Many people who work in social media find Facebook competitions, in particular, to be tacky. Indeed, some businesses are thinking about completely cutting ties with Facebook.

However, many people find that holding contests on social media is a great way to interact with your audience and even get new consumers.

Competitions are a great method to increase your brand’s exposure, as well as your email list and social media following and likes.

Since Facebook’s like-gating policies have changed, though, you’ll need to exercise some discretion when choosing which social media platform to announce your giveaway on.

What Do You Hope to Accomplish?

It goes without saying that you won’t get very far in a competition if you have no idea what you hope to gain from it.

The true value of a social media contest lies in the fact that it exposes your items to a wider audience.

People attend contests for one main reason: they want to win a free prize. However, you may quietly promote your products to them when they are already engaged with your social media.

If increasing sales or consumer interest in making a purchase and growing your marketing opt-in list are among your top priorities, a contest will get you much closer to both of these goals.

To what extent do you want a certain level of rivalry?

After settling on your goals for the competition, it’s time to start planning your strategy. There are various varieties of competitions, each with its own objectives:

Lottery fans love the possibility of an instant payout that prize draws provide, and you can use this to your advantage by encouraging participation in your marketing database.

People who are looking for a good deal may be persuaded to sign up for your newsletter by offering them further discounts on your items in exchange for sharing a “Viral Coupon” on social media.

By presenting many goods and offering a chance to win one merely by signing up and spinning the wheel, Wheel of Fortune injects some lightheartedness into the proceedings.

Choose a contest that is both relevant to your business and beneficial to your consumers in order to maximise fan participation and attention for your brand.

Simple Guidelines

Ultimately, the goal of every competition is to come out on top. Unfortunately, there are always those who will break the rules in order to achieve their goal of victory, especially if the prize is very desirable.

Make sure everyone who enters your competition knows exactly what they’re competing for, what they need to do to win, how they’ll be notified of their status, and any other rules that may apply.

You may win a weekend getaway for two. Please include your name and email address. On Friday, we’ll reveal who won. Each person can only submit one submission.

This level of openness will reduce barriers to entry and save you time and effort in the long run.

Create a Sense of Imminence by Restricting the Duration and Number of Prizes

Having a time restriction on a sale makes it much more tempting.

Put the other contestants on the spot by imposing a strict deadline. When supporters have to wait too long for the outcome of a competition, they stop caring about the contest altogether.

Toss in some variety. Multiple rounds of tournaments might keep participants interested for longer, but others can be over quickly with “today only” entries. To get the “I never win anything” population to participate, provide quick incentives like vouchers or discount codes in addition to the main prize.

Feel and See

The number of things vying for our focus is absurdly large, so you’ll have to do something special to stand out.

Put a large, eye-catching picture of the reward wherever it can’t be ignored if you want people to enter your contest.

• Look for high-visibility terms like “winner” and “win”
• Make a catchy title for the contest that emphasises the reward and provides an interesting twist.
• Since most individuals like discussing their own thoughts and experiences, emotional appeals are more effective than gimmicks.
• In order to get a recommendation from a happy customer, you need to get them to talk about their experience.

Make It Interesting and Simple

Would you compete in a tedious and challenging event? Neither would your devoted audience.

Make sure the contest is something people will want to participate in because it is enjoyable to do so.

If you want more individuals to sign up for your newsletter, you should only request information that is truly important.

People are busy and unmotivated. No amount of money could entice them to take out a survey. (Remember our overblown competition at the start of this piece).

Market

• Diss the opposition on all of your platforms.
• Include details about the contest’s rewards or perks in your description.
• Find out who made the cut, who won, and what they had to say in an interview.
• Make as much material as you can, including blog articles, tweets, status updates, and so on, about the competition and its results.
• Make use of the trending #hashtag to advertise your competition across all of your social media platforms.

Keep in mind that the competition is about more than just growing your email list. It’s an opportunity to get people talking about your company and goods online, and to share material with the people who happen to visit your site more frequently because of the contest.

Is It Deserving of My Time and Energy?

Drive participation by actively marketing your competition across all of your social media channels; goals and channel for the competition are determined by you.

A well-executed social media contest may generate significant interest and boost your marketing efforts by attracting new subscribers, likes, and followers.