How to Create a Viral Sweepstakes With Social Media. Are you considering using a sweepstakes or contest for an upcoming social media marketing campaign? Ever wonder exactly how a social sweepstakes ties in with the idea of “viral” marketing? In this article, I’ll analyze the concepts affecting a social media “viral sweepstakes” and how marketers can and (potentially) should take advantage. What Exactly Is the Meaning of the Term Viral?
Marketers use the term viral to describe media proliferation in two different contexts. On one hand, viral can describe “massive engagement;” i.e., when droves of people sign up for a particularly enticing offer. Alternatively, “views” can go viral, which occurs when people share a brand campaign with others many times over. As more participants share content, brands benefit across three areas: This online "Band of Buds" campaign from Budweiser has two viral aspects: participants recruit friends to participate and share their group's activity with others. The Economics of a Viral Sweepstakes Campaign #1: Soft Share. How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest | Social Media Examiner. Facebook Contests, Fan Acquisition and Business Value.
There seems to be strategic flaws with many of the ‘voting’ contests hosted by brands on Facebook. On the surface, promotions are often deemed successful based on buzz and ‘likes’. But what about relevance? Awareness and acquisition are meaningful, but only if they are tied to the right audience. The Status Quo There are variations in how brands manage voting contests, but two models are prevalent: Awarding a prize to the person that collects the most votes for a photo, video, entry, etc.Drawing a prize from a group of people that have garnered the most votes i.e. top 20 vote getters.
In addition, many brands ‘fan gate’ contests so visitors need to like a page in order to participate. Acquire new fans >> provide them with relevant content >> fuel engagement >> prompt activation But what’s the value of these fans if most of them aren’t really that interested in the brand? Enter vote exchanges – Forums, websites, and Facebook pages that facilitate the trading of contest votes. Social Media Moms. 7 Tips for Designing a Successful Photo Contest. Luis Sanz is a co-founder of Olapic, a company that helps brands and online publishers crowdsource photos on their site or Facebook fan pages to create a more engaging user experience.
You can follow him on Twitter @lsanza. If you haven't noticed, photos are big on the social web right now. Running a contest is a great way to tap into that content and boost community engagement in a fun and social way. When planning a photo contest, keep these seven tips in mind — you will easily increase the effectiveness of your photo-related contest. If you have any other advice, leave a comment!
Image courtesy of Flickr, Thomas Hawk. 9 Facebook Marketing Success Stories You Should Model. Are you curious what other companies are doing to achieve success with Facebook marketing? You’ve come to the right place. This article highlights nine companies (big and small) that have transformed their Facebook presence by implementing innovative Facebook marketing practices. You’re guaranteed to find inspiration for your Facebook marketing efforts here. These tactics will work for just about any business—large or small, B2B or B2C.
. #1: Cheese & Burger Society The Cheese & Burger Society is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board. One savvy practice introduced here is fan gating. If you use a contest for fan gating, make sure you abide by Facebook’s terms of service. This contest brought 1000s of new fans for The Cheese & Burger Society To increase engagement, Cheese & Burger Society created a Send to a Friend app, allowing fans to send a cheeseburger to their friends. The Send to a Friend app makes it easy to connect with a friend in a fun way Key Takeaways: #2: IdeaPaint. Social Media Promotions and the Law: What You Need to Know. Are you thinking of using social media contests? Do you understand how the law could impact your activities? Keep reading to learn more… Why Legalities? One of the best ways to grow your business is to give stuff away.
Whether your business is a small enterprise, a website or blog, or a large multinational company, hosting giveaways is sure to increase traffic, awareness and potential new readers or customers. Sponsoring or hosting a giveaway comes with rules and regulations that many don’t know or understand. Really, what could be so hard about telling people you’ll give away something if they sign up for your newsletter or leave a comment or like your page or follow you on social media? Remember the days when you had to buy things to enter a giveaway—and the stuff never arrived, or if it did, it wasn’t worth a fraction of what you paid?
