Contests are a great way to engage your community and get them excited about your product or service.
During the last two years, there have been interesting contests on Facebook that are worth mentioning:
Mazda had a contest about two years ago. They requested that their fans design a car for 2012. The contest had more than 300 entries and out of that, the top 10 were selected, where their fans (or likes) had the opportunity to vote on their favorite design concept. The winner’s design was showcased at the auto show and they got a $1000 cash reward.
Stuart Weitzman shoes just came out with a contest on Facebook where they ask their community to photograph their Weitzman shoes. The most original photo can get someone a $1000 gift certificate for Stuart Weitzman shoes. You win four pair of shoes!
When determining whether or not to have a contest, which could be lucrative in terms of “free” exposure, you should ask yourself the following:
- What are my objectives?
- How creative can I be?
- What medium should I use – Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.?
- How can I leverage my social media channels?
Once the contest is complete, make sure to publicize it through your channels. Everyone wants to see who won! Finally, measure your results. Did the contest meet your objectives? How much visibility did your brand gain? How much conversation did the contest generate?
It doesn’t matter how many entries you get. Just take a look at Bing, the search engine. They had a contest, The Bing Jingle Contest, where they garnered 27 entries; there were more than 238,000 views, 550 comments on the videos, and 2,200 tweets. What do you think? I think that’s a huge success!
Should you hold a social media contest? You bet! It will help you increase visibility and awareness for your brand and generate conversation and interest for your product or service.
