Why use FB contests?

• Showcase your product or service

• Grow your e-mail list

• Make it fun for the community

• Create interactions

• People like to win

Facebook is a great way to interact with your customers, and using Facebook contests can be an even better way to involve more people. Having proper instructions on how to do so is very important when starting on your own. Being informed of the “do’s and don’ts” of contests, mixed with a plethora of tips, we will get you headed towards converting contests into more business and potential sales!

Similar to any plan, you must first prepare. A good contest includes a great prize, good graphics, a promotion schedule, and a terms and conditions page.

The prize: Knowing what to give away in your contest should be one of the first decisions made. The prize should be relevant to your business and valuable to your audience.

• For example, if you’re a jewelry company, you don’t want to promote an ipad as a prize. Give the customers a gift card to your business or an exclusive item that hasn’t come out to other customers yet. You want to engage your customers in loving your product, not someone elses.

Good graphics: Pictures could be the determining factor in whether or not a person will take the time to look at what you are posting. You must engage your audience and get them excited to enter your contest.

• Make it clear as to what you are offering! Changing your cover image is a great way to promote the contest – each time someone visited your page, it would be an eye catcher and enforce what the contest is about. Another cool idea is to create a countdown! Letting your customers see visually how much time they have left for the contest is a great interaction tool.

Promotion Schedule: Posting about your contest is HUGE! Your “friends” or customers that like your page will be expecting updates of the contest. Don’t leave your audience hanging by not updating them on the contest you started.

• Depending on what kind of contest you are running, pay attention on how long you should let it run. For a timeline contest you could predict that it run about a week, no longer. Sweepstakes could run anywhere from 1-3 weeks, and any other kind of contest such as taking a photo or uploading a video or essay should last more like a few weeks to a month.

Terms and Conditions: Having a terms and conditions page about your contest could save you from any potential trouble. It is important for your contest applicants to understand what the contest is, how they enter, and how the winning process will work.

• Legal pitfalls aren’t fun, but they can be avoidable. Make the rules clear for each participant. There are a multitude of apps to help set up applications and create an easy way to select a winner and avoid mistakes. Woobox, Heyo and Antavo are just a few examples.

Now, in order to convert these contests into sales, there are a few more steps to be taken! First, make sure that when creating your contest you invite all of your customers from your email list to join in. Creating a blog post about the contest and sharing it with promotional partners is also a great way to get more people involved. Profile the person that one the prize! Offer value through your email list – keep people subscribed, mail regularly, and send out promotions. Facebook is constantly changing, but the people that subscribe to you and receive your emails will always be in your list!

**Be aware of how people are sharing your content. If multiple people are reposting your contest, applicants will have to go through the posts and find the original status posted, and that could take time or cause an annoyance.** 

Keeping all of these things in mind, let’s get you started on creating a contest! Remember to promote, make the prize relevant, encourage sharing (3-4 times a week), follow up, and have fun!

Check out our Facebook Management Plans!