The brands that excel at social media are the ones who foster an active, engaged audience.
After all, an engaged audience is more likely to pay attention to and interact with a brand's content, which amplifies an enterprise's reach - leading to more conversions and a higher ROI. Companies, however, can miss the mark when it comes to promoting themselves in the socialsphere, from too many promotional posts to boring text-only messages.
Contests present a great opportunity to break up social media's monotony and pique the interest of followers by creating organic audience interaction, sharing opportunities and more. For some inspiration before launching your brand's next (or first) contest, take a look at four social contests to copy below:
"Kid of the Week" Photo Contest
Social Network(s): Facebook
Parents Magazine's Kid of the Week contest helps the company generate more Facebook fans, as well as brand awareness and social engagement.
For example, the contest requires participants to "like" Parents Magazine on Facebook in order to submit an entry. Participants can enter one photo of their child per week, and once the photo is uploaded participants can vote on their favorite photo entries (including their own). Moreover, participants can share the contest with friends and family, thus increasing brand awareness for the magazine. Plus, actions like votes and shares are typically promoted within the newsfeed, which means that all contest interactions also help Parents Magazine increase its reach on Facebook. The photo with the most votes receives the title of "Kid of the Week" and a $200 gift card. Plus, all entries have a chance to be featured in Parents Magazine, which is another incentive for audience members to engage with the contest.
This particular contest is run through social marketing platform Votigo, but it is important to note that there are other vendor options available for brands looking to launch a contest on the world's largest social network. For instance, both Wishpond and ShortStack offer services that can help brands create and launch a variety of Facebook contests, including voting and referral contests.
"Vine Your Disney Side" Contest
Social Network(s): Vine
Disney Parks decided to grow its audience on video-sharing social app Vine by launching a contest at the same time it unveiled its official Vine account last October.
The contest was announced on the company's blog and enabled audience members to participate by submitting a short video with the hashtag #DisneySideContest. Videos with the hashtag had the opportunity to be re-vined by the Disney Parks Vine account, as well as the opportunity to win $1,000, a vacation and a $10,000 commission to create a series of Disney Side videos.
This entire contest not only grew Disney's audience on Vine, but was also part of a larger initiative to promote the company's "Disney Side" website, which is a site where visitors can learn more about Disney parks and share user-generated content.
"Show Us Your Organic" Photo Promo
Social Network(s): Facebook and Twitter
Santa Cruz Juice's photo promo helps the company grow brand awareness in the socialsphere, as well as obtain engagement through submissions of user-generated content.
Through the contest, consumers are asked to upload an image example of how they make their life "more organic" on either Facebook or Twitter. Then, participants are asked to tag their image with the #showusyourorganic hashtag and like or follow Santa Cruz Juice on Facebook or Twitter. Winners receive one of eight prize packs from the company, while two grand prize winners receive a $500 Visa gift card. The contest's hashtag and submission of user generated content is a good way for the organic company to increase its reach, grow its audience base on both Facebook and Twitter and foster better relationships with consumers.
To launch this contest, Santa Cruz Juice leveraged Iconosquare (formerly Statigram). This social media marketing company helps bands create, launch and manage photo and video contests on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Plus, the platform enables users to embed contests to their website and monitor contest metrics with an analytics dashboard that includes data like number of entries, participants, pageviews, votes and shares.
"Organized Shower of your Dreams" Contest
Social Network(s): Pinterest
It can be difficult for brands to run a contest on Pinterest, thanks to the social network's updated contest guidelines. This is because the updated guidelines take aim at many of the strategies that brands have implemented in the past, including requiring participants to pin from a selection of content to enter a contest or running contests where each pin, board, like or follow represents an entry. Fortunately, services like Piqora can help brands run contests that abide by Pinterest's guidelines while also increasing the brand's followers on the social network.
Take The Container Store as an example. The retailer is currently running a contest through Piqora that is valid through March 2015. The contest requires participants to create a Pinterest Board called "The Organized Shower" that showcases details of how their dream wedding shower would look. In addition, participants must follow The Container Store on Pinterest and fill out an entry form that includes the participant's email address and Pinterest username. Winners are selected each month and receive a $1,000 gift card to The Container Store.
By powering the contest through Piqora, The Container Store not only ensures its contest is abiding by Pinterest guidelines, but is also able to capture email addresses through the contest's submission form. Plus, Piqora enables brands to monitor their contests with analytics, including reach, impression, traffic and revenue data.
