Need to come up with a way to increase traffic or sales during the holidays? But no time left in the year to deploy a big idea or to get approval on a high budget promotion? Here are a few quick promotion ideas you can deploy within a few days that are also easy on the budget.
What makes these sweepstakes so easy is that they utilize established social media platforms. By using these platforms instead of having to create your own web site or application, you save money and time. Be mindful, however, that you will still need to have Official Rules to govern any promotion, as well as a way to monitor entries via the various social media channels, and a method to randomly select and contact winners. If you need help with any of these things, give us a call and we can help as quickly as you need it done!
TIP : ALWAYS ASK PEOPLE TO FOLLOW YOUR BRAND SO YOU CAN GAIN NEW FOLLOWERS, AND IN THE CASE OF TWITTER YOU CAN THEN DIRECT MESSAGE YOUR WINNERS.
1. Twitter Hashtag Sweepstakes
To run a Twitter Sweepstakes all you will need is to decide on a unique hashtag, a call to action, and a way to monitor all the entry tweets. For example, you could put out the following call to action on your social channels: “Tweet why you like Brand X with the hashtag #BrandXReasons for a chance to win $50 of free product!” then add a link to the rules and use your twitter feed monitoring tools to gather your entries. At the end the entry period, you randomly select a winner and contact the winner via Twitter.
TIP: NOT EVERY PROMOTION WITH PHOTOS OR VIDEOS OR ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS HAS TO BE A CONTEST! AS LONG AS YOU RANDOMLY SELECT WINNERS AND DON’T MAKE THE BARRIER TO ENTRY TOO TIME CONSUMING, YOU CAN ASK FOR PHOTOS, VIDEOS OR SHORT ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS A REQUIREMENT FOR ENTRY AND RUN WHAT IS CALLED A QUALIFIED ENTRY SWEEPSTAKES.
2. Instagram Qualified Entry Photo Sweepstakes
Instagram is a perfect platform on which to run a qualified entry photo sweepstakes. Similar to a Twitter sweepstakes, all you need is a call to action, a unique hashtag and a way to monitor all the photo entries. The example here would be something like, “Submit a photo of yourself holding Brand X with the hashtag #BrandXLove for a chance to win a Brand X T-shirt! For details see rules.” Then monitor your hashtag feed and at the end of your entry period you randomly select a winner from all the submissions and contact them via Instagram.
TIP: WORRIED ABOUT USERS POSTING INAPPROPRIATE CONTENT? JUST MAKE SURE TO SPECIFY IN THE RULES THAT ANY INAPPROPRIATE SUBMISSIONS WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. THAT WAY YOU WON’T END UP WITH A WINNING ENTRY YOU WON’T WANT TO PROMOTE!
3. Facebook “Caption This Photo” or “Like this Post” Sweepstakes
With the Facebook Promotion Guideline changes in August, Facebook sweepstakes have gotten much easier and faster to run. An easy way to capitalize on the changes is to run a simple “Caption This” Sweepstakes or a “Like this Post” Sweepstakes. Simply post to your business timeline with the call to action and a link to the rules, then monitor who comments or likes that post. You draw your winners from that pool of people at the end of the promotion period. Example: Post a photo of Brand X and include your call to action in the headline: “Caption this photo for a chance to win a Brand X Tote Bag! For details see rules.”
TIP: NOT SURE WHERE TO POST YOUR RULES? YOU CAN POST THEM ON YOUR WEB SITE AND THEN LINK TO THEM FROM ANY CALL TO ACTION POST YOU MAKE. IF YOU DON’T HAVE A PLACE TO HOST THEM, POST THEM AS A NOTE ON FACEBOOK AND LINK TO THEM THERE.
4. Vine “Create an Ad for Us” Video Sweepstakes
Vine is another platform that is perfect for qualified entry sweepstakes. You can run a simple “create an ad for Brand X” sweepstakes where the call to action would be to ask users to post a short video with a hashtag to be entered. Then you use monitoring tools to monitor the Vine feed for your hashtag to gather entries, randomly select your winner and contact them via Vine.
TIP: ON SOME PLATFORMS CONTACTING WINNERS CAN BE A CHALLENGE AS THERE IS NO DIRECT MESSAGING SYSTEM. THIS MEANS THAT YOU MUST PUBLICLY CONTACT WINNERS BY COMMENTING ON THEIR ENTRY WITH A WAY TO CONTACT YOU TO RECEIVE THEIR PRIZE. MK RECOMMENDS THAT YOU ASK POTENTIAL WINNERS TO CONFIRM THEIR IDENTITY AS ANYONE MAY SEE YOUR COMMENT AND CONTACT YOU CLAIMING TO BE THE WINNER. ONE WAY TO DO THAT IS TO ASK A WINNER TO PERFORM A SIMPLE TASK ON THEIR SOCIAL CHANNEL SUCH AS COMMENT BACK USING A KEYWORD YOU GIVE THEM.
5. Pinterest “Pin What You Like” Sweepstakes
Run a simple Pinterest Sweepstakes by asking fans to pin a photo of their favorite Brand X product to Pinterest using a unique hashtag. The simplicity of this sweepstakes is that you are asking users to keep it simple and pin only one pin – not create a board or post multiple pins for entry. You randomly select winners from the hashtag entries you collect from the Pinterest feed, and contact winners by making a comment on their entry.
For more on running a sweepstakes on one or more of these platforms see our resources pages for:
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest
Vine