Research shows that more than half of all adults in the U.S. enter at least one sweepstakes every year. What are the three types of giveaways or promotions? The ABCs & 123s of Hosting a Successful Facebook Contest | BLASTMedia. When you think about social media platforms, what’s the first that comes to mind? If you said “Facebook,” you are not alone! With more than 600 million users, Facebook is the largest social network and one of the top-visited websites in the world. BLAST’s social media team works hard to stay on the cutting-edge of marketing opportunities on this ever-evolving social network. As a result of our diligence, we recently ended a successful Facebook sweepstakes for our client, Dexim, who saw an increase of new fan page “Likes” by nearly 50 percent in just two weeks! But before you leap at the chance to grow your own fan page, make sure you know your ABCs and 123s of Facebook: Awareness To host a successful sweepstakes or contest, you must first know Facebook’s strict rules and regulations, or you’ll risk getting your business fan page shut down.
Tip 1: Promoting your contest is key to growing the number of “Likes” to your page! Benchmarking Tip 2: Creativity Tip 3: FB Cracking Down on Pages Violating the Promotions Guidelines. Facebook chastises firms for luring users to 'Like' them Leslie D`Monte / Mumbai June 25, 2011, 0:28 IST Companies luring users to click on the Facebook 'Like' button to enter a contest have come under increased scrutiny by the social networking giant that has nearly 700 million users globally and around 31 million users in India. Facebook has deleted the pages of big brands like Cadbury's Bournville, French Connection FCUK India and Pizza Hut India, and is understood to have sent warning letters to dozens of big companies for misusing the 'Like' button to promote their brands, thus violating the provisions of its 'promotional guidelines' which were revised on May 11, 2011.
"This is a wake-up call for marketing managers and their shortcut-taking social media agencies. Promotions, instead, must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or an app on a Page Tab. Facebook Contests--Worth Getting Your Page Deleted? This morning I received an email from my bank announcing a contest they were doing on Facebook. The email instructed me to visit their Facebook Page, like it, and then vote on something to be entered to win. I see contests like this every day–contests inviting people to comment on a post or “like” a photo as means of entering a contest. And every time I see one my inner know-it-all struggles with whether I should say something to the Page admin or not, because I know that by running such contests, they’re risking the very Facebook Pages they’re trying to promote. Did you know that Facebook has specific guidelines for contests run on Pages, and violating those guidelines could get your page deleted?
Here are just a few points the guidelines cover: Promotions on Facebook must be administered within Apps on Facebook.com, either on a Canvas Page or an app on a Page Tab. What happens if you violate these guidelines? Like this: Like Loading... Blog Law - Is Your Giveaway Legal? Welcome to my blog! If you would like to keep updated on new posts, please consider subscribing via RSS feed or subscribe through email by using the box in the sidebar. In addition, consider following me on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook. Thanks for visiting SaraFHawkins.com! More and more I’m seeing giveaways that may not be fully compliant with federal or state laws governing giveaways. Whether online or off, there are a host of laws that every contest holder must follow or risk significant fines or, in some states, criminal prosecution. Giveaway laws in the US cover sweepstakes, contests, and lotteries.
Sweepstakes and contests have been used by marketers for decades to create awareness for their product or service. What are Sweepstakes, Contests and Lotteries? Sweepstakes are prize giveaways where the winners are chosen by the luck of the draw. Contests choose a winner based on some merit. A Lottery is a prize drawing where people must pay money to buy a chance to win. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Blog Law: Facebook Promotion Guidelines Updated. Welcome to my blog! If you would like to keep updated on new posts, please consider subscribing via RSS feed or subscribe through email by using the box in the sidebar. In addition, consider following me on Twitter, Google+, or Facebook. Thanks for visiting SaraFHawkins.com! This week, on May 11, 2011, Facebook made some sweeping changes to their promotional guidelines. Things That Remain the Same 1. 2. 3. You must not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism.
What this means for blogger & brand promotions? 4. 5. 6. Things That Changed 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. A. Overall, I think these promotion guidelines are much better and easier to comply with. Disclosure: While I am a lawyer, I am not offering legal advice.