Want to increase total likes on your Facebook page?
Want to convert users of Facebook into potential leads by alluring them with an offer or prize?
Just Run Facebook Contest!
The Facebook contest is an excellent way to accomplish your aims in the world of social media.
It can offer you a huge investment in return, thereby saving your time. No matter which business you are in, you can save valuable hours with Facebook contest strategy.
So, if you wish to know everything about successfully creating Facebook contest then reading this post will be the best thing to do.
First, let’s check the steps to create a Facebook contest.
5 Step Guide to Create a Facebook Contest:
1. Consider Why?
Before you run a contest, you must define your primary goal. You might have unique goals, but the two common goals to run a contest are:
To generate product awareness
To collect data
If you Generate Product Awareness:
One great thing about social networks is that they allow us to share anything across our network for free. When people identify any attention-grabbing content, then the results are priceless.
You can reach outside your immediate network by harnessing the power of social networks through the contest.
Hence, if you want to generate brand or product awareness among people, then design a contest around them. It includes public images, videos and other stuff that is engaging and useful to generate brand awareness.
If you collect data and enhance CRM:
Collecting data is one of the finest uses of contests. People enter their address and contact information to win the prize. Once you have such information in hand, you can use to contact people again when you are prepared to sell to them.
In this case, you can run contests by running a photo caption contest. Just remember one thing, don’t ask too in-depth information from people. The more you will ask, the fewer people will fill out the form.
Strike a Perfect Balance between Entry Method and Prize
The most critical aspect of a contest is its prize. It is the prize that entices people to enter the contest.
2. Strike a perfect balance between the prize and entry method!
There must be a value attached to the prize, the probability of winning prize and entry method required to win the prize. Usually, there is an inverse relationship between frequencies of winning the contest to the absolute value of the prize.
If you are offering an attractive prize designed to attract the audience, then it can be obtained only after winning a competition or contest.
However, if the prize is small, then you could structure the contest in a way so that there is a winner every day. The fact that participants could win daily adds a sense of urgency.
Types of Entry Method:
Depending on the prize, you can consider 3 distinct types of entry method.
Contact Details:
In this method, people are required to provide their name, email address, phone number, and more to provide.
For this, you must ask the smallest volume of data that can be used to create sequel emails that can be converted into sales.
Content as Per User’s Data and Contact Details:
This method requires you to request users to provide videos, photos, and other text. You need to use rich user-generated data for future marketing.
Using this method you can run contests where users can vote for their preferred entries to win.
Contact Details:
This is a bonus entry method that does not need any additional information but requires additional entries.
You just have to determine the type of social or share activities that can earn them additional entries.
3. Building a Contest Page:
An entry page of the contest must be exciting and simple. It must excite people about the overall contest as well as the prize.
Here are important elements to create a successful entry page contest!
Eye-Catching Title:
The finest way to make the most of entries is to create a short title as a CTA. The title must be simple and educational.
It must inform invitees what they can do on the page, what they will win, and the company or person organizing the contest.
Image of the Prize:
You can entice your customers greatly with a first-class image of the prize.
If you are offering a gift card, including an image of a gift card with value mentioned in the text. Do mention the product or service people can purchase using the gift card.
Prizing and Entry Details:
Include a small paragraph mentioning information about entry rules, prize, and restrictions on the contest.
Also, you can add a link to the rules and restriction page to avoid overcrowding the contest.
Details of Submission Form:
The entry form comprises a correspondence address signup case or sweepstake button.
If your contest requires submitting videos, photos, or entries, you can provide the option to upload a file or text.
Facebook Comments and Share Button:
To make it convenient for participants to share the contest with their friends and network, you must include a share button on the page of the contest.
Most of the contests include a built-in Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Google+ share button. Also, take account of Facebook comments to enhance communication on the contest page.
4. Promoting and Sharing the Contest:
With a proper contest set up properly, it is time to endorse it. You can have maximum success only when you have high organic traffic. But you need to create few marketing boosts on an initial basis.
Some of the methods to market the contest are:
Sending an Email Blast:
You need to email customer’s email lists. This is one of the methods to provide and share details with your friends and start up your contest.
Promote Contest on Social Platforms:
Another way to promote the contest on social platforms is on Pinterest, Twitter, Google+, and more. This would ensure you have a strong social presence. It is an excellent way to familiarize customers to other networks through the Facebook contest page and attract them towards your brand.
Include a banner on the home page of your website:
If you want most of the business to flow to your site, then you need to capitalize it. This can be done by placing a banner on the homepage that connects to the entry page of the contest.
Prepare an Ad on Facebook:
Another excellent way to expand your reach to novel customers outside your present community is by creating a Facebook Ad. You can use these ads to target the reach to the desired demographic.
