How to Launch a Successful Social Media Contest
"GIVEAWAY!" "Enter to Win!" "Tag your friends!"
We've all seen them pop up on our feeds. But have you ever wondered which contests are truly successful, and which ones less so? Since we've run contests for our clients, we'd love to share our insights on the best practices (and what not to do) when running your next social media contest.
BEST PRACTICES:
Keep the contest open long enough so people have time to get word of it/participate, but also not too long where it'll lose traction. Usually, 3-5 days is plenty to keep participants engaged.
Know where to show up for your target. Depending on your social media presence and your target audience, either utilize all of your social media platforms for the contest OR just limit it to one if you want to focus your efforts on the one platform. Having your contest span different platforms can also mean you can grow all of your platforms at once, but consider your resources and where/when your audience is most active, to make sure you can allocate the right time and budget where it will be most effective.
Make the contest prize enticing for your target audience! Depending on your budget, the contest winner can win 1) a social media shoutout, 2) a discount on your product/service, 3) free product/service/experience. These can all be simple to replicate, and very effective prizes –but don't limit yourself! There are many other ways you can entice your audience! Get creative!
Make sure to have a detailed terms page. In case of any legality issues, make sure you have terms that participants can access. This can usually live somewhere on your website, and can be linked in from the contest itself.
Encourage people to tag/repost/share! Part of the contest rules can be to like, tag X number of friends, repost to their stories/feed. This will get you more eyes on the contest, and your brand!
Grab emails. Obviously. If you're spending money and resources promoting your brand, and your audience may or may not decide to check out of that shopping cart with your product, then at the very least you should have a way to contact them again with other deals and offers to see if those valuable leads can turn into your loyal customers!
COMMON MISTAKES:
Having contests too often - Having contests every day or every week can make each one less engaging, and if customers know it's happening often, it might discourage them prom purchasing your product at full price. We recommend limit contests to once a month, or even once a season.
Making contests too difficult to enter - This will deter the number of entries. While it's great to involve several steps to maximize engagement and reach your ideal customer, you could also be making it more cumbersome for potential entries.
Less entries doesn't always = an unsuccessful contest - Rather than gauging the success of a contest by the number of entries/contestants, instead look at the amount of authentic engagement and enthusiasm from the entries. Social media contests are all about building a fanbase for your brand. This enthusiasm will translate into other wins for your brand, like brand loyalty and word-of-mouth marketing. It's not about the quantity in numbers, but rather the quality of the audience you're building.
In general, don't get hung up on getting quick results. Using social media contests to promote your brand is about playing the long game, continually learning about your audience, and applying insights from your analytics to make sure your strategy stays relevant and effective. In that sense, all social media contests are successful in that you're gaining valuable feedback and insights on your brand perception. Note: Aside from paying attention to your contest results, here are some other metrics you should be paying attention to.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING:
Never ever underestimate this primary requirement for a good campaign of any kind: Understand your audience.
You really need to dig deep, and think like your target audience before creating any effective campaign. What will motivate them to want to click and pay attention to your brand in the sea of all the thousands of brands that bombard them with ads everyday? Talk to them in a way that makes them stop in their tracks and feel a need to learn more. Create urgency and desire based on something your audience will actually care about. Then, pop in their feeds multiple times until intrigue becomes action. And if they close out your ad, track that so you can follow up when they're ready. Now, that makes a good campaign!
Ready to kick off your social media contest? Here’s another article that might help you out: 7 key points to consider when defining your marketing strategy.