Competitions on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram regularly prove hugely successful for businesses. You’ve probably participated in a few yourself. But what is it that makes competitions on social media platforms an effective marketing tool?
To explain how competitions work, we need to look at a couple of things – firstly, the legal restrictions. Secondly, we will explain how to create an effective competition and finally, we will discuss the benefits of carrying out competitions on social media. Whilst the emphasis is on Facebook, the basics are similar on every platform.
What do you need to consider before running a competition?
To give you basic overview of the Do’s and Don’ts of Facebook promotions:
YOU CAN ask people to like a post to enter
YOU CAN ask people to like a page to get access to a contest entry form
YOU CAN ask people to comment on a post to enter
YOU CAN ask people to like as voting mechanism. E.g. vote for the best caption.
YOU CAN’T require people to like a page to automatically enter
YOU CAN’T require people to share a page to enter
YOU CAN’T require people to tag themselves in pictures to enter
YOU CAN’T require people to like a different page to enter
Facebook promotions must only be hosted on a custom Facebook page or a page’s timeline. In addition, you must communicate that you are responsible for the lawful operation of that promotion, who is eligible to enter and the acknowledgement that the promotion is in no way sponsored, run by or associated with Facebook.
How do you create an effective competition?
There are few things to think about before running a competition. You need to be clear about what you want to achieve with running the competition:
1. Pick your objective
Do you want to raise awareness, increase consideration or generate a better conversion rate?
2. Choose your audience
Create your audience with demographics and interests. Facebook offers the opportunity to narrow down the audience so that you can interact with your targeted audience only.
3. Create your advert
Use a branded, visually appealing image that paints your competition in the best light. Be sure to remain clear and concise in the text and don’t forget to add the terms of the competition.
Take a look at the above competition run for Plymouth-based kitchen designers and suppliers, Arrital. Pushed out as sponsored content, the post reached nearly 16,000 people. The competition garnered great results, increasing overall brand awareness and driving traffic to their website. Plus, someone gained a free coffee machine in the process – win win!
What are the benefits of running a competition?
One of the biggest advantages of running social media campaigns is that you can define your audience. You can easily build up a bigger social media base and increase the engagement on your page.
Furthermore, it’s cost effective and it’s one of the easiest and cheapest ways to collect consumer data. The data can provide great insights into the habits, interests and other information of your customers. Once you’ve started to run the competition, interested customers will start talking about the giveaway, raffle etc. on other social media platforms. Thereby, you automatically increase the brand awareness for future marketing efforts.
Social media competitions can be a powerful marketing tool! If you’re not sure about how to run a competition on social media, we can set up and run your competition on Facebook, Twitter or other social media platforms. #TeamBigwave is highly experience and knows how to successfully run competitions.