List Contest on Common Contesting Websites:
Out there are numerous contesting websites. Such sites allow free submissions. You can use them to get access to novel communities of customers.
5. Monitoring the Contest:
Based on the eventual goals of your contest, you need to monitor the performance of the contest.
The 3 important metrics to consider in this context are:
Insights of Facebook Page:
Such a page would enable you to identify the total number of likes, shares, and comments on your contest. You can also monitor the new Fans on your page availed during the contest.
Monitor Google Alerts:
Monitor references for the contest by setting up Google alerts across the web.
Campaign Reporting from Wishpond:
With contest apps on Facebook from Wishpond, it is possible to gain real-time reporting of the campaign.
This enables you to monitor entries, views, and bounce rate in the real-time. It enables you to keep contest up to date even when it is operating.
6. Measure:
You are done with the contest. Now what?
It is time to determine was it successful or not.
The main criteria for this must be that, were you able to meet your ultimate goals?
For this reason, we suggest you outline goals in the first place. Some of the common metrics to measure the success of your contest are:
- Numbers of app views
- Numbers of new entries and entries from existing users
- New page likes
- App conversion rate
- New email addresses
- Total conversions to customers
Facebook Contest Rules that You Must Know:
When it is about what Facebook would permit in a contest, this can be tricky to know what is unacceptable and what is acceptable. It is because the rules change frequently.
However, some of the general rules of thumb to follow are:
- Include details about the Facebook release from a participant or new entrant
- Acknowledge that the contest is no way endorsed, sponsored, associated, or administered with Facebook
- Offer eligibility requirements and rules
- Announce the official rules
- Follow the applicable regulations and rules governing the promotion and related to prize offered
Depending on the kind of contest you are running, different types of information is required in the contest rules. As a general guideline, some useful things to include are:
- Company Name
- URL of Website
- Company Country or State and Zip Code
- End and Start Date of Contest
- How the winner will be determined
How will you notify the winner? This can be through an email to contest winner, Twitter tweet announcement, Facebook post announcement, and announcing a blog post.
- Prize and value associated with it
- The final date to claim the prize
- Minimum eligibility age of contest
- Eligible countries to enter and win the contest
- Total number of times a user can enter into the contest
- Incidences that would result in disqualification
Difference Between Contests, Lotteries, Giveaways/Sweepstakes
Contest:
It is a campaign that requires some effort, merit or skill to enter to win the prize. For example, the participant would post a video, content, or photo in order to win the contest. The winner can be selected by judges, voting, or random.
Sweepstakes or Giveaway:
It is a campaign in which a person can win a prize on the basis of chance. No payment or purchase is permitted in this context.
Lottery:
It needs payment, purchase or other consideration to win a prize. In some countries, lotteries are illegal, and they do not run a lottery.
Tips for Successful Facebook Contests:
1. Review Rules of Facebook Service:
Facebook regularly changes its regulations and rules about contests and other sorts of promotions. Do check the latest Facebook guidelines page before launching the contest.
2. Establish a S.M.A.R.T. Goal:
Set a goal that is measurable, relevant, specific, timely, and attainable. Clearly define your contest goals before you begin planning. Focus on one or two attainable goals to gain more success through the contest.
3. Select the Content-Type:
The contest can be of different types. Select a contest that is easy to enter in the first phase.
4. Pick a Software:
Pick appropriate software to run and manage the contest. Prefer using software with built-in voter verification aspects. You can use third-party software that will help you collect and organize all the data.
5. Set Proper Time Frame:
Decide a proper time frame to run your contest and let the audience know about it. Companies offering valuable prizes would tend to run the contest for a longer time period. However, those offering smaller prizes would run a contest for a monthly or weekly basis.
6. Create Proper Rules:
Describe clearly how the winner will be selected, like voting or random selection.
7. Determine who can enter the contest:
Based on the goal of your contest, you can determine who can enter into the contest. Clearly define the same in the description box.
Facebook Contest Strategies:
1. Run Contest to get New Leads:
You can maximize new leads through your contest by maximizing the entries. This can be done by making entry simple and assigning a few restrictions to it.
2. Run Contest to Obtain User Generated Data:
The contest can help you obtain user-generated information by including photos, videos, and written endorsements from fans. The content must be great to use in marketing and offer community proof about the advantages of your product.
3. Run Contest to Keep Fans Involved:
It is vital to have a rich fan engagement. This would help you know how your fans think and talk about the brand. A timely schedule of the monthly contest is a convenient way to keep fans involved so that they are more probable to purchase from your brand in the future.
Final Words:
If the results are positive and your contest is successful, then you can plan the next contest soon. If the contest is a failure or did not meet your expectations, figure out why and resolve.