Three Surefire Ways to Launch a Contest on Twitter
Published on April 29, 2016
Social media contests are an extremely effective way to strengthen your brand, draw more users into your community, and, with a little skill, drive fresh leads to your site. And Twitter, with its active and engaged user base, is a great place to launch a contest of your own.
Before starting, think about just what you’re trying to accomplish with your friendly competition. Is your end goal to increase overall traffic to your website? To encourage more email newsletter signups? To generate mentions or increase your follower count on Twitter?
The good news is that there’s a type of contest perfect for your brand’s unique needs. Ready to get started? Here are three ideas for launching a contest on Twitter:
Run a Sweepstakes
If the primary objective of your campaign is to drive traffic from your company’s social platform to your landing page, a sweepstakes is a surefire fit. Offer a giveaway (and be sure to include a fixed number of prizes, as this is proven to increase your number of retweets, according to Twitter) and include a link to your site.
Bear in mind that the success of your sweepstakes will be impacted by the size of your Twitter following - to spread the word further, be sure to include tweets encouraging spreading the word along with your tweets linking to your page.
And don’t forget that running the contest through your site offers another advantage: You’re not just limited to promoting the campaign on Twitter, which frees you up to plug the sweepstakes on Facebook, Instagram, or Snapchat, as well.
Encourage Engagement With a “Retweet and Follow” Contest
If your goal is to increase engagement – including attracting new followers, encouraging retweets, and boosting your number of mentions - a “Retweet and Follow” contest may be the right option.
How does it work? Just promote a tweet – preferably one with a compelling visual attached – that encourages your followers to retweet this message and follow your account for a chance to win. This encourages engagement, grows your audience, and offers your already-loyal follower base a reward for being a part of your community.
Want a little help getting started? Rafflecopter is a proven tool for running effective online giveaways.
Make Use of the Hashtag
Hashtags are a vital and unique part of the Twitter ecosystem, and they offer a great way to both run and promote your contests.
To launch a contest, create a unique, branded hashtag and encourage your followers to enter by using it. For instance, if you own a restaurant, you could hold a competition to name a new pasta dish. Offer a gift certificate to whoever submits the best name and use the unique hashtag to keep tabs on all the entries.
And to get your contest in front of more eyes, make use of simple contest-related hashtags – including #win, #giveaway, or #competition – to organically amplify your reach.
Whatever your method, remember to schedule a number of posts promoting the contest beforehand to drum up anticipation. After the contest ends, be sure to thank your followers for participating and be announce the winners (with their permission). And while it’s ongoing, remember to make use of fun visual content – like pictures and GIFs – and make sure you use a simple, clear call to action on all of your tweets.
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