Add Contests to Your Internet Marketing Campaign

The social web has given the basic of idea of contests new life. Every social media marketing tool-kit should include a contest idea. Here are some great reasons why:

Fan Base Growth

Your business Facebook Page can be a starting point. It doesn’t matter if you have 10 likes or 10,000 likes on your page, a contest offer could provide a way to increase that number alone. There is proof in numbers that Facebook Pages can grow drastically in just a few days when they run a contest. This is a fantastic way to promote your business. A basic enter-to-win contest can provide the best option for a business just starting out.

Engage the Audience

Not only can you increase the number of people who interact with your business, but a contest gives a personal connection to the customer. A user-generated content (UGC) promotion which uses a video or photo is a great way to do that!  UGC contests give your customer the chance to compete and provide them with their chance at 15 minutes of fame. Also, when the customer shares their personal content (i.e. photo, video or story) on your promotion site, they are investing in you.

Collect the Data

When there is a prize promised at the end people tend to want to win so they share their information. You want to give the customer the opportunity to learn about you. It’s always a nice way to share by asking them; how did they hear about you, what is their favorite product or service you offer.  By sharing these basic ideas you can collect your data during the entry process. This helps you learn a great deal about your customer.

Consumers help your Marketing

With the like button your customer is spreading the word about your business and service for you. This could be hundreds or thousands of fans. Social Media contest give you that extra source of marketing through an online message that was not previously there. If you design a contest that needs a voting component, your entries will have to share through their social source and will ask family and friends to support their entry to win. From statistics, rule of thumb tends to show that for every vote you will have ten shared clicks for every link. That represents a significant amount of traffic to your contest site and a lot of marketing to other consumers.

Contests can be very effective when used as a social media tool. Any business can take advantage of contests to strengthen their marketing campaign.