Social media is an important component in promoting any event, but to generate even more interest, you need to take advantage of your followers’ reach as well. An easy way to do this is by creating a social media contest that can increase engagement among your followers.
After all, if your followers share and like your posts, you’ll be able to further expand your reach and potentially gain more followers simply by offering something that they want. Furthermore, social media contests are a cost-effective way to advertise your event. Other than the prize you’re giving away, there’s little cost to you. Here are 6 contest ideas that will get people talking about your event.
Simple Enter-to-Win Sweepstakes
This is an easy and fast way to gather entries and email addresses of prospective event attendees. The winner is simply selected at random. Make sure you let people know that by entering they are opting-in to receive future promotional emails from you.
“Tag Your Friend” Contest
This is another easy way to extend your reach without putting in a great deal of effort. You simply ask your followers and/or those who plan to attend your event to tag the friend they would choose to bring to your event if they won tickets.
Hashtag Contest
Request that your followers post photos of themselves and/or your products on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and/or Pinterest. When they do, ask them to include the branded hashtag you created for your event for a chance to win.
Retweet to Win Contest
Ask your followers to retweet a tweet of your choosing to enter to win your contest. This can be a fantastic way to generate more followers on your Twitter account. It also shows Twitter that people are interacting with your content.
Brief Survey Contest
Why not ask those individuals who plan to attend your event to fill out a brief survey? It’s a great way to gain some understanding about who they are and what interests them. To reward them for their efforts, you can then randomly pick a winner from among the group of participants.
Snapchat Contest
For your younger followers and fans, ask them to submit a Snapchat drawing based on the theme of your choice. You can then pick the person who submitted the most artistic and creative submission as the prizewinner.
Speaking of which, depending on your budget, you can offer the winner free tickets to your event, a free hotel room during their stay at the event, or even free airline tickets to the event. If your budget is smaller or if you choose to have more than one winner, branded swag is always a good option.
Ensure That Your Social Media Contest Goes on Without a Hitch
Although these contests are relatively straightforward and easy to carry out, you want to make sure that you do some planning and address some details before rolling out your contest.
Establish Legal Terms
Read up on each social media platform’s legal regulations and restrictions about contests. With Facebook, you can’t require people to share content to their walls. Also, take the time to understand legal regulations for contests in your state. It’s important to note that in some states providing one’s contact information is not permissible as part of a contest if it’s going to be used for marketing purposes.
Finally, make sure all rules, entry dates, and cash value of your prizes are clearly spelled out. And above all, run everything by your legal department or adviser before the contest.
Use Social Media Management Tools
Consider using social media management tools to save you time and money so that you don’t have to be on social media 24/7. Chances are your contests will trigger a lot of questions and comments, so having the right tools is imperative.
Have you held a social media contest as part of your event or for promoting your business? If so, let us know about it in the comments.
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