Every business is looking for ways to increase their customer base, and a great way to do this is by spending time in the same places that your customers do. In this day and age, that’s on social media. There are many different social media engagement strategies you can try, and a tried-and-true tool is running social media contests for your small business.
Every business is looking for ways to increase their customer base, and a great way to do this is by spending time in the same places that your customers do. In this day and age, that’s on social media. There are many different social media engagement strategies you can try, and a tried-and-true tool is running social media contests for your small business.
How to increase your following through social media contests
People love to win things, its human nature! Social media contests for small businesses bring an element of fun into your marketing campaign. It gives you a chance to promote your products and brand with a low budget. A social media contest offers businesses the opportunity to:
- Boost your brand
- Engage customers with your product
- Add to your email list
- Get more followers on social media
- Have access to unique, positive, user-generated content
- Participate in your community
These are excellent overall goals that can help your business get ahead. Here are a few of the top tips for successful social media contests for small businesses.
Give Away Something Awesome
The prize for the contest has to be good enough to get customers excited. Having desirable prizes will give your brand the best chance of making sure that people who enter your contest go on to become customers. The prize could be one of your products or services, an exciting experience, cash, or a valuable gift card. It will all depend on what your business has to offer, but to get a great response, present a desirable prize.
Give It a Catchy Name
Don’t be mundane with your contest name. Make it sound fun and exciting. It’s also a great idea to tie your contest in with the season or a holiday. Remember, since some social media sites limit the number of characters you can use, make the name of your contest short and sweet.
Set Goals and Priorities with the SMART Method
SMART stands for specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. Sticking to these guidelines ensures that you know what you want to get out of your contest. SMART goals should always be an integral part of your social media engagement strategy.
Involve Your Customers
It’s a great idea to get your actively involved in the contest. For example, a sticker company ran a social media contest that required entrants to post a picture of their sticker in an interesting location on their social media accounts, along with a hashtag. This strategy easily spreads the word, because your business gets exposed to everyone who enters entire social media following.
Make It Easy To Enter
Don’t burden potential customers with a long form that requires them to give out a lot of personal information. People enjoy entering contests that are quick and easy. Some ideas for easy contest entry are asking people to comment on a post, using a hashtag, sharing one of your posts, or posting a picture with one of your products.
Play by the Rules
Make sure the rules of your social media contest are clearly posted on your page, or linked from your website. Also, make sure you are following the rules of each social media platform, whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, or any other social media outlet. If it seems a bit complex, we are happy to help you navigate or create the rules for your social media contest.
For more tips on how to grow your following and increase engagement with social media contests, contact us today! Let us put our top-notch small business social media marketing services to work for you.
Interested in learning more? Please contact fishbat to get started with us today.
