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The Importance of Social Media Competitions

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Social Media Competitions That Engage

You’ll notice many brands, both large and small, set up social media competitions to reward their followers. Some brands may be hesitant when it comes to this way of promoting their business, which is understandable. It’s difficult to contemplate giving goods away if a business is unsure about the worth of a social media competition. However, the prize doesn’t have to be something of high value - unless the business is a big brand that can afford to give an expensive reward away.

When done properly, the exposure a competition can provide your business is almost certainly worth the value of a giveaway. Here’s why…

Social media competitions

Brand Awareness & Engagement

Social Media competitions are one of the best ways to expand your brand awareness and to gain good engagement. Usually a social media competition will be set up to encourage users to like the post, like your page, and sometimes even tag a friend. The more likes / shares / tags you’re getting, the more people will see your post and become aware of your brand. The more people that become aware of your brand, the more customers you’re likely to gain.

Everyone wants good engagement on content they’re publishing. Competitions are almost guaranteed to receive good engagement if they include a clear call to action, and it’s likely the post will perform well enough on its own without even having to use any ad budget to boost it. Users are hungry for a freebie!

Retain Current Following

Not only do competitions act as a great way to attract attention from new users, they’re a great way to excite and engage your current following. Don’t assume that simply because users follow you they’re constantly paying attention to you or taking an interest in your products / services. You need to work to delight the following you’ve already built up to ensure they continue to follow and engage with your page.

Competitions will definitely ensure your current following pays attention to you. There’s nothing people like more than free goods, and if they know your brand is likely to run competitions from time to time, they’ll be sure to keep an eye out for