So, I have been outlining some of my top considerations when creating a social media campaign.
How to Create a Social Media Contest Part 1
How to Create a Social Media Contest Part 2
Here is another important one!
MARKETING:
CEA Marketing Group’s most successful social media campaigns include the use of “traditional” media to promote the contest.
Just the other day, I heard an ad on WFLZ for the “Dewmocracy” campaign. (PS – I hate how Flash-dependent this site is – ARGH) Type in Mountain Dew in Google and the “Dewmocracy” web site is the first place position under paid sponsorships, so they are investing in an Adwords campaign.
Pepsi came out with a fun and feel-good television ad to kick-off their newest online campaign – actually forgoing their mega huge Super Bowl spend to launch the Pepsi Refresh Project. (Finalists will be announced June 1) Just wanted to mention this cuz I think it’s crazy – Do a search for the word ‘refresh’ on Google and the very first organic search result is the Pepsi Refresh Project. There are nearly 1400 entries!
So, although it’s a social media contest, that doesn’t mean that you can just promote the contest via social media platforms and expect a huge success. While most of us don’t have large television-capable budgets, a lot of us are doing advertising right now that you can possibly piggy-back on.
- Review your schedules and artwork and see if you can add in a snipe of copy for example.
- Reach out to your in-house E-mail or mobile databases and send them an E-mail or text about the contest.
- Look into free listing sites where you can place your contest or campaign.
- Facebook ads are inexpensive and highly targeted.
- In-store call-to-actions such as posters and flyers are great.
- Don’t forget to communicate your promotion with your staff. Word-of-mouth promotion is huge!
It’s easy to think about the contest itself and not necessarily how you are going to drive participants. (Kind of like when you invest in the mondo-awesomenessess of web sites and then forget about “how am I going to get people to my web site.” – but that’s another story!) Don’t fall into that trap. Remember in your planning stages to include a budget for marketing, and if possible, enough money to integrate some traditional mediums into the mix. If you’re going to spend the time and energy into launching a social media campaign, make sure you do a good job of promoting it!!!
