If you’ve spent any time on social media site such as Facebook, you’ve likely come across plenty of brands offering you a chance to win something just for entering a contest. What you have to do in order to win — answer a trivia question, post a photo or simply like a post — or what you can win will vary, but one thing is constant. Companies run contests to engage their audience and grow their social media base.

 

While some people might think that running contests on Facebook are tacky, the truth is that they can be an effective social media marketing tool — if done right. Here are a few things to consider before you dive into the world of social media competitions:

social-media-race

New Facebook Rules Impact Contests: At the start of 2015, Facebook instituted new rules attempting to keep contests that are simply driven by “liking” a page from showing up on News Feeds. Instead, Facebook wants brands to create contests that engage their customers and create an exchange of information rather than just asking for likes.

 

Have a Clear Goal for Your Contest: As with any other online marketing campaign, you need to have clear objectives in place before you start planning your competition. Are you looking to get more people signed up for your newsletter, or is the ultimate goal to get them onto your site and looking at your products? The results you want to achieve will dictate what type of contest you run.

 

Pick the Contest That’s Right for You: You have many different types of contests that you can choose from when running a contest. Asking people to submit photos through Instagram is a great way to boost social media sharing and increase your followers. Having an instant “lottery” prize drawing pulls people in immediately and is an outstanding way to get them to sign up for your marketing newsletters. You can work with a social media marketing consultant like eVisible to determine which type of contest is right for your brand and objective.

 

Make the Contest Easy to Understand and Enter: If you can’t explain the contest to followers in more than one or two sentences, people will be too confused or bored to enter. Remember: being creative is great but being overly complex only drives potential entrants away. In addition, you don’t want to give people too many steps to undertake in order to enter your contest — asking them to fill out a large questionnaire is only going to serve as a barrier to entry.

 

Set a Fixed Time Limit: People will likely only enter a contest when they know that they deadline is approaching. It’s human nature to want to be a part of something that is ending soon. Set relatively fast deadlines so that people don’t get bored with your contest and you can wrap it up and start a new one.

 

Have Your Contest Engage Your Audience: Using custom banner ads, images and other concepts are great ways to move beyond text and get customers to notice your contest. It’s great if you can show potential entrants some of the best entries that you’ve received so far — this spurs their interest and makes them think that they can do better. This is one reason why contests that require creativity and that ask a customer to explain why they love your product can be so effective.

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