Social media contests or giveaways can be a great way to generate some excitement about your business, reward customers, and gain new followers and potential new customers! Depending on the complexity of your contest, it can take some time to properly organize, setup, and promote. Here is a Social Media Contest Checklist to help your promotion be successful and run smoothly.
Establish your goals. Goals can include a number of entries, shares, or web visitors, for instance.- What information will you collect? You can choose to collect as little as an email address, to more qualifying information, or even photo submissions for marketing use (with permission).
- Determine the prize. What are people entering to win – one large prize or several small prizes? Try to find something that will have a high perceived value to your potential customers. If you are able to give away your own product or service, this is a plus!
- Determine the type of contest. Ideas can range across the board from a random drawing to photo and video contests, or using voting to choose the winner. Determine where the contest will be housed – for instance, your website, Facebook, Instagram, or a third-party app.
- Entering to win. What method will people use to enter the contest – fill out a form, email an entry, submit a photo, or use a Facebook comment or message? Here are some ideas for running a contest on your Facebook timeline.
- Write Contest Rules. Be clear on all the contest rules including the start/end date, how the winner will be chosen and announced, and any limitations to entering the contest.
- Determine the contest timeline. Establish a timeline for the contest overall as well as adequate promotion via email blasts, Facebook ads, social media, etc.
- Encourage sharing & bonus entries. Some third-party apps will make it easy for you to manage bonus entries and encourage Facebook sharing, liking a Facebook page, following on twitter, or tweets with a special contest hashtag.
- Promote the contest. Brand the contest with a name or theme and follow it through all the promotions. You can even create a special contest hashtag to create more buzz. Install a Facebook Pixel code and use Google UTM’s to help measure and maximize your results. Graphics will need to be created for areas such as website banner, Facebook cover image, posts, or ads, entry & post-entry graphics for contest landing page, etc.
- Measure Contest Results. Announce the lucky winner and get the prize delivered! Download and organize any entry forms and stats for future marketing. Review your goals and the results of the contest. Find out what worked and what needs to be tweaked for your next contest.
Have you had some exceptional results with running contests on social media? Do you need help setting up or promoting your next contest? Contact us if you need some magic marketing dust to make your next contest or promotion a success!
Here are some helpful tips and tricks, along with rules you need to follow when running a contest on Facebook. We also like this post with 7 Steps on Creating a Social Media Contest that Converts.
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