This white paper from Elon University's Interactive Media graduate program focuses on creating engagement on social media through contests.

1. Social Media Contests 1

2. Social Media Contests 2
Table of Contents:
Executive Summary……………….……………….……………….……………………..3
Planning Your Contest……………….……………….…….………….………….………4
Running Your Contest……………….……………….…….………….………….………5
Concluding Your Contest……………….……………….……………….……….………6
Contest Ideas…………………………….……………….……………….……….………6
More Quick Tips…….………….…….………….…….………….……...……….………8
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….10
About the Authors…….………….…….………….…….………….….……...…………10
References…….………….…….………….…….………….……….……...……...….…11

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Executive Summary
Social media continues to be a key way for businesses to build relationships with
consumers. By creating different games and contests, companies are able to gain more
exposure, generate leads and even increase their sales. While larger companies may offer
elaborate sweepstakes, contests can be just as effective for small businesses. Companies
should consider using relevant rewards (such as a free trial or being the Fan of the Week)
and what social media platforms their target audience uses. Small businesses can create
their own trivia or photo contest for little or no expense. With defined goals and
objectives, companies can analyze their business growth while developing long-term
relationships with their clients.

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Planning Your Contest
Have Specific Goals
Before you decide what type of contest to run, it is important to consider your goals.
Do you want to more followers or likes? Or maybe build a better connection with your
current followers? Knowing what your company’s goals are will help you pick what
type of contest to run. More importantly, it will help you evaluate the success of the
contest. The more specific your objectives are, the easier it will be to judge the
ultimate effectiveness.
Know Your Audience
After you have defined your goals, consider
your target audience. What are their media
habits and how will they be accessing your
contest? Look at the social platforms you
currently use and find the ones where you get
the most audience engagement. Although a
majority of users access social games from their
desktop computer or laptop, you should make
sure that your contest is also compatible with
tablet and mobile devices. Many users access
their social networks exclusively from these
devices, so you want to make sure that the app
versions of social networks like Facebook and
Twitter support the methods that you utilize in your contest
(photo-sharing, retweets, etc).
Rewarding Participants
The reward for participants needs to be appropriate to the goal and type of contest. If
your company wants to build relationships with its followers, having a Fan of the
Week might be a good reward. If you want to raise awareness about a new product or
service, a giveaway may work best. Whatever you offer, make sure it is relevant to
your business. While giving away an iPad will be a quick way to get followers, those
followers may not be in your target market, help increase your sales or continue to
follow your social channels at the conclusion of the contest.
You may want to consider offering a small reward just for participation. If you require
email addresses to enter, you could send a “10% off” coupon just for entering. If you
are running a photo-sharing contest, you could offer a similar discount to users who
come into your store and show you on their smartphone that they have shared your

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picture. Users will be more likely to participate when they know that they are at least
getting something out of investing their time, however little it may be. However, if you
intend to run a “just for participating” type of promo, be sure to factor this in to your
budget in addition to the funds you have allocated for the main prize. If more people
enter than you are expecting, you will be obligated to potentially pay out more than
you expected or can afford.
Tools to Use
If you are worried about managing all the entries of your contest, consider using a tool
or widget. From picking a winner at random to official entry forms, there are elements
of your contest that could benefit from using a tool. While some widgets may cost
more than your company can afford, there are several Facebook options that are
available for free. ShortStack is a great example of a tool that can help you create
customized widgets with no coding knowledge. While the tool is free for companies
with less than 2,000 Facebook likes, it offers a monthly billing option if you want to
invest for short-term usage.
When and Where
With defined goals and tools for success, consider the when and where of launching
your contest. Depending on your target audience, different times of the week may be
more effective for announcing your contest. Where you promote your contest is just as
important. Is it only going on your website or should you also put it up the company’s
social media accounts? Should this be a special e-mail announcement or just included
in the next newsletter? Consider the company’s current communication channels and
what has worked best for them in the past before you start randomly posting.
Also consider the physical location that your contest applies to. If the contest is only
eligible to residents of the town that your business is located in, then you need to
specify this with any other disclaimers you write. You never know how far your
audience can expand when users are, for example, sharing pictures for entries, and you
do not want to be caught having to pay large shipping expenses if you are offering a
physical prize.
Legal
Once you’ve decided what contest to run and what platform to use, take a look at the
social platforms’ rules and guidelines. Facebook, Twitter and most other social media
sites will each have their own requirements for running a game on their website. Even
if you have run a contest on the site previously, make sure the terms and conditions
have not been updated.

