There are a wide range of strategies that may be beneficial for businesses as they market to clients on social media, and one that's shown success across various industries is the process of running a contest. Social media contests can help generate demand and excitement for your products and services -- as long as they're run in the right ways and for the right purposes, that is.
At Be Locally, social media marketing is just one of several major digital marketing components we're happy to assist clients with. Are social media contests effective? What should you know about running one for your company? Let's go over all the important elements here in this two-part blog series.
While questions like these tend to have answers that differ depending on things like your industry, company size and goals, the effectiveness of social media contests in general has been largely positive. As long as your goal is to increase engagement and drive conversions (sales, leads, etc.), a social contest can be a great way to achieve those things.
There are a lot of ways to go about designing and running a social media contest. What's important is that you understand how to do it right for your business -- and that's what we're here to talk about today. Follow along through this and part two of our series to learn more, as we move through the process of setting up and maintaining social media contests.
First and foremost, be sure you're aware of the social media platform's rules and guidelines regarding contests and giveaways. Different platforms have different requirements, so you'll need to take the time to educate yourself on each one you plan to use for your contest. For example, Facebook has a very specific set of rules that must be followed if you're running a contest on their platform.
It's vital to adhere to these rules, as social media platforms can (and will) shut down your contest if you're found to be in violation. In some cases, they may even ban your business from running future contests. Not only is this a huge pain, but it can also damage your reputation and relationship with the platform -- something you definitely want to avoid.
Throughout the entire process of designing and running your social media contest, it's important to keep your brand at the forefront. Your goals with a contest should be to increase engagement and conversions, but also to maintain and improve the image of your brand.
Your contest should reflect the values of your company in some way. It should also be in line with your current marketing goals and objectives. By ensuring that your contest is on-brand, you can avoid any negative consequences and ensure that it's actually helping your business to grow.
Now that we've gone over some of the basics, let's move on to part two of our series. In the next installment, we'll discuss how to create a social media contest that's sure to be a success.
For more on this or any of our other digital marketing and SEO services, speak to the team at Be Locally today.