Running a Twitter Contest, Sweepstakes or Group Offer: It’s Easier Than You Think
There is no shortage of options for creating engaging social contests, sweepstakes and group coupons on Twitter. Through Wishpond’s Social Promotion Suite, we make your social media marketing a little bit easier, by giving you the social promotion tools you need.
All you have to do is to choose what your next social promotion will be. All of the campaign types listed below are available to you, at any time, in our Social Promotion Suite.
So, which campaign type(s) is right for your next business marketing campaign?
To answer this question, you need to go one step deeper and answer two more questions (Inception!):
1. What is your goal from this campaign?
A Sweepstake is the simplest type of contest – users submit their email address, click ‘Enter Contest’ and they’re entered into a random drawing for a prize. This is the best type of contest to start with if you don’t have many followers on your Twitter profile page.
A Vote Contest is the easiest way to get users to interact with your brand in a personal way. These can be used to vote for which products should appear in your next product line or go on sale next season.
Photo Contests are an easy way to entice users to upload a photo and have the community vote on their favorite to win. With the popularity of camera phones these days, taking a photo is a very easy thing for most users to do. To maximize entries, choose a photo theme that is easy for most users to get a photo of.
Also – photos are the best type of content, as they are eye-catching and are easy to digest, so this is the most recommended type of contest that requires user-generated content.
Photo Caption Contests entice users to write a caption (title) for a photo that you upload to enter. The community then votes on their favorite to win. This is an easy way to take advantage of online memes, which are becoming extremely popular on sites such as Reddit and 9GAG.
An Essay Contest is a great way to get entrants to submit their thoughts, feedback and stories for a chance to win. You can have entrants write about an experience they had using one of your products or at one of your physical locations. The community can then on their favorite to win.
With Video Contests, entice users to create a video to enter to win a prize. This is bit harder to do than simply taking a photo, but it has the potential to give you great user content for your brand. Just like in Photo Contest, the community votes on their favorite to win.
Pinterest Contests entice users to create a board on Pinterest and submit the link to enter. The community then votes on their favorite to win. This is a great contest option, as it gives your brand reach on both Facebook and Pinterest.
A Group Deal is a great way to get users paying money right now in order to take advantage or a limited-time offer. These deals normally require offering a minimum discount of 40% off a regularly-priced item in order to make them attractive enough for users to purchase right away.
Check out Wishpond’s Twitter Campaigns to run your own Twitter contests and promotions.
- If your goal is to simply get new Twitter followers or increase your email list, then a Sweepstakes is best. It’s simple and has a very low barrier to enter. This option will maximize your number of entrants.
- If your goal is to make immediate sales then you can run a group deal, or offer a coupon to push users to buy right away.
- If the answer is a low number ( worry about that! Contests will boost this number quickly!
- If you are at this point, we recommend running a starter Contest – which include sweepstakes and Vote Contests – which have very low barriers to enter and will entice a higher percentage of entrants than a contest that requires them to submit a photo or video.
- If you have over 1000 followers, then you are in a prime position to run an intermediate or advanced contest which requires users to create something or make a purchase to enter. See a full list of different contest options below:
Starter Contests
Starter Contests have the lowest barrier to entry of any contest. Users simply need to enter their contact info and click a button to enter:
A Sweepstake is the simplest type of contest – users submit their email address, click ‘Enter Contest’ and they’re entered into a random drawing for a prize. This is the best type of contest to start with if you don’t have many followers on your Twitter profile page.
A Vote Contest is the easiest way to get users to interact with your brand in a personal way. These can be used to vote for which products should appear in your next product line or go on sale next season.
Intermediate Contests
Intermediate Contests require users to submit a piece of user-generated content to enter your contest, but the type of content is easy enough for most users to create:
Photo Contests are an easy way to entice users to upload a photo and have the community vote on their favorite to win. With the popularity of camera phones these days, taking a photo is a very easy thing for most users to do. To maximize entries, choose a photo theme that is easy for most users to get a photo of.
Also – photos are the best type of content, as they are eye-catching and are easy to digest, so this is the most recommended type of contest that requires user-generated content.
Photo Caption Contests entice users to write a caption (title) for a photo that you upload to enter. The community then votes on their favorite to win. This is an easy way to take advantage of online memes, which are becoming extremely popular on sites such as Reddit and 9GAG.
An Essay Contest is a great way to get entrants to submit their thoughts, feedback and stories for a chance to win. You can have entrants write about an experience they had using one of your products or at one of your physical locations. The community can then on their favorite to win.
Advanced Contests
Advanced Contests require users to upload a more time-consuming piece of content or actually pay money to get something. This will require a very large audience (over 10,000 followers minimum) to be successful, as only a very small percentage of users will take the time to enter:
With Video Contests, entice users to create a video to enter to win a prize. This is bit harder to do than simply taking a photo, but it has the potential to give you great user content for your brand. Just like in Photo Contest, the community votes on their favorite to win.
Pinterest Contests entice users to create a board on Pinterest and submit the link to enter. The community then votes on their favorite to win. This is a great contest option, as it gives your brand reach on both Facebook and Pinterest.
A Group Deal is a great way to get users paying money right now in order to take advantage or a limited-time offer. These deals normally require offering a minimum discount of 40% off a regularly-priced item in order to make them attractive enough for users to purchase right away.
Check out Wishpond’s Twitter Campaigns to run your own Twitter contests and promotions.
Related Articles
Twitter Social Promotions
- How 3rd Party Apps for Contests Work on Your Twitter Profile Page
- Tips for Success with Twitter Contests, Sweepstakes and Group Deals
- Twitter Contests: Follow-Gating to Get More Followers
- Tips to Market your Twitter Contest: Social Media Cross-Channel Promoting