Despite all the changes in social media, one thing has stayed the same: the size of your audience is crucial.On Instagram and Twitter, you’re counting followers. On YouTube, you want to grow subscribers. On Facebook, you need to rack up likes on your page.As any social media manager knows, that’s easier said than done. Even with great content and a steady posting scheduling, engagement can remain elusive.
That’s why it helps to give audiences a little push with incentives to click that like button through contests.
Running a Contest with Wishpond
A contest is a great social media tool, but it can also seem overwhelming if you’ve never done one before. That’s where expert platforms like Wishpond come in. Wishpond helps you build a contest and run it. If you’re confident in your ability, it gives you the tools to get up and running fast, but if you want help from the experts, you can get an expert team to show you how to run a high-converting campaign.
Leveraging contests for likes on Facebook
Facebook banned the practice of like-gating (i.e. making liking your page a prerequisite to entering a contest) but you still have options when it comes to leveraging contests for likes. You can:
- Prompt entrants to like your page with arrows, prompts and CTAs within your contest itself. Here’s where good UX design and persuasive copywriting will help you out.
- Create a “Like-This” entry popup which appears over contest landing page. This is remarkably easy to do with things like Wishpond’s pop-up builder.
- Encourage your contest entrants to share your contest with their friends, and direct the link to your Facebook page. More traffic to a great page = more likes!
So, if you’ve decided you’re ready to get going and build your contest with Wishpond, here’s what to do first.
Pick Your Prize
The prize is one of the most important aspects of your contest, and so it requires some thought. Pro tip: your prize shouldn’t necessarily be the biggest, shiniest, most expensive thing you can afford.
At the outset, it may seem like the bigger the better, but that’s a good way to get a lot of fleeting fans that will disappear as soon as your contest is over and your big expensive prize is no longer up for grabs. A good prize is one that will be tantalizing to people genuinely interested in your product or service. Even if they’re not familiar with your brand, your offer should be appealing enough to reel them in (and then your brand should keep them there!)When choosing a prize, it should:
- Reflect your brand (e.g. if you run a cosmetics brand, the suitability of an iPad giveaway is questionable)
- Be genuinely valuable to your audience
- In line with your business goals
Then, Choose Your Contest Type
There are numerous kinds of contests you can run with Wishpond: you may be wondering where to begin. Photo? Video? Referral? Vote?
Pro tip: Certain kinds of contests work best for certain kinds of goals. For Facebook likes, you might consider sweepstakes, group offers or vote contests.
Sweepstakes:
Sweepstakes are fun, straightforward and can be highly effective. Even without like-gating, if your prize is good enough and your promotional material persuasive enough, you can boost your likes with like prompts and shares. If you run consistent sweepstakes and give fans and followers chances to win often, they’ll follow to stay in the loop and keep in the know.
Group Offers:
People love a good deal, and they’ll keep tabs on the places that give them one. By offering deals to followers and fans, you’ll be sure to keep them tuned in. Remember, an offer doesn’t necessarily have to be a product. These can be financial discounts, freebies, Facebook live sessions with celebrities, AMAs, eBooks, one on one consultations -- there are a whole array of things your audience might respond to.
The key, as with all successful marketing, is knowing what your target market’s pain points are and offering something that solves them.
Vote Contests:
In a vote contest, contestants share their own entry in their networks to get votes. The contestant with the highest number of votes wins! Vote contests are the easiest to gain traction with, because participants share to win. As like-gating is banned, it isn’t as straightforward as it used to be, but with a combination of prompts, pop-ups and engaging content, funneling traffic to your Facebook page with a vote contest is a surefire way to see likes rolling in.
Conclusion
Getting authentic traction and engagement with your page takes time, effort and reaching out to your audience. That’s why a contest is such a great tool for increasing likes more rapidly -- even more so if you run great contests regularly.
Farahnaz (you can call her Farah) is a content marketer at Wishpond, with a background in journalism and a love for digital marketing, travel and dogs. You can find her on twitter @FarahColette.
Author // Farah M.
