4 Steps to a Successful Timeline Contest
- Pick a Relevant Product to Give Away – Needs to be something that will resonate with your audience. Don’t choose something that is completely off-topic from what your page usually posts about. HINT: Can this product be offered at a discount after the contest ends?
- Choose a Strategy for the Contest – Best to have them both like and comment. Is there something you’d like to learn from your audience? Is there a way to get testimonials? Fun pictures? Guessing Game?
- Decide on a Length of time to run Contest – Do not run any more than a couple weeks. A few days to a week for a Timeline Contest is suggested.
- Follow up with an Offer – If they have commented on the post, you can follow up in the comments with an offer and most should see your comment in the post. Announce the winner and offer a special discount to those that participated. You can post again on your page too.
I’d like to break this down into a real-life example. Below is the actual contest post I ran on my facebook page. Here is the strategy I used.
Chose a product to give away. Being the 15 Minute Social Program is a product I created, I had the freedom to give it away. I chose this because
- A) It gave additional exposure to my product
- B) Adds an additional person to the program
- C) No out-of-pocket expense for giving it away
- D) Was able to offer at a discount to anyone who participated
Put a specific goal behind their comments. You are much more likely to have a successful facebook presence if you learn about your audience. What are their needs and wants? So, I used this contest to find out. My question was “What are your biggest social media marketing challenges?” This helped me learn what my audience is needing. Now this gave me ideas for my blog posts, videos and social media posting.
Announced the Winner AND made a ‘Special Offer’. You can see in this example, I offered a discount to those who participated. And guess what? I made sales.
I achieved many goals in this scenario because I had a specific strategy with specific goals in mind. I hope this helps you brainstorm lots of ideas for you contests! What kind of contest can your business run?
Have a tough time coming up with content ideas? If you haven’t already, be sure to download my Content Guide. It will get those creativity juices flowing!
