If you are reading this post, you’re a winner!
Well, figuratively. We don’t have something to give away, but if you read our blog… you must be a winner! 🙂
But did we get you excited for a moment? Of course we did! You don’t have to be an expert in human behavior to be a profiler (Sorry, I’m on a Criminal Minds kick right now) to realize that people love to win contests. The thrill of winning a prize is something that can motivate people to do almost anything. The thrill is so large, people are willing to go on national TV shows and embarrass themselves for the slightest chance to win a couple hundred bucks.
As a small business owner, you can use this to your advantage. A social media contest is an awesome way to engage with customers, gain new ones, and build your brand.
The problem is, most business owners do not know where to start to build a successful contest. If you are thinking about running your own social media contest, here are the
3 steps to run a social media contest
1) Decide on your contest rules:Â
This seems like an obvious place to start, but it is a step that takes much more thought and planning than you might think. It is important to create contest rules that are easy to understand, don’t require too much work and match whatever your goals are. Making sure the rules are clearly outlined is essential so those entering do not become confused and accidentally fail to enter.
Identifying the goal of your contest is a good place to start to develop the rules of the game. For instance: if your goal is to gain more likes on Facebook, you should probably make liking your Facebook page a requirement for entry. You are going to be tempted to merge multiple goals into one contest. While this can absolutely be a good idea, you must be careful not to make the contest overly complicated or difficult to understand. Requiring someone to like your Facebook page, like a status, share the page, comment on a picture, invite their friends, and submit a video might be a little overkill. The more complex the contest is, the less likely someone is to enter it.
2) Decide on your channels:
Picking the channel to run your contest can be a little tricky. It is important to know that some channels are easier than others to run your contest. Places like Facebook and Instagram have lots of tools that make it really easy to run and keep track of a contest. Other places, like LinkedIn or Pinterest, are much more difficult to use. The channel you select must be able to support what you are trying to accomplish, make it easy for people to enter and be the place where your target market is.
 3) Pick your prize:
When deciding on what prize you are going to give away, you must think long and hard about your customers and what potential customers might be interested in. Knowing key information about your audience will allow you to make sure the item is something people are interested in and is something that will move the needle for your audience.
When deciding on a prize you should also make sure you factor things like the size of your audience. If you are running a national contest, for instance, you will probably want to consider a larger prize to get more attention.
I love social media contests. In my time in marketing, there has been no better way to engage with customers and gain new ones. The interaction that takes place is amazing and it really gets people thinking about your brand. Following these steps, you can run your own contest that could do awesome things for your business.