Running a successful social media competition isn’t as easy as it looks. What makes it difficult is the “successful” part. Based on my personal experience, I am sharing with you tips that helped me conduct successful social media competitions.
How to know if your social media competition is successful?
It is all about defining successful. So What is successful?
1- A social media competition that has a clear goal, for example exposes the product or service and introduces it to your fans.
2- A competition that highlights the brand and its different product ranges.
3- A competition that reaches the right target audience.
4- A competition that has a decent number of entries.
5- Differentiating between the “Gold Diggers” and “Real” participants who will turn into potential customers.
Tips for a successful social media competition
1- Choose a visual of the gift that you are going to offer. It is all about that first impression. And online, it is the visual that will be the most attractive part of your post to make that first impression. If you prefer to post a photo of yourself with the gift, make sure that the gift and the brand are clearly visible. Brands expect their products to be exposed not your beauty (no offense). You can always add photos of yourself using the product inside the blog post. Below is an example of a photo that you can use.
I recommend a photo with the following size: 1080×1080 pixels. This photo can be used anywhere on social media. You should also take into consideration the 20-80 rule for Facebook and Instagram. You won’t be able to promote your post on Facebook or Instagram if it has more than 20% text. So you can use this link to check how much text there is on your photo.
https://www.facebook.com/mariafrangiehblog/photos/a.248432875263682.57369.237340933039543/923416681098628/?type=3&theater
2- Brand it with the logo of the brand if the logo is not clear in the photo. The brand is offering you a gift to giveaway, thank them by giving them clear credit on the post and on the photo. Brand it with the logo of the brand, do not add other brands in the same photo. This will increase your chances for a repost by the brand (You might want to discuss this with the brand before).
In this case you need to make sure that the brand will provide you with their logo or try to find their logo online in good resolution.
You can always add your logo as well, but make sure that it is not bigger than the logo of the brand.
https://www.facebook.com/mariafrangiehblog/photos/pb.237340933039543.-2207520000.1451385246./914195442020752/?type=3&theater
3- Make the gift worthwhile. Show the value of the gift, not necessarily in dollar value, but make it interesting for fans to participate. Relate it to something they need. Make your fans want the gift. You can mention the retail price of the gift, but there is no need to in my opinion. Sharing a gift on your timeline is very similar to recommending one, so if you are sure this is a product that you would personally use, then your are safe. If you have doubts that this products might have some negatives feedback drop it.
4- Mention clear competition rules. A successful social media competition is one that clearly explains the rules. You have two options in this case. If your rules are simple, you can post them in the description of the post. Otherwise, you can create a page on your blog and list the rules. Rules can include the following fields.
- What will the fans have to do in order to participate in the competition
- Duration: start date and end date
- Date of announcing the results
- The prize
- The exact number of winners
In both cases, you need to mention what is important in the post to avoid any confusions.
I personally prefer to have the competitions on my blog, as they drive traffic to my blog, I highly recommend you do the same. This will also encourage the fans to check out the other features of your blog, and if interested they will subscribe to read more about what you have to share. I share my competitions on social media, and promote my posts, but the main competition is held on the blog.
5- Duration of the competition. A social media competition should not run for a long period of time, especially if your budget is limited. I recommend a duration of one week, during which you will get a decent number of participants and you won’t bore your fans with the same post being promoted for more than week. You will also have more time to run other competitions, as it is preferable not to run competitions for different brands at the same time. Give each brand a fair time on your blog. You can also set the duration of the competition based on your budget.
6- Monitor your comments. Make sure to review the comments on your blog post and on social media. If you have indicated that answers are only valid on your blog post, some participants might miss this rule and will comment on social media. Go back and make sure to mention them and indicate clearly where they need to comment. Your fans will appreciate it.
7- Last but not least, budget. Consider investing in a budget to promote your posts on social media. We all know organic reach has dropped dramatically and will lead to no entries. A budget of 5$ a day on Facebook is fair. However if you want to promote on Instagram and Facebook you might want to increase your budget. Instagram will promote your posts for a minimum of 5$ a day. On Facebook you can consider having a lifetime budget for as low as 1$ a day. Choose your audience wisely to make sure your engaged audience is interested in the brand.
If you have any tips to add, or would like to share an experience, feel free to add it below, I would love to read it 🙂
Feel free to drop me a comment below or join me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn or Instagram, I look forward to hearing from you.
