew about the other message page. I'll be checking it out now! Thanks for the info
Sweepstakes Advantage No, I decided that if something was important enough, they would try to get hold of me some other way.
Sweepstakes Advantage is the BEST site for contests!
I check Facebook several times a day. I usually check the number of messages I have in my "Other" folder as well. If the number is the same as yesterday, nothing new has arrived!
Just started doing Facebook giveaways in the last couple of months. Still trying to figure it all out, but have won a couple of nice prizes.
Thanks so much for the helpful information.
Sweepstakes Advantage Big O Tires-Missouri
This is all really helpful! Thank you! I am learning that it is helpful to make "sweeping' friends on facebook and establish relationships. They could help tag you in a win that you may not have seen otherwise.
well hope checking the gray puts me in the pink or green as in money
No Facebook wins yet, but still trying!
I know several people who weren't aware of the "other" folder on FB and missed wins.
wow, I never noticed the "other" folder. thx for great advice!
Thanks for the information!
Good info…thanks!
Thanks for the tips I almost lost a win over the OTHER folder thing I was lucky and the company giving the prize away understood fully and sent my prize. I also google my name at least once to twice a week I have found wins that way too
Very informative, I never knew about the "other" folder.
Syb Verkleir , As long as you're checking your inbox and other folder on a daily basis you're good to go 🙂 If you need any help with anything else, feel free to ask
Oh no! I'm sorry to hear that, however that is a big reason why we wanted to do this blog article was to inform everyone so you don't miss a chance at a prize. Some companies will go out of there way if you've missed a prize and still give you a consolation prize so they're worth holding onto and responding to.
That's the spirit! Yea they are rare, but I'm glad you still look though because you're right, a big win could be sitting right there waiting for you.
You're very welcome!
Thank you for taking the time to read them. Glad they are helpful 🙂
Oh no, I'm sorry to hear that, I hope it wasn't a big win 🙁 We do appreciate you telling us through your experience, that's a good tip for others to be aware of as well.
You're very welcome! That would be nice if you could change those settings. To my knowledge, you just have to be cognizant that it exists and click on it..Maybe someday they'll get rid of it or at least let you know when you've received an 'other' message.
Thank you for your kind words Carol! Yes, alerts are great, especially when they are a win! Spam folders seem to like to eat wins so I'm glad you shed light on that for us. Glad you checked and claimed your prizes.
You bring up a very good point. It is important to check the rules because not all companies will send a message. If the rules state that they will "announce the winner" most likely you have to go back to the page to check to see if you won. However, the majority will contact you via the contact information in the submission form.
You're very welcome, glad we could help! Congrats on your prizes that you've won on FB.
You are too kind 🙂 Thank you!
Sounds likes a great game plan! It is always exciting when you see a new message because each new one could be a win. That's how I look at it, but I'm a little biased haha.
Welcome to the world of Facebook Giveaways. They can be complicated so be sure to read all the fine print (official rules) so you don't miss out on a win 🙂
You're very welcome Diane! We always want to see our members win and give them any advantage possible 🙂 Best of luck and happy sweeping for 2015.
You're very welcome! (P.S. I also went to UNCW!)
Glad we could help and you're very welcome. That is a really good tip too, the larger your network the more Facebook giveaways you can share for extra entries as well 🙂 Thanks for sharing that with us Marie.
Amen to that! Best of luck and happy sweeping 🙂
Glad to see your optimism! You can't win if you don't try so that's all you can do. Hopefully you'll get a message real soon saying you've won.
After writing this article, we realized the same thing and were glad that now people are aware. Facebook needs to make it more prominent or at least provide notice in my opinion. Sorry to hear about your friends missing their chance at wins.
You are part of the majority, glad to know you're now aware and hopefully will find some wins in the future there 🙂
You're very welcome Lisa. Anything we can do to help our users get the 'advantage'!
That company deserves an award for honoring that! Which company was it so we can be aware of their generosity? That's great to hear about finding wins by using Google to find your name on a win list. A great suggestion for everyone with a unique name 🙂
We're glad you were able to pull away some good information. Hopefully it will lead you to a win! Best of luck in 2015.
Sweepstakes Advantage I looked and it was too long ago and for the life of me I cant remember it was awhile back I just remember it since I first learned about the OTHER folder a fellow sweeper told me about it and I went there and there was a win. And even if you dont have a unique name as long as the form lets you you can use your first and middle name like Jane Anne then last name and it will make it more unique for you to be able to search it…..if I recall what the company was I will let you know
Deb Ragno, Very True and hopefully they'll get that fixed. Chances are you're not the only one with that issue, Facebook is full of bugs.
Chuck Aeschbacher Jr., Cool, thanks for sharing that with us. Hope you enjoy the T-Shirt!!
Sonya Allstun That was really nice of your friend to show you that 'Other' folder. So many people we've met who've commented didn't know it existed either so we're glad that now more people are aware. I'm sure you'll remember that company at some point, but in the meantime, props to them for going above and beyond! Also, thank you for sharing that suggestion with checking out how to Google your name for wins, I hope others are taking notes!
Sweepstakes Advantage Thanks! Have to chuckle, I think I live between by inbox and Junque folder with bated breath looking to see, "Congratulations!" in the Subject 🙂 🙂
Wow! Thanks for the info! I wonder how many wins I've missed? 🙂
Thanks for the tips!
You're very welcome Rebecca! Hopefully you haven't missed any, as I checked my 'other' folder just in case and didn't miss any so it is possible! 🙂
You're very welcome Teri! Very glad to help.
Good tips, Thanks.
I am so glad I got the Sweepstakes Plus last year, need to win for this year
These are good things to know.
Thanks for the reminder. I had a winning message in my fb "Other" box awhile ago, but did not know it was there! The sponsor was nice enough to send an email to my regular email and notify me of the win …. what a great sponsor and so glad they had my email addy! Also, love your profile pick, the gray tabbies I have known are such wonderful beings.
You're very welcome 🙂 Thank you for responding!
Welcome the Sweepstakes Plus family! Thank you for your comment as it puts you in the running to win a 3-month subscription for this year 🙂 We'll be contacting the winner on Saturday, so it could be you.