Everybody loves a contest because it gives people the opportunity to experience the thrill of winning.
If you’re looking for a fun way to engage your social media fans or gain new ones, running a contest can be a great strategy. Everybody loves a contest because it gives people the opportunity to experience the thrill of winning. Whether your company is giving away something like a t-shirt or a weekend get-away, contests can boost awareness and engagement for consumer brands.
The success of your contest relies on how many targeted individuals enter. The response you get is related to the prize you give away, how well you know the platform where you place the contest and how well you promote it. In this 2-part blog post we will go over tips to help make your contest a success.
Facebook is usually the first place people think of posting a social media contest because Facebook users are familiar with this type of fan engagement. It’s also an easy place to start building the excitement of a contest. An example of a well-placed Facebook contest is when Frito-Lay developed a new potato chip flavor. They bypassed focus groups and instead turned to Facebook to connect directly with the customers who would be eating them.
Visitors to the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” Facebook app were asked to suggest a new flavor and appetizing treats such as bacon chocolate flavored chips. The flavors were narrowed down to 3 finalists; then the app emailed participants when the chips were in stores and offered users $1 off their chip purchase. The contest was a great success with Cheesy Garlic Bread as the winning flavor and now distributed in stores across America.
A few questions to take into consideration when starting a contest on Facebook are:
- What are your goals? How will you measure them?
- Are you going to host it alongside a launch or new product you are selling?
- Do you want to drive awareness of a new product?
- Do you want to showcase work?
- Where will you host it?
- Will you build out a microsite and promote on Facebook?
- Will you create a contest using Wildfire that allows you to host your contest through a tab on your Facebook page?
- How will you measure success?
Instagram is a great place to host a photo contest. You can have a contest run for just a day or an entire month. Another great aspect of Instagram contests is the great use of hashtags. You can build anything from a #showusyourlook contest for a clothing brand to #bestbraid contest if you’re a hair salon. These types of contest bring lots of engagement to your social media account and they can also bring you tons of great content ideas for your own brand.
A great example of using Instagram contests is T.J. Maxx. They achieved success by hosting a contest that encouraged its fans to pick up a few amazing designer treasures for less on their next trip to T.J. Maxx, whip up a killer outfit, Instagram the perfect spring look with the hashtag #MaxxStyle including the designer and price they paid for the outfit. They also allowed the option for participants to upload their photos directly to a campaign-specific tab on their Facebook page. Participants had the chance to win a $50 gift card each week or a $500 gift card each month if their “pic grabbed the attention of the public and T.J. Maxx’s official Style Scout fashion experts.”
Asking contestants to get involved is a great way to increase your social media engagement and boost your brand. The chance to showcase their creativity and potentially win a prize helps give them some motivation to get involved, too! Want more ideas? In part 2, we will go over Pinterest and Twitter contests. Stay tuned!
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Photo Credit: greyweed