Contests are a fun way to create excitement for your business. With the death of third party cookies nearly upon us, it is crucial for your business to establish and manage an audience of followers to market to in the online space. Soon, digital advertising won’t have all the specific targeting capabilities that it has now. Wouldn’t it be awesome if your business had a list of fans who actually opted in to receive information and content from you? A contest is the first step in creating that list. Here are 3 tips for successful contests and one big no-no to avoid!
One great reason to run a contest is to increase engagement. If your social media following is less than stellar, a contest can generate buzz. In your contest you can offer bonus entries for following your page on social media. There is always a chance you will lose some followers once the contest ends, but if you continue to post interesting content on your page those followers will want to stay. You even could have another contest at a later date just for your followers which delivers even more value! Which leads me to the next tip…
“What if my business doesn’t have something flashy to giveaway?” If this thought popped into your head when you read the title, don’t fret. Free is a powerful word. Gift certificates and free trials are always valuable. You want to make the prize as easy to claim and redeem as possible. Coupons and long lists of exclusions and rules are not good for contests. An easy way to make sure your prize has value is to poll your audience. You can also partner with another page or influencer to double your offering. If you’re struggling to come up with a good contest prize, email me and I’ll help you brainstorm 🙂 As long as your prize has value to your audience, your contest will generate results!
As an entry to your contest, you can ask your audience to submit pictures, videos, captions, or comments. This tip will kill two birds with one stone, it promotes your contest and generates content for your social media page by showcasing your audience. The social part of social media is what works to your contest’s advantage. People love to share and engage with content they like, if you tag and repost the best entries you will generate even more engagement for your page! One important thing to note when asking people to share on Facebook…
You cannot require people to share on their personal page or tag people in your contest on Facebook. It’s against the rules and your page could get put in Facebook jail if you break this rule. Even if you see other pages doing this, do not be tempted. It’s not worth losing your page over. There are tons of ways to run a successful social media contest while following the rules. We have successfully performed many contests online, on social media, and by using the power of our radio stations. If you have a contest in mind, reach out to us! We handle the rules and let you take all the credit for giving out an awesome prize.
If you want to learn more about contests, we have a great Wicked Smart Webinar where we talk about How Contests Can Generate Leads and Grow Your Business