Planning A Social Media Contest

Social media has forever changed the way a business does a sweepstake, promotion or contest. At this point, most social media marketing efforts include platforms like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest. But going beyond building brand awareness, what are your social media marketing tactics doing to bring new customers or fans to your social media sites? A great way to do so is to hold a contest or promotion across your networks. If your business is planning a social media contest, here are a few things to know before diving in.

Set a goal. The core foundation of any good social media marketing strategy is knowing what the end result should be. By setting a goal the first time a promotion is held, a business can have a measurable strategy for future promotions.

Know the rules. Every social media outlet has its own set of rules to abide by. Some of them, like the Facebook terms and conditions, can be really tricky. So, taking your time to understand the rules of each platform is extremely important. The last thing a business needs is to get their social media page shut down.

Think about consumer engagement. What about the promotion is going to make a fan or follower want to partake? The Social Media Examiner has a pyramid for consumer engagement. From basic sweepstakes to video contests, where does your business’ plan fall?

Keep it simple. While there is no doubt that there is a lot of preparation involved when getting a contest, promotion or sweepstake ready, the key to a successful social media contest is to keep it simple for the consumer. Fans are more likely to get involved if the promotion does not require them to fill out too much information.

What other key factors do you think would make running a social media contest successful?

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Image Credit: Ethan Hein