Clicks Internet Marketing Magazine for Small Business Clicks Magazine 32 | Page 6

7
Make Sure Your Prize is
relevant and attractive
This pretty much goes without
saying. But just in case we didn’t
emphasize this point enough just
about every successful social media
contest offers up an appealing prize for the winner.
Without it, you won’t attract any contest entrants.
Make sure to stay relevant to your business and
your audience and choose relevant prizes. If you
own a hotel, offer a night for two. An art dealer
could offer a limited-edition reprint. If you run a spa,
you might offer a free 1 hour massage. The key is
to offer something that attracts the most amount of
people. Make sure to include a photo of your prize
to give people even more reason to enter.
8
create Your
custom hashtag
If you have ever won-
dered why brands choose
personal and custom hash-
tags when running social media
contests, there is a science behind it.
Coming up with a unique hashtag that
reflects your brand and your contest
can be used to extend the reach of
your contest across all social networks.
For example, there are tools like Hash-
tagify.me that can help you find trends
related to your industry and potential
gold mines in terms of hashtags.
So, there you have it - you now know our best kept secrets to running a perfect social media
contest. However, you should know that not every social media is the same. The demo-
graphics, type of content and a ton of other variables can play a role in how successful your
contest ends up being. But following these rules will definitely give you an edge, especially
if you’ve never run a contest before.