1. Pick the Right Prize
The prize is what’s going to make or ensure a successful run for your contest. Keep it relevant and appropriate to your business. A pro tip is to offer your audience gift cards for your business, which gives them a chance to get interested in or try your products/services.
Offering customers free iPads and iPhones will have them liking iPads and iPhones, not really your products or services. They may simply like your page or share your post for the sake of winning an iPhone without really being interested in your products or services.
However, if you are offering gift cards or freebies related to your products or services, you will get a bunch of targeted, interested customers who are interested in trying your products. For instance, if you sell baby care products and offer gift vouchers for the same, you’ll get a ton of interested parents who are keen on trying your products liking your page or sharing your posts.
Giving prizes that are not relevant to your products or services won’t really help boost conversions. However, a bunch of targeted consumers trying your products can help spread the word about them, especially in the initial stages of the business. You can include discounts or freebies on future purchases in the gift card too for encouraging customers to buy from you.
2. Make it Easy to Enter
Your aim is to increase the number of likes/followers/fans and boost engagement for your Facebook page. Make entering the contest easy for people to gain maximum response. You can ask social media users to like your page, share the contest post and tag friends who you think will be interested in the contest to be eligible for the contest/draw. Pick a winner by conducting a live draw.
Another popular way to get people to participate in contests is by focusing on user generated content. This is also a smart strategy for populating your business page with interesting content posted by users themselves. Ask customers to enter the draw by posting images, videos or slogans to enter. Create a hashtag, and let views use the hashtag while posting content on your business page. The audience can then vote for their favorite entry.
Include brief information about how to enter the contest on your post, and link to an outside web page for details about rules and regulations to avoid cluttering the Facebook contest post.
3. Attention Grabbing Title
A short, catchy call-to-action title helps maximize your contest response. For instance, “Enter to Win a $60 Gift Card For Our Fabulous Range of Handmade Soaps.” It’s simple, descriptive and appealing. It tells visitors what they are supposed to do and the prize that awaits them in a straightforward manner.
You can also create a contest entry landing page, and ask them to enter their contact details. This will help you create an email list of people who may be interested in learning more about your products or services in future. Send people on email list updates, seasonal offers, and informative newsletters to keep them hooked.
4. Image
Use large, high-quality images to entice people into entering the contest. If you are giving away gift cards, use a large image of the gift card with its worth mentioned prominently on the image. Also, include images of products that were purchased for the given gift card amount.