Why should you run a Facebook Competition..?

 

As we all know very well, everyone loves to win something, and running a Facebook Competition on your Facebook page is a fantastic way to gain more ‘likes’ for your page and ultimately new customers for your business !!!!

 

Here are our Top Tips to ensure your competition’s success.

1. Ensure the prize is industry relevant

You would be surprised how many businesses give away a free iPad/Iphone or Kindle. This is a great prize to win, everyone wants one and this might lead to huge take up rates, however this is not targeting your “target market”.

An Ipad  is a highy attractive prize and entrants friends & colleagues who are perhaps not local to your business may enter.  If you are a local restaurant for example, you could perhaps have contacts on your list that live thousands of miles away and are not likely to ever pay you a visit.

Give away a lunch or dinner for 2 as your prize. This might attract less people (i.e. only the entrants who are close enough to redeem the prize), but at least this is your target market. Also people who enter your competition will be more likely to visit your restaurant in future, especially if you send them a special offer via email and/or SMS Text once the competition has closed – assuming you have collected their information and got them to opt-in.

2. If you can, think up remarketing strategies you could use as a follow-up

 In our restaurant example, you could tag some photos of your winners when they redeem their prize & post to your Facebook page and inside your establishment for their friends & family to see, and also to generate more publicity. Remember to get your winner’s testimonial and use it.

3. Publicity – let people know about your contest, via multiple channels

You could run both an Online & Offline Press Release with a feature within the local press or you could link your website to your Facebook competition. Anything that assists directing your offline or online traffic to your competition will assist with this. Also don’t forget to  use your wider social network if you have one (highly recommended) i.e. Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Facebook Groups etc…

4.    Use Facebook ads

Direct traffic to your competition with Facebook ads – again ensuring correct targeting. You can also use a promoted post from as little as £10 or less (depending on the fan size of your page) to promote a post and ensure all your fans see it. This can be enough to kick-start your competition during the initial stages and by making your competition viral and requiring entrants to share with friends you can ensure maximum exposure.

5.    Give your competition an expiry date

Create a level of urgency and expectation, and ensure you pick a winner at the end of the competition. Tell them how and when the winner will be chosen and how they will be notified.

6. The Money is in the list

This is where a lot of companies make a big mistake in their Facebook contests by asking entrants to like and share on their page [not to mention it is actually breaking Facebook rules].

Ensure you collect entrants e-mail address & mobile number when they enter the competition. You will need this to contact the winner(s), as it is also against Facebook rules to notify the winner directly on your Facebook wall.

More importantly, with a list you can begin further marketing initiatives after your contest is over and continue the dialogue with your contestants - re-marketing to regular & prospective clients by e.g. SMS Text Marketing or Email Marketing campaigns.

7. Inform previous contestants about your latest contest

When you create your next competition, send an email mailshot to your previous contest list and also send an SMS text which offers high immediate open rates  of 97%  plus.

8. Run regular competitions

Running one-off Facebook competitions can make you go viral fast, however to keep your fans engaged & for lasting impact you should run regular competitions - perhaps one per month or every two months. This is a proven strategy for turning Facebook users into customers.

9. Adhere to Facebook rules

Facebook’s promotional guidelines. These include ensuring your Facebook competition is run via an app/tab on your Facebook page. Entrants to your competition must not be conditioned to have to “like” a Wall post, Comment or enter by uploading a photo to a Wall. Running regular competitions is a fab way to gain more ‘likes’ for your Facebook page. It also helps to re-market to your new fans via your Facebook page. The 3 E’s of Social Media Marketing “Educate, Entertain & Engage”. This helps to increase fan engagement, increase brand awareness, promote your business, generate leads, collect email addresses and mobile numbers but most importantly … gain YOU more customers!

We hope this information has been useful and if you think a Facebook competition might be right for your business but maybe aren't sure where to start, why not get in touch and we will help you to decide the best type of competition and give you some advice on what to do next.

Please contact Corrie-Dee Whaite on Tel 01294 559480 or Mob 07411 170758.