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Five Best steps for creating the ultimate social media contest
Social media contests are a great way to create buzz around your brand. Here are a few tips to make the biggest impact.
From foodie snapshots on Instagram to face swapping with your grandmother on Snap Chat, social media is a part of our everyday lives.
If people aren’t getting ready to take a selfie, they’re thinking of the perfectly witty Facebook status to illustrate what they are doing in that specific moment. In a sense, they are marketing their own brand—themselves.
Brands are constantly asking what they can do to bring people to their Facebook page or gain impressions. A great way to up the ante is to hold a contest via social media.
Christian Brothers Automotive and Pita Pit both have held successful social media contests, which allowed them to give back to the community while simultaneously creating brand awareness in that specific market.
But how do you ensure you will see success? Here are the five best steps for creating the ultimate social media contest.
Determine the end goal.
While creating any social media contest, you want to ask yourself every question imaginable on how this is going to help your brand. Are you trying to reward fans for participation? Do you want to grow followers? You need to make sure you know what the goals are before you start planning for a contest so you can make sure the messaging is aligned throughout the process.
Christian Brothers Automotive held the Apples for Teacher contest and asked their audience: “Do you know a teacher who’s made a significant difference in your local community?”
“With this contest, our goal is to show our support for local schools, and to reward the deserving teachers who are helping shape the future of this country,” said Mark Carr, founder and CEO of Christian Brothers Automotive.
Know your audience.
When it comes to running a social media contest, it's important to know who you're targeting. That way, you can appropriately tailor your message and make a stronger, more impactful message.
Have fun and try something new.
Andi Summers, digital executive at No Limit Agency*, mentioned that the beauty of social media is that it allows your creative team an outlet to experiment and come up with something new for fans to interact with.
“An idea could go very far online. But it’s important to first back your decision with plenty of research and analytics,” Summers said.
Social Media is an opportunity to learn.
Even if a contest doesn't hit it out of the ballpark, there are still learning opportunities and data to take away from a campaign. Dig in and look at the data and find out where it went right, what you can improve and what you could do next.
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About the Author
Nick Powills
FollowNick Powills, CFE, founded No Limit Agency in 2008 and serves as Chief Brand Strategist for the Chicago-based firm. No Limit is a full-service communications agency that establishes and elevates brands by bridging Public Relations, Social Media, Marketing, Advertising, Digital, and a lot of creativity, to best strategize well-rounded and successful campaigns for 50+ global franchise brands. By presenting visionary ideas and building real relationships, No Limit is able to create effective media branding strategies to help companies grow. Nick currently leads a staff of writers, media strategists, designers, social media experts and digital producers in an office think-tank where brands are humanized for strong, compelling media stories. Prior to starting No Limit at the age of 27, Nick spent four years working at a franchise PR agency where he mastered the art of building rapport with media outlets and creating newsworthy pitches for earned media placements. He holds a Bachelor of Journalism from Drake University in Iowa.
