1,500 new Facebook likes 400 new Twitter followers 670 new Instagram followers 1,000 new subscribers to its email list And best of all – a 4x increase in sales on the day the contest launched Those results are easily obtainable with the right approach, which starts with defining your goals.
For example, if you want to grow your list of subscribers, you wouldn’t want to run a giveaway that just requires people to comment on your post or to vote on an image.
Consider the time frame Do you know the best time to run a contest on your Facebook page?
“Enter to win a new
People absolutely love free stuff.
The word “free” by itself carries such a dramatic emotional charge that it can ramp up the perceived value of anything — often far beyond the item’s actual value.
That carries incredible influence.
Free items and contests have long been used to attract customers.
During the 1950s and ’60s, advertising agencies and brands used contests in magazines that targeted homemakers to source taglines, slogans, and jingles.
The same methods are used today, though on a different platform.
Researcher Dan Ariely shared data on how people responded to the question of whether or not they would still get a tattoo if it were free – while standing in line to get a free tattoo.
69 percent of respondents said “nope.”
People will even let the idea of “free” cloud their judgement and influence their decision-making skills.
Elizabeth Kolbert shared her story in The New Yorker about her Amazon cart, which prompted her to add $7 worth of merchandise to her order to qualify for free shipping.
She took the bait and added items to grab the “super saver shipping” offer.
“By the time I was done,” writes Elizabeth, “I had saved The New Yorker $3.99 in shipping charges. Meanwhile, I had cost myself $12.91.”
MarketingSherpa talks about the successful use of behavioral triggers like this in everything from shopping on Amazon to pushing micro-transactions in online games.
You can activate the same overwhelming drive in your audience by running contests on Facebook and giving something away.
The benefits of a contest on social media
Like any business owner and page administrator, you’re probably fighting constantly to get new likes and fans.
Well, getting new fans is one of the major benefits of hosting a contest on Facebook.
The main benefits really come down to the goals you’ve established for yourself.
One thing you can count on is that your contest doesn’t have to be expensive.
It could cost you little to nothing outside of the cost of prizes, the platform you host it on, and the design elements you create to promote the contest.
For a minimal investment, you can get tremendous reach for your brand.
Diamond Candles had virtually no marketing budget when it launched, so it ran Facebook contests to grow the likes on their page.
According to Wishpond, after just 6 weeks, the brand had generated over 30,000 new organic likes for its page.
The contest also generated excitement about the brand and a stream of user-generated content, with customers posting pictures and videos to group and fan pages. They wanted to share the products they received.
BeardBrand ran a short campaign that was highly successful, as well. Its 7-day social media contest, which led up to No-Shave November, was launched to break through a plateau in sales.
The goal was to attract more customers.
- 1,500 new Facebook likes
- 400 new Twitter followers
- 670 new Instagram followers
- 1,000 new subscribers to its email list
- And best of all – a 4x increase in sales on the day the contest launched
Those results are easily obtainable with the right approach, which starts with defining your goals.
Define the goal of your contest
Consider that Facebook has grown to more than 2 billion active monthly users as of June 2017. It’s the giant among the social media platforms.
Facebook has seen rapid and consistent growth since the launch of the platform, with daily use increasing each year, as well.
According to TechCrunch, 66 percent of Facebook’s monthly users return each day, compared to 55 percent when it was at 1 billion users.
But not all of those people belong to your audience.
If you want to attract the right people with your contest, you need to establish S.M.A.R.T goals and do your research.
A S.M.A.R.T goal is any goal that is:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Attainable
- Relevant
- Timely
If you want your contest to succeed, then you have to focus your efforts on just one or two goals.
Some specific goals could be:
- Generating new leads and opt-ins
- Increasing brand awareness
- Reaching new fans (or increasing new likes)
- Acquiring user-generated content
- Promoting a new product
- Growing engagement on your page
You’ll naturally get some overlap among all of those objectives as people take part in your contest.
However, you have to choose just one or two goals for each contest. Success will come from focusing your efforts.
Choose a contest type
You’ve got a lot of freedom here, but you ultimately want to choose a type of Facebook contest that aligns with your goals and ultimately promotes your brand.
For example, if you want to grow your list of subscribers, you wouldn’t want to run a giveaway that just requires people to comment on your post or to vote on an image.
If you want to boost engagement and brand visibility, you probably want a contest with a high fun factor that showcases your brand’s personality.
Consider all of the different types of contests seen on Facebook.
Instant win contests
Instant win contests offer up a quick conversion because fans instantly know if they have won. It can be highly memorable, and it’s also easy to manage.
User-generated content contests
Any kind of voting contest can spike brand visibility, especially for new products. Fans love sharing what they do with the products they love, especially if a freebie is involved.
Try hosting a contest with fan-submitted images, videos, or other content for which other fans vote on the winner.
In the above example you can see how the fans have to take an active role in gaining votes.
Because of that activity, they’re more likely to share the entry once it’s submitted. That puts your contest and your brand in front of a much larger audience.
Fan-vote contests
In this case, your audience is still voting. You can ask fans to submit their ideas. Alternatively, give your fans options based on what your team has come up with.
This is a great way to boost engagement while also making your audience feel valued.
They get to weigh in on product designs, ideas, flavors, colors, or other features.
Papa John’s used a custom Facebook app to hold a contest, which allowed fans to vote on the company’s next specialty pizza.
This contest ramped up engagement and visibility because it utilized fan submissions, as well.
Quizzes and tests
These types of giveaways have a few things going for them, including a greater fun factor that can help engage existing fans while luring in new ones.
The only real downside to a Facebook quiz contest is they can be time-consuming. Users might spend days coming up with cool ideas. Plus, you have to set up the quiz.
Simple entry contests
You can simplify the contest by using some of the available tools that only require your fans to submit basic information to qualify.
Some platforms offer multiple entries for additional actions, such as sharing the contest on other platforms, subscribing to a newsletter, liking one or more pages, and other behaviors.
Provide maximum value to your followers
Hopefully, you’ve got a pretty good handle on who your audience is and what they like.
If not, take the time to do your research and understand your buyer personas.
It’s a necessary step if you want to choose a prize that resonates with your followers’ interests, needs, and desires….
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