Are you planning to create Facebook contest for your page? If yes, then this would be really helpful to improve your audience’s engagement with your page. This is because Facebook hosts the largest audience across all the social media platforms.
Facebook contests will help you to leverage your Facebook Marketing efforts. Well, in the previous article, why you should run a Facebook Contest? I discussed the benefits of Facebook Contests. So, now that you are aware of the advantages of running Facebook Contests, now it is time to see some ways to create Facebook contest.
Let’s jump right in
8 Ways to create Facebook Contest
Now that you are aware of the value of Facebook contests, let’s see how to create a powerful one. It is not necessary that all Facebook contests will be equal. The important thing to know is how to create the contest that audience will participate in. This is crucial for the success of your campaign.
Here are eight ways to create Facebook contest
1. Decide your objective and ways to measure progress
The initial step to making a successful Facebook contest is to decide your objectives for the contest. What would you like to accomplish with your Facebook contest?
You can accomplish a ton of business and marketing objectives with a contest, a couple of which can include:
- market research
- brand awareness
- information collection
- launch new product
- fabricate an email list
- drive sales
- accumulate user generated content
Determining the objective of your contest is fundamental as it will help you plan one that is most appropriate to help you succeed. It likewise assists you with realizing which key performance indicators (KPIs) you should use to measure your contest’s success. Instances of KPIs you can utilize include:
- number of participants
- likes
- shares
- new followers acquired
- number of clicks on your contest
- email sign-ups
- reach
With your objectives and KPIs decided, you’re prepared to begin planning your Facebook contest.
2. Choose the type of contest you want to run
You’ve decided the reason for running a Facebook contest. Now the following step is to pick the kind of Facebook contest that will assist you with accomplishing said objectives. There are three principle sorts of contests you can run on Facebook:
Giveaways
These are the least difficult Facebook contest type and, as the name suggests, include parting with a prize to the lucky participant(s) who participate in the contest. Most giveaway challenges require a participant to engage with a post (like, comment, or offer) to enter.
Photograph Contests
Photograph contests are an amazing method of driving engagement and gathering user generated content for your other marketing endeavors. These typically include picking a subject for your contest and requesting that your audience post photographs (ideally while utilizing your product) in accordance with that theme.
Referral Promotions
Referral promotions require a little more work to design and oversee yet they’re outstanding amongst other approaches to produce leads for your business. Participants need to share (or refer) your contest with a friend or individuals in their networks to participate in the contest.
A compelling Facebook contest adjusts your marketing objectives to the right kind of content. To help your choice, you should comprehend your audience and the sort of contest they like.
3. Decide the rules of contest
Every contest requires having some rules which will govern how participants enter. You should be careful when determining your rules as you design and create your Facebook contest. For instance
- What are the things that participants must do to enter?
- Will your contest allow multiple entries?
- Is the contest open for every country?
- What are the things that grounds for disqualification?
One of the basic components of a powerful Facebook contest is there any age restriction?
Don’t forget that your contest is not just for fun. Your contest is to benefit your business as well. So, your rules should help you with that. The rules must align with your goals. The rules of your Facebook contest will also decide how you will run it and the kind of data you will collect. In addition to setting rules for entering the contest, you must also determine how the winning participants will redeem their prize.
4. Select the right prize
One of the basic components of a powerful Facebook contest is the prize you’re offering. The perfect prize includes some things
- The price that you offer must be something that your target audience is interested in. It should not appeal to people who are not your target audience.
- It is important to ensure that your contest helps boost your business; hence your prize must be tied to your core business.
Understand your customer’s problems and fabricate an offer designed to address one of them. Selecting the right prize for your contest is vital to ensure higher engagement rates.
5. Design your Facebook contest page
The amount of content being published on Facebook is too many these days. Hence, it is possible for people to miss your contest as they scroll through their feeds. You have to optimize your design for visibility in order to improve the chances of your contest being seen.
Some tips you can follow
- What is the first thing that users notice? The headline. Make it unique by using descriptive language. Make sure it paints a picture of the advantages of winning the prize.
- The images that you are using should be professional and eye catching. They play an important role in stopping users from scrolling. They’re also helpful in conveying your message quickly.
- Provide users with all the information they need to get excited about the contest. Your description should be in brief but it must explain how to enter the contest. The best format you can use for the description is to use bullet points.
- Entering your contest should be as easy as possible for your audience. If you are using online forms, try to make them simple. Do not ask for unnecessary information. Just keep the fields which are very necessary.
- Use a prominent and clear call to action. It should make the participants take the next step. Besides these, you can also use a countdown timer to add urgency.
6. Promote the contest
The main objective of your Facebook contest is to grow your audience and improve engagement with your brand. In order to do that, it should reach as wide of an audience as possible. That is why you should include a promotion strategy as part of your Facebook content creation process. Below are some Facebook content promotion tips you can use
- Paid advertisements. Organic reach will not get you so far. You have to leverage Facebook ads to promote your contest in order to reach a wider audience. You can also use retargeting to advertise your contest to users who have viewed your content.
- Share and promote your Facebook contest with your email list to ensure maximum participation. It is also helpful in keeping your subscribers engaged.
- Promote your contest on other social media platforms as well.
7. Choose and announce the winner
Now it is time to end your exciting Facebook contest. You should wrap it up by picking and announcing the winner.
You have two choices when it comes to picking a winner
- One way you can do it by randomly picking a name which is the best way as it is impartial. You can use online tools to make it easy.
- Secondly, you can choose the winner by selecting the best participant. This is the best method if you have set specific criteria for your contest. And with that, you have to ensure to explain how you came up with the winner and why.
After you have picked your winner, you should announce them on your Facebook business page and other platforms you promoted the contest on.
8. Follow up after the contest
Picking the winner is not the end. The end motive is to grow your business. That is why you should have a follow up strategy. One of the best methods to do this is to send out an email to participants offering them a discount on your products as an appreciation for participating in your contest. Build a relationship with the people who participate in your contest and you will be able to convert them into your permanent loyal customers.
Wrapping it up
Facebook contest will help you grow your audience and drive engagement with your brand. Therefore, you should consider running a Facebook contest.
If you need professional help regarding Facebook marketing, you can consider hiring digital marketing agency in Dubai.
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