How to run contests and sweepstakes on social media

Author of the article

Valeria, smm manager at VAU Agency

Sweepstakes and contests are a great way to attract new leads, increase brand awareness, and increase the number of followers on social media.

But even this seemingly easy way of promotion has its own peculiarities and mechanics.

Let's take a closer look at what features exist and how to run contests and sweepstakes to get high results.

Before conducting a draw, you need to determine its purpose, budget, tools, and rules.

LET'S START WITH THE GOAL.

First of all, we can highlight the main ones:

audience engagement
increase in brand awareness
increase in activity
increase in sales

THE NEXT IMPORTANT STEP IS TO DETERMINE THE BUDGET

Take into account all possible costs: prizes, advertising, salaries of the team involved in the organization, and possible additional expenses.

Determine on which platforms your audience is most active (Facebook or Instagram) and set a budget for promoting the sweepstakes if necessary.

THEN MOVE ON TO THE MECHANICS OF THE DRAW

I have identified the main ones:

Minimal actions are required from subscribers
For example, like, subscribe, repost, tag a friend, leave a comment, etc.
The audience makes a little more effort
You need to take a photo of the product and post it with a page mark, etc.
We offer subscribers to be creative
For example, it can be creating a UGC video, writing a post with a review and a mark, etc.

But remember!

The more conditions you need to meet to participate in a contest, the less people will likely participate.

Example 1 - simple conditions for participating in the draw (leave a comment, subscribe and like)

Example 2 - more complicated conditions (take a photo or video of the goods and a story with a mark)

It is also important to develop clear and transparent participation rules for a successful contest or sweepstakes.

Clear conditions of participation

Determine who can participate in the contest and what actions are required to participate (like a post, subscribe to a page, share a post, etc.).

Transparent process for determining the winners

Define who can participate in the contest and what actions are required to participate (like the post, subscribe to the page, share the entry, etc.).

Describe how the winners will be selected (randomly through special services, by voting, etc.). Specify the date and time of the results announcement.

Try to write down the contest rules in as much detail as possible so that there are fewer disputes with dissatisfied participants in the future.

And finally, an important point after the draw - is to engage those who did not win so as not to lose the audience.

To keep the losing participants from leaving you, you need to provide them with additional incentives. For example, offer participants an additional -20% discount when ordering within a day.

The most popular services for running a sweepstakes:

Youtogift, Randomus, Randompicker, It-Som