Contest promotions are an excellent way to attract new customers to social media pages. We run contests on social media platforms because of the potential for contests to go viral. When something “goes viral,” it means that participant’s share the promotion with greater numbers of people. Creating a contest that encourages viral sharing increases the number of entrants, many of whom have a higher likelihood to become your customers.

We Know the Rules

Creating a successful viral contest requires knowledge of the rules on each social media site. For example, we know that Facebook has guidelines that must be followed.  Facebook doesn’t allow businesses to run contests directly on its platform. We host contests on our third-party application so that you can implement a successful Facebook campaign.

In addition to individual guidelines for each social media platform, there are federal, state and local laws about contests that the sponsor of a contest has to follow. In viral sharing of contests, additional attention must be given to full disclosure of participation.  If an entrant received an additional chance of winning a prize for sharing, testimonial and endorsement language must be included in official contest rules and on social platforms. We make sure that every contest we set up that includes a viral share component includes these disclosures.

Think like a Customer

As with any marketing effort, creating a viral contest requires you to think like the entrant. We design contests by asking ourselves what would motivate us to enter if we were customers. The more benefit your contest has to customers, the more likely they are to enter and to share their entry on their social media pages.

We review your campaign objectives and apply our knowledge of successful contests to create custom solutions. Many campaigns are based on the “customer photo” idea, where customers submit a photo of themselves using your product in a unique way. This type of campaign is popular with customers because it allows them to use their creativity and gives them a chance to become celebrities for a little while. There are an infinite number of variations on this theme that can be used to create unique contest promotions.

Offer Relevant and Worthwhile Prizes

The greater the value of the prizes you offer for your contest, the more likely people are to enter. Cash is always a welcome prize but unique prizes that are not available anywhere else also are compelling.  If you have a relationship with a celebrity spokesperson awarding meet and greet has proven to be a winning idea.

Considerations

Once a contest goes viral, there can be some loss of control over the type of entrants that are attracted to the sweepstakes. If they post comments the sponsor must be prepared to moderate the comments.

If you’re excited about the possibility of creating a viral contest and would like more information or some help getting started, call Marden-Kane at (516) 365-3999 or contact us online. We take care of everything you need to quickly set up the contest; the sooner we get it started, the sooner it can go viral.

[Image via Thomson Data]