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While platforms will have their own legal information posted, your company should
do the same. The fine print should clearly state all terms and conditions for your
contest. What are the specific dates? Are there any limitations to winning or ways a
user might be disqualified? Is another company involved in the contest or sponsoring
the prize? Though it may take some extra time, clearly defining all elements of the
contest and making them easily available to public will help protect your company
from legal issues.
Duration
Picking the duration for your social media
contest is just as important as what type of
contest you wish to run. Studies have
shown that the most successful contests
last between one and two weeks. Other
successful contests run around 60 days,
while contests that last around 40 days
have the least success. Having a
Halloween themed photo contest would
work best for a monthly schedule while
having participants submit photos of their
summer vacations should be kept running
during the summer season. You want to ensure that your contest lasts long enough for
your goals to have a chance to succeed, but you also do not want to draw it out longer
than it needs to be.
Budget
Budgeting for your social media contest is a lot like budgeting for anything else in
your small business. You want to make sure that your business can afford any prizes
that you may be offering to the winner or winners of your contest. For small prizes,
like t-shirts and coupons, this is generally not an issue. However, if your business is
running a campaign where the winner of the contest receives a larger prize, you want
to make sure that you research the cost and know exactly where the money is coming
from.
Association and Motivation
Associating your contests with things like holidays or other special events are a great
way to motivate users to participate in your contests. For example, if your business
happens to be in retail, you could run a “12 Days of Christmas” contest, with one
winner being picked each day over the twelve days leading up to Christmas. If it is the
10-year anniversary of your business, you could offer 10 prizes or a 10% discount to

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everyone that day. However, you should not force a contest just because you think the
days line up nicely. Any association based contests, just like any other social media
games, should have a clear goal and not be forced.
Running Your Contest
Monitor the Event
Once the contest has begun, do not walk away from the keyboard. If you are not
getting a lot of entries, consider sharing the promotion again so your consumers do not
forget to enter. Keep an eye on what consumers are saying. If you are using a widget
or app that stops working, comments and posts will be a quick way to realize
something is wrong. And, if someone does complain, be prepared to address the issue
and respond. Let the participants know you are listening and are active within the
contest.
Confirm Entry
While running the contest, consider ways to confirm entries. If you are collecting e-
mail addresses, think about having an automated reply going out to thank them for
entering. If it is a photo contest, add a comment wishing them good luck. While it may
not be possible to reply to every share or retweet, acknowledging a few will let
contestants know you care about their participation.
Concluding Your Contest
Announce the Winner
After your contest has ended, publically announce the winner and their prize. If you
have a 2nd
or 3rd
place winner, you can stretch the announcements out over a few days.
Share their winning picture or the trivia question they answered to keep the contest
and your company in consumers’ minds. Take this time to hint at future promotions or
contests.
Analyze the Success
While your participants may have enjoyed your contest, did it help your brand? Take a
look back at your goals and analyze the results. Checking to see if you have new
subscribers or visitors is an easy result to judge. An increase in sales or referrals may
not be clear until a few months after the promotion.

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Keep Building the Relationship
Even though the contest has ended, your company has a great opportunity to continue
building relationships. Use these new connections to keep consumers engaged and
build your brand.
Contest Ideas
There are many different ways to run a contest or game on your business’s social media
channels. The key lies in picking the correct type of contest for the goal you want to
achieve and for the prize you are offering the winner.
Photo Contests
One type of contest that you can run is based on photographs posted to your social
media channels. On Facebook, you could ask participants to like your page and share a
photo of your product to be eligible to win a prize. “Caption Contests” have also
proven to be successful on Facebook. Post a photo and ask users to come up with a
funny caption for the image, and then pick a winner. You can also crowd source your
Facebook followers to help you with your contests. You could have users submit a
photo of them using your product, with the person who submitted the photo with the
most likes winning a prize at the end of the contest. You could also pick the winner
yourself based on creativity, but by relying on Facebook likes, you can potentially
save yourself from negative user experiences that stem from picking a winner
“arbitrarily”.
Video Contests
While photo contests are very popular on social media channels, video contests could
also be a good fit for your business. With the advent of platforms like YouTube and
Vine, it is easier than ever for users to create, submit and share video content. You
could ask users to submit their best 6-second Vine of themselves using/wearing/etc.
one of your products, and pick a winner based on which one is the funniest or most
creative. Keep in mind that video generally takes longer to produce than photographs,
so the prize you offer for the winner of your game/contest should be selected
accordingly to encourage the most participation from users.
Fan of the Week
There are also ways to utilize photo and video contests in different ways. One of these
ways is a Fan of the Week contest. Ask your users to submit a photo or video of
themselves with your product and pick a winner based on creativity or whoever can
get the most likes or shares. The winner will then be dubbed the Fan of the Week. This

9. Social Media Contests 9
is a great way to encourage your users to share their own content and simultaneously
promote your page.
Testimonials
A great way to gather good press for your business and generate more social media
followers is to ask users for testimonials. Ask them to post their best or most
interesting story with regards to your business. Maybe it was a time when the staff was
particularly helpful or the user had a great experience while using your product. You
can pick one winner from all user submissions, but use all the testimonials you have
gathered on your website or in your other marketing efforts. Make sure your users are
aware that their comments may be used for promotional purposes to avoid potential
legal issues.
Trivia
One final idea for social media contests is trivia. Trivia works particularly well with
Twitter. Tweet out a question that most people would know the answer to
(i.e. something about pop-culture, not necessarily related to your business) and offer
something like a coupon code in return for the first right answer. This is a great way to
engage with your current followers. If you want to attempt to gain new followers this
way, be ask your followers to retweet the question or use an assigned hashtag.
Conclusion
Before beginning a contest, clearly define your goals and objectives; this will allow you
to analyze the overall success. If you cannot measure the effectives of your contest, it
loses all value. Every business has unique needs so different social media platforms and
contests may not work well for every company. Know who your audience is and what
interests them. Engage participants throughout the contest and encourage them to interact
with your brand. If done effectively, contests can increase your small businesses value to
consumers and build long lasting brand loyalty.

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About the Authors
Jessica Chambers and Justin Wylie are both students at Elon University’s Interactive
Media M.A. program. Upon graduating, Chambers hopes to work as a content developer
and in SEO while Wylie is entering the field of web design. Chambers can be reached at
her website www.jesscproductions.com or on Twitter at @Jess_Chambers. Wylie is
available at www.justintwylie.com or on Twitter at @JWylie15.

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References
10 Creative Contests Powered by Social Media
http://mashable.com/2009/08/11/social-media-contests/
12 Last-Minute Facebook Holiday Contest Ideas
http://socialmediatoday.com/1976156/12-last-minute-facebook-holiday-contest-
ideas
15+ Stats to Know Before Running Your Next Social Media Contest
http://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/social-media-contest-stats-infographic
How to Run a Successful Social Media Sweepstakes
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/social-media-sweepstakes/#more-49242
Online Marketing for Small Business
http://blog.wishpond.com/post/48526277907/6-contest-deas-and-examples
Slide Show: 6 Stellar Social Media Contests
http://www.cmo.com/content/cmo-com/home/slide-shows/slide-show-6-stellar-
social-media-contests.html