If you’ve been faithfully reading, you should know by now that social media is a necessary part of any successful marketing plan. But once you’ve set up your Facebook page and Twitter account, what do you do? Use social media sweepstakes promotional sweepstakes to incentivize new customers to check out your business! And the networking capabilities of interactive sites like Facebook are perfect for reaching a wide range of people to publicize your prize drawing!*
Where to begin? It’s an easy, 6-step process:
1. Know Your Goal: what do you hope to accomplish/gain by this promotion?
- Generate publicity about your brand
- Gather more contact info from potential clients
- Conduct market research (by having entrants fill out a survey)
- Educate new customers
2. Write The Rules
- You CANNOT require or imply that purchasing your product/service will increase chances of winning.
- Employees and their family members should not be eligible.
- If you’re unsure about what to put in the fine print, check with a lawyer friend! But generally, common sense will do.
3. Choose A Prize: what will you give away?
- “Buzzworthy” things work best – think experiences that are fun to share, like a vacation trip or a party.
- Featured items or services work too! Think spa day, auto paint job, gift certificates of substantial value ($100 or more), camera, iPad or iPod, etc.
4. Set It Up
- Add to your existing Facebook page, or create an entirely new Page or Event for your Sweepstakes.
- Make it easy to enter! Set up an email account where entrants can submit their information, or create a form on your website that can be filled out and submitted via the web.
5. Promote The Sweepstakes
- Send out an e-newsletter (with links!) to all your contacts announcing the sweepstakes and encouraging them to enter.
- Advertise on your website’s front page, invite your Facebook friends, etc.
- Drive traffic to your Facebook page, where rules, prizes and entry instructions can be found.
6. Pick A Winner
- Choose your winner (be sure you’re following all your Official Rules) and promote their win!
- Feature the winner’s name/photo on your Facebook page and website.
- Send an incentive massage to all entrants – like “Thanks for entering! Here’s a coupon for 20% off!”
Here at Redwood, we’ve had personal experience with promoting a sweepstakes via online marketing. In our last newsletter, we promoted a drawing for 500 free business cards. Since our target market is small business owners in the local area (and people who actively promote their business are always running out of cards!), we used our existing contact list to generate increased interest from existing clients. We’re going to use these same tools in a Facebook promotion too!
(And if you don’t want to miss out on our next newsletter giveaway, sign up!)
*A quick note about sweepstakes v. contests: sweepstakes winners enter a drawing and are randomly selected; contest winners enter a competition and are subjected to judgement – like a photography contest.
