How to Select a Winner From Facebook Fans (Page Likes) In 3 Steps

I recently ran a contest for a client designed to quickly get "new Likes" for their Facebook Page. It was a giveaway, with a very desirable prize, so we exceeded our goal in less than 48 hours. Metrics have gone through the roof and even after announcing the winner we have continued to gain new Likes. Win/Win, right?

However, chances are, you are reading this because you have recently experienced the same nightmare I experienced: Facebook no longer permits you to see a list of those who have Liked your Page (Did they ever? Memory fails me...). And it appears that there are no apps or third-party software capable of breaking past that barrier either.

NOTE: If you have less than 250 fans, you *should* be able to see the complete list by using the "page id" of your Facebook Page, then type it into the location bar like so (minus the brackets):

https://www.facebook.com/browse/page_fans/?page_id=[page_id]

So how can you choose a random person from all your fans if you can't put all their names in the drawing? Great question. Here's the MacGuyver-style duct-tape and chewing gum approach I used to find a truly random winner.

STEP ONE: Random Names

I used a random name generator to generate 20 different first names. This prevented any first-name bias on my part.

STEP TWO: Graph Search

I then used Facebook graph search to search for

“People named [Insert First Name Here] who like [Insert Your Page Name Here].”

In the example above, I searched for people named "eric" who like Facebook guru Mari Smith.
That's me at the top of the list. 

I copied and pasted all the results into a document in order to generate a small, manageable list of randomly chosen fans. (Obviously, I had more info about the individuals in my list. The list below is for reference only):

1. Christopher M
2. Chris C
3. Christopher C
4. Chris P
5. Chris B
6. Nikki R
7. Nicole C
8. Alan F
9. Jim W
10. James M
11. Brandon D
12. Brandon C
13. Laura B
14. Erin C
15. Mary A
16. Mary B
17. Sarah H

STEP THREE: Pick a Winner

Amazingly, of the 20 randomly picked first names, only nine of those represented fans, which is why I only have 17 choices in my list. I then used a random number generator to pick a winner from this list.

So, our randomly selected contest winner was #15: Mary A!

As I said, it's a cobbled together approach, but it works and will have to suffice until some smart hacktivist person devises a better approach. If you already know of such an approach, please share your insights and/or links in the comments!

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About Eric Wilbanks

Brand strategist. Wordsmith. Change architect. Training specialist. DiSC Certified. Family guy (hot wife and 4 cool kids). Love my Bible, guitars, baseball, and MMA.