The OpenWater Blog

How to use online contests to boost social media followers

A friend of mine in the DC Metro Area (Alex DelSordo, CEO of Finish Line Shell Repair) runs a brick and mortar shop and like other small business owners he is looking for creative/inexpensive ways to get exposure for his business. On facebook one day I see that he entered a contest for the “brick and mortar new business of the year award” or something like that. There was a prize for the winner (a few thousand dollars) which I’m sure drew some interest, but more importantly it was an opportunity for him to showcase his business.

The basic idea is that he entered the contest online (filled out about a page of info and uploaded some photos) and was provided a link for him to showcase his entry. He was encouraged to plaster the link to the contest around his social media networks to encourage users to “vote” for him. As a good friend of mine since college and current teammate at Potomac Boat Club, I gladly went online, voted for him and shared the link on my facebook wall and linkedIn profile. During the process of voting for him, I was required to put in some basic contact info of my own. Friends of mine then repeated the process (and along the viral loop it went…).

The company that launched the contest (Transmerica Life Insurance) works with small businesses and knows that fellow business owners want to help each other. This company now has (at least) 2 valuable pieces of contact info to add to their mass emails blasts and prospecting lists. I see them on facebook all the time now and and while I have not bought anything from them yet, they are ‘top of mind’.

It’s always interesting to see things from the other side of the table (instead of running the contest, being on the side that enters).

How does this apply to associations?

Associations can take advantage of this same strategy by making their awards/contests relevant to their members and encouraging ‘public vote’ to make these things go viral. Friends of friends that would have otherwise never known that your association exists now get periodic updates from you and you are kept ‘top of mind’. Most importantly members who enter the contest feel more engaged with you and have a reason to keep renewing and coming back to your website to see what’s next.

~Tim

Timothy Spell

Timothy Spell co-founded OpenWater in 2007 with the goal of helping organizations tackle and better manage the oftentimes overlooked awards and contests industry. As an author and speaker in the awards industry, Timothy provides unique insight on how to use awards to boost membership, social media followers and search engine traffic.

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