A great way to engage your community on social is to show them your appreciation. Holding a social media contest can boost your following, generate valuable user-generated content and increase brand awareness in new communities and markets.
Throughout our #SproutChat we discussed the factors that are necessary for a contest on social to be successful. Our community offered tips on how to garner interest and keep track of entries and shared their thoughts on industry leaders and the ideal longevity of a contest on social.
Create a Worthwhile Contest That Supports Your Brand
It's crucial you understand why you're having a contest and determine what your goals are. Your strategy and the social network you choose to host your contest on will vary based on your primary objective.
If you want to build a mailing list, you'll need to ask for email addresses for entry. If you're low on content resources and budget, you'll want participants to submit images or videos that your brand can leverage and share on social. If you want to build brand awareness, your first priority may be to come up with an eye-catching Twitter hashtag.
Start by talking to your team and work together to decide on a challenge that can be addressed and potentially solved with a contest.
@SproutSocial A1 A unique hashtag is great for contests. Keeps you organized and shows off your brand when people click. #SproutChat [TK]
- ModSquad (@modsquad) July 13, 2016
A1. For me first determine what contest you/ your business needs/wants to go after #sproutchat pic.twitter.com/yQ4a4dGrTj
- Troy Sandidge (@Troy_Sandidge) July 13, 2016
#sproutchat A1 You also need to advertise across different social media platforms, but be clear where the entry point is.
- Jeavonna (@jchapstk) July 13, 2016
A1: A good prize (not necc. high dollar) opportunities to share to others with similar interest #SproutChat
- Brad Lovett (@Brad_Lovett) July 13, 2016
A1: #SproutChat make it fun and easy
- Anik G. (@complexkickz) July 13, 2016
A1: Make sure the contest you're running is relevant to both your brand and your audience. #SproutChat
- Express Writers (@ExpWriters) July 13, 2016
It's All About the User Experience
Understand what type of barrier to entry works best for your brand and audience. Before launching your contest, test out the path to entry and make sure the process is clear and easy to understand. There are a number of tools for social media monitoring that can help you build, execute and measure your efforts. Don't neglect to explore your options and try to simplify any tedious data collection.
A2: Lead contestants to your own landing page and link entries to a 3rd party such as Mailchimp is one way. #Sproutchat
- Kapil (@KapilJekishan) July 13, 2016
A2: Definitely use a third-party tool to collect/monitor. Hashtags are great for SoMe but not 100% #sproutchat https://t.co/1mnmpezlKv
- ThinkSEM (@ThinkSEM) July 13, 2016
A2: I highly recommend all contest forms lead directly to a landing page. The landing page should be relevant to the contest. #sproutchat
- Annaliese Henwood (@MktgInnovator) July 13, 2016
A2: @SproutSocial #SproutChat That's right! #Posterboard collects, displays, and analyzes content. What can we say: pic.twitter.com/3ydJRjs7Xf
- Posterboard (@lovePosterboard) July 13, 2016
A5. Survey monkey does everything you need and it handles your surveys too, you can run facebook contests super easy too #sproutchat
- Chris Desadoy (@EliteYouTubePro) July 13, 2016
A3: When targeting entrants from businesses, have your contest rules and legal clearly spelled out and easy to access. #sproutchat
- Richard Hostler (@PCC_Hostler) July 13, 2016
Prizes & Contest Duration Should Match
Consider the time and effort for entry and what a compatible prize would be. Make sure that the duration of your contest and the prizes you're offering are comparable. If you're missing the mark, you'll likely realize it right away.
Award the best entrants as winners, but look for opportunities to highlight other participants that spent time and put effort into being involved. This will help strengthen brand loyalty and encourage more fans to participate in the future.
A4. 14 days or less. psych shows we forget quickly. get in with the punch early – Prizes don't matter. @SproutSocial #sproutchat
- Ginger Attaway (@GingerAttaway) July 13, 2016
A4: I think it depends on the scope/audience, but I'm a fan of < 30 days. People want results + social is so fast paced. #sproutchat
- Kevin Pack (@kevpack) July 13, 2016
Q4: Consider the lifetime of your aberage post, your audience's interests, your contest objectives #sproutchat https://t.co/NZgmZX6LAy
- Heather Cooper (@HMC227) July 13, 2016
A4: I think anywhere from ten days to two weeks is a good timeframe. @dosomething does it right so look at them! #sproutchat
- AK Kerani (@AKKerani) July 13, 2016
A3: offer a good, targeted prize (don't offer a great prize just to get ANYONE to participate. purpose = engage real leads) #sproutchat
- molly buccini (@mollybuccini) July 13, 2016
A4: I've seen good results with 2-3 weeks for a contest. Hottest contest prize was Sphero BB-8 Droid the day it was released. #sproutchat
- Richard Hostler (@PCC_Hostler) July 13, 2016
Learn From the Top of the Leaderboard
Gain inspiration and ideas from brands that are slaying it at hosting social contests.
A6:#SproutChat @qwertee awesome contest for one-of-a-kind shirts
- Anik G. (@complexkickz) July 13, 2016
A6: I love @chacousa's #SummerInMotion contest going on right now. Now all I need to do is win a new pair of Chacos #sproutchat
- Searcy Sledge (@SearcySledge) July 13, 2016
A6: Being a footie fan, @ManUtd runs some good contests through their social media for signed merchandise #sproutchat
- Heather Found (@HeatherFound) July 13, 2016
Join us every Wednesday at 2 p.m. CDT on Twitter for #SproutChat. Stay up to date on weekly topics and discussion questions via our Facebook community. See you next time!
This post #SproutChat Recap: How to Run a Social Media Contest originally appeared on Sprout Social.
No comments:
Post a Comment