Is your business involved in social media or email campaigns but you don’t have the number of followers or emails you would like? Contest campaigns are a great method for generating brand awareness, increasing your followers/database and increasing sales.

What goes into a contest campaign, you might ask? The following is a list of steps that Fuzzy Duck uses to create a successful contest campaign:

1. Strategy
Before jumping into a contest, it is crucial to have a strategy. What is the goal of having a contest/giveaway? What information do you want from the participants? How will you use the information you collect from the participants once you have it? Once all of these questions are answered, developing a contest will be much easier and more effective.

2. Terms & Conditions
Creating your own terms & conditions is crucial for running a contest on social media. Having your own terms will allow the contest to be run exactly how you want it. For example, being specific on age requirements is important to cohere with your strategy. This will help define the desired audience for your contest and eliminate participants you don’t want to target (see more in Step 3).

3. Demographics
Who do you want to win your contest? A 7-year-old or a 45-year-old? Deciding on a demographic should be fairly simple, whom do you want to return to your business site and help you bring in profit? By having a target demographic, it will help with your terms and conditions, keep your contest focused and will help keep that demographic coming back (refer back to Step 2).

4. Prize
For participants, having an incentive for providing information to your business is really the only way you will draw their attention. It doesn’t have to be fancy or extravagant, it just has to be real. If you are looking for more clients, then have participants enter to win $50-$100 worth of free services at your business. In the end, this could lead to a long-term client. What if you want to collect emails for your database? Provide a free product or gift card to a popular location. Center your “prize” on the strategy. Think about what will keep them coming back for more.

5. Length
How long do you want to run the contest? You want to allow your contest time to build brand awareness and draw in the most followers. Then again, participants are not going to want to wait 6 months until you pick someone. Pick a length of time that can satisfy you and the participants.

6. Claiming Winners
State in your terms and conditions how your business will determine the winner(s). If your business wants to have another contest in the future, it is important to share with your participants the winners of the contest. This doesn’t mean providing all their detailed information; you still need to be professional and private. Have a picture of the winner with their “prize.” Or, just share, “Congratulations ______! You are the winner of the _____ Contest!”. When participants can trust you, they will participate again.

Developing your own social media contest takes a lot of brainstorming and trial and error. But, if you do it right, a contest will help increase your relationship with your customers, learn more about them and, in the end, increase sales.

Are you interested in hosting your own contest campaign but need help getting started? Fuzzy Duck can help you create a contest that will benefit your brand and have the most effective results. Please call 952-449-6800 with any questions or email info@fuzzyduck.com.