Do you remember the last time you won a contest? The feeling of winning a giveaway or contest is incredibly memorable and attaches you to that moment. In the case of social media marketing, it attaches you to the brand or company. While there are several ways to engage with your followers on social media, social media contests, and giveaways are one of the most effective ways to drive engagement and sales. A well-planned social media contest can help increase brand awareness, generate buzz, and improve engagement levels. However, it can’t be done in isolation. It must be part of your overall social media marketing strategy. Here’s a quick read on the top 5 steps to create a winning social media strategy.
If your brand hasn’t already done social media contests and giveaways, we’re going to highlight a few reasons and share insights. Our Social Media Marketing Company In Mumbai has also coined a few tips on how to create a successful social media contest that will keep your audience engaged and generate long-term ROI for your business. Let’s dive in and explore the world of social media contests and giveaways.
The Obvious Benefits of Social Media Contests and Giveaways
Social media contests and giveaways have become a popular tools for businesses to increase engagement and drive sales. Here are some of the obvious benefits of using contests on social media:
1. Increase Engagement
When executed well, social media contests can increase engagement on a page. By attracting new and relevant fans, businesses can increase comments, shares, retweets, likes, pins, and more. Instagram contests get 3.5x more likes and 64x comments on average than regular posts.
Our social media marketing team does recommend social media contests to increase followers as part of the strategy. An Instagram contest or giveaway can help you grow your followers 70% faster in three months. Not all potential customers will become followers of your brand by simply seeing your online ads. Sometimes ads are not enough to drive the interest of a potential customer, but you can give them a good experience with contests. Social media contests and giveaways provide an incentive for your target audience to follow the brand, engage with the content and stay connected.
2. Build and Expand Brand Awareness
Social media contests can help expand brand awareness. How? Easy Promos explains that 94% of the time users share promotions just after they register, and around 62% of these send the contest to their friends encouraging them to participate too! Contests that ask people to submit photos, vote for a picture, or share videos see an uptick in page shares on social media. Almost instantly boosting brand awareness across segments. Did you know around 78.4% of contest shares are done on Facebook?
It’s also a great tool to showcase products or services to a larger audience. Where the audience may have ignored an ad, a social media giveaway engages them with a want to win one. This not only increases awareness but also generates excitement and interest in your brand. According to a study, over 34% of new customers are acquired through contests.
The Unique Benefits of Social Media Contests and Giveaways
Besides the obvious benefits, social media contests and giveaways have the potential to improve your social media strategy in multiple ways that boost your brand’s online presence and sales.
1. Boost the Content Marketing Strategy
User-Generated Content from social media contests and giveaways is an incredible boost to the content marketing strategy. It provides a way to create engaging and shareable content that adds to your existing social media strategy. It encourages participants to create and share content related to your brand, products, or services. This user-generated content can be leveraged to create a buzz around your brand, increase visibility, and ultimately drive sales. Some brands use UGC to create relatable ads that are impactful. Contests help create a library of content that can be repurposed and shared on your social media platforms.
2. Collect Rich Data
Social media contests are a great way to collect rich data about your audience. Conduct the social media giveaway with forms to fill out or website visits with relevant, not-too-personal questions that pertain to the brand. Simple surveys that revolve around likes, dislikes, behaviours, and habits can be fun, interesting and encourage people to engage with the contest as well. Gather valuable data on the target audience through analytics, and get demographics and preferences. This data can further help refine marketing strategies, create more targeted campaigns, and ultimately drive more sales.
3. Acts as Word-of-Mouth Advertising
Social media contests build a loyal community of followers who invest in your brand. Often social media giveaways are shared by existing audiences and potential customers with others. This sharing helps spread the word about your brand and its products or services. If the contest has factored in tags and shares as part of its rules, it creates a snowball effect resulting in more participants in your contest and more engagement. These engaged followers are likely to purchase your products or services and recommend your brand to others.
4. Translates to Offline Footfalls In-store
Structure the contest in a way that encourages people to visit your physical store. This way you can translate online engagement into offline footfalls. Local businesses especially, can benefit from contests like these which increase foot traffic and help potential customers in the local area discover the store.
5. Social media contests help increase sales
Social media giveaways enable brands to showcase products and services creatively and engagingly. Running a great contest will give you a chance to bring up your brand’s products and services more than other times. While the direct ROI on a contest may be minimal, the long-term indirect ROI can be significant. Contests have a 3.7% higher conversion rate as compared to other CTAs. A well-executed social media contest has the potential to improve your brand’s visibility, reputation, and generate buzz, resulting in increased sales over time.
Social media contests and giveaways are powerful tools for boosting sales and revenue. By increasing product awareness, generating user-generated content, boosting engagement and brand loyalty, encouraging referrals and word-of-mouth advertising, and driving sales and revenue, social media contests and giveaways are a valuable addition to any digital marketing strategy.
Tips on How to Plan and Execute a Successful Social Media Contest or Giveaway
It’s important to approach the planning and execution of a social media contest strategically and thoughtfully. Here are some tips to help you plan and execute a successful social media contest or giveaway:
Set Clear Goals
At the onset, define what you want to achieve with the contest or giveaway aka objectives. Are you looking to increase brand awareness, grow your social media following, engage your loyal community, or boost sales? Setting clear goals will help create a fun contest that aligns with your objectives.
Define Your Target Audience
It’s important to understand who the contest is for. Define the target audience and target their interests. This will help make it more relevant and appealing to them. There is no appeal in running a contest for traditional building materials or hand tools to Gen Z or Gen Alpha, is there?
Offer Attractive and Relevant Prizes
In some markets, small giveaways like vouchers could be sought after even with complex contest rules. However, for some occasions or contests, brands must think larger. The prizes you offer should be attractive and relevant to your audience. For some audiences, discount vouchers for branded products or services as prizes work. Partner with other brands to offer complementary products or services to add another layer of social media engagement.
Choose the Right Platform
Different social media platforms have different audiences and features. Choose the platform that aligns with your target audience and contest objectives. It’s easier to run a longer-duration poll contest on Twitter rather than a 24-hour story on Instagram. Some brands design contests that are run across all platforms. While some use multiple social media platforms to promote the contest but run it only on a single platform.
Create Clear and Simple Rules
The more complicated the contest, the higher drop in engagement. Consumers live in an instant digital world and contests are a fun escape from regular programming. They expect contests to be fun, easy to understand, and participate in. Clearly outline the rules of the contest or giveaway, including eligibility, terms, entry requirements, and timelines.
Promote the Contest or Giveaway
Don’t forget to promote the contest – yes, offline as well. Use posters, and danglers in your retail outlets to push shoppers to participate. Use other marketing channels like email to promote your contest and generate participation. Encourage participants to share the contest with their social media networks to increase reach.
Track, Analyse, and Set up for Success
Remember, the key to success is to set clear goals, define the target audience, create an attractive and relevant prize, promote your contest or giveaway effectively, and engage with your audience throughout the process. Don’t forget to track your results and analyze data to learn from successes and failures.
So, if you haven’t already, it’s time to start planning your next social media contest or giveaway with the Best Digital Marketing Company In Mumbai. Social media contests and giveaways can be powerful tools for driving engagement, increasing brand awareness, and improving sales. You can create a more engaged and loyal customer base and generate significant ROI over time.
The right strategy and execution in a social media contest can be a powerful way to grow your business and engage with your audience. Check out this interesting Giveaway Campaign Case Study.
Are you ready to take your social media marketing to the next level with a successful contest or giveaway? Contact us at aniketh@mindstorm.in to learn more about our social media marketing services and how we can help you achieve your business goals.
