How to Create a Successful Facebook Contest for Your Business in 5 Easy Steps

Design created by Oozle

If you don’t have a company Facebook page it’s time to get one.  Why? Because it plays an important role in increasing overall brand awareness.

However, just having a page won’t make this happen because the key to a successful social media campaign is to be social.

One of the best ways to interact and generate interest with online ‘fans’ and potential clients is to create a contest, giveaway, competition or sweepstakes.   Think about it: what gets people more excited than the possibility of winning something valuable?

Creating the perfect Facebook contest

The perfect Facebook contest can accomplish almost any conversion goal.  In order to do this you’ll want to respect Facebook’s guidelines (www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php) and follow these 5 steps:

1. Establish your goal beforehand. Without a clear focus in mind you can end up wasting a lot of time and money. So, figure out what your marketing conversion goals are and what specific consumer behaviors will lead to these results.
2. Give it the WOW factor. Clearly, a boring contest is not going to generate any buzz.  It must be fun, engaging and worthwhile in order to get people talking.  Content should be original, creative and include popular topics that are on the minds of your target market. Prizes should be valuable to a wide audience and not just a select few.  Give it that wow factor in every aspect!
3. Keep it simple. Social media is all about quick and easy interaction.  Big, complicated ideas will turn users away instantly. Make sure everything about your contest is simple, including the visuals, rules, and instructions. Also, don’t drag the promotion out too long.
4. Offer something valuable and exciting. If you offer tickets to a band that nobody has ever heard of then our bet is nobody’s going to be interested in entering your contest in the first place.  The prize is the key to generating excitement around the contest itself.  Put yourself in the mindset of your target audience and then ask yourself what type of reward would get them to sit up and take notice?
5. Advertise everywhere. If you have a website then you’ll want to create an advertisement about the contest somewhere on the homepage that links to your company Facebook page.   On top of this you’ll want to promote the contest on Twitter, Youtube, landing pages, in email blasts, via word of mouth, and even on T.V, print and radio ads if possible.

Oozle Media example

Here’s a great example of a Facebook contest that we recently created for one of our clients.  Notice the WOW factor, simplicity and exciting incentive:

http://www.facebook.com/#!/BurgPediatric?sk=app_143801162350874

Why you need us!

Creating a social business network on Facebook is difficult if you don’t know what you’re doing. Without an effective strategy you can end up wasting countless hours without any results, and who has time to waste these days? What you need is a company that understands the fast-paced and constantly evolving world of Social Media. This is where we come in.

At Oozle Media, we’re experts at creating effective Facebook marketing strategies with the sole purpose of getting your message out into the world at rocket speed pace. Once we’ve put a strategy in place we can manage your entire account on an ongoing basis and at an affordable price. Start interacting with your consumer’s today!  We’re your Utah social media experts!