So you’ve been working hard to expand your reach on your blog. You post consistently and create engaging content that your current readers love, and you interact with your readers as much as possible. You’ve also worked hard to optimize your blog to attract new readers organically. But lately, you’ve started to think that there must be ways to better leverage your reach on social to bring new readers over to your blog. And you’re right – there’s a lot that you can do to easily make an impact. Today we’re going to talk about how social media contests can be used to bring success to your blog.
Of course, it should go without saying that growing your readership just for the sake of increasing your numbers should never be the goal – you want these new readers to be truly engaged and valuable to the community you’re building. So let’s focus on ways to achieve growth while maintaining and enriching the quality of your readership.
The Basics
Contests are run in many different ways on social media. Some require contestants to simply fill out a form to enter, or maybe even just give your email address. Others require contestants to produce content (submit a photo or blurb), or take some sort of action to be qualified for entry (following a brand, sharing a post on their feed, etc).
The goals of most social media contests are usually related to lead gen (capturing email addresses) or brand awareness, which may be tracked by increase in followers or traffic to site. Understanding what the goals of the contest are at the onset will help successfully drive the process and ideation of your contest.
Kahlua: A Pin-teresting Example
I always think it’s helpful to see how large brands are approaching strategies that I want to try out, even if it’s on a smaller scale. Kahlua is a great example of mapping a contest strategy to a specific goal and seeing valuable and long lasting results.
Kahlua ran a contest (http://go.curalate.com/case-study/kahlua-drives-engagement-with-pinterest-campaign) asking people to use Pinterest to pin images that represented their ideal holiday party. The winning pinner would receive $5,000 to create that party in real life. The goal of the contest was to increase brand visibility and encourage people to use Kahlua products in real life, not just online.
The contest ran for a month and at the end, Kahlua had collected 16,000 new email addresses and increased their following on Pinterest 14x! This growth proved to be sustainable – even after the contest had ended, pinning grew by 4x the next month, and repinning of Kahlua recipe pins increased by 6.5x. Traffic to their site increased as well, and their goal of increased brand visibility was definitely achieved.
The Tips
I like this contest example for a few reasons – I think it’s great to integrate online/offline behavior by offering to host a party for the winner. Here are a few tips for anyone thinking of testing out a similar strategy:
- Keep it on brand
Although the prize for winning a contest can be anything you choose, it’s generally best to keep the prize related to your actual brand. If your blog is all about fashion finds and daily outfits, giving away a month’s worth of free Starbucks might be fun, but could attract the wrong crowd.The worst contest execution is one where you’re able to collect 200 new email addresses to your mailing list, only to see 30% or more unsubscribe soon after the contest ends. I think that Kahlua did a good job in keeping the prize aligned with its brand – the success of the campaign even after the contest ran shows that it’s possible to reach an interested audience and keep them engaged even after a prize is awarded. - Promote it well
Consider creating a hashtag to track entries and engagement. Paid promotion is also something to consider, especially if the end goal is increased brand awareness. This could be anything from sponsored tweets to full-blown content acceleration, depending on your budget and goals. - Follow the rules
There are always legalities to consider when running any kind of promotion or contest. Make sure you carefully research each social platform’s individual guidelines before moving forward.
Are you thinking of testing a similar strategy? Let us know your plans in the comments below!
