Photo: Nimi Diffa / Unsplash
A competition is a great way to engage current and potential customers and to gain attention for a new product or phase of your business. However, your efforts will fall flat if nobody wants to enter the competition. So, how do you get people excited about your online contest? These five simple tips can help:
- Offer Worthy Prizes
If the prize you are offering is a dud, nobody will enter the competition. They must be eager beavers, desperate to claim the goodies you’ve got on offer. So pick a grand prize that’s both valuable and highly relevant to your audience. Add some high-quality promotional merchandise to boost the package further or as runner-up prizes. Finally, get some beautiful photos taken that present this bounty of awesomeness in the best possible light.
- Don’t Be Forgotten
Although Forbes recently reported that the average person spends 124 minutes on social media daily, they won’t remember your post for long if you don’t do something to grab their fleeting attention.
The average lifespan of a post across all platforms is just 48 hours. And because we all have a shorter attention span these days, some people may only see your post for a few seconds before moving on and forgetting it ever existed.
To reach as many people as possible, you must consistently post about the competition in different ways and places several times a week. It also helps to have a pinned post about it visible on your landing page or the homepage of your site. If you really want to get the message out, you can create a banner that appears on every page of the website.
- Take Advantage of the Influencer Impact
Since 2019, the value of the global influencer market has risen from around $10 to a staggering $21 billion. If you select the right influencer for your competition promotion, you could find a lot of relevant potential customers who not only enter but learn about your brand and engage with you as well. Can it be costly? Yes. Is it worth it? For many businesses, absolutely.
- Use Video to Engage More People
Video content in the form of short social media clips, behind-the-scenes clips, and extended YouTube videos can engage your audience effectively. Over 90% of people want to see more online videos from brands they like, and most people spend nearly an hour a day engaging with videos. This kind of content could get your customers excited about your competition. And if you incentivize people to spread the word, you can greatly expand your reach.
- Give an Immediate Incentive to Sign Up
Getting the email of entrants is worth its weight in gold, with email ROI currently standing at a decent $36 for every $1 you spend on acquiring that type of customer information. However, people don’t readily want to give over their personal information. Data abuse, irritating emails, fraud – we all have many worries and issues with giving over our contact details. Some people even hesitate to follow businesses on social media for fear of being inconvenienced by irrelevant content.
To incentivize your audience to share this valuable information, promote how your company often has competitions, sales, offers, and informative posts. Offer 10% off or other discounts for anyone signing up, or a chance to win a runner-up prize of a discount code. The more you can sweeten the deal, the more entrants you’ll get.
It’s time to get people excited about your competition! Follow the tips above, and you’ll overflow with entrants before you know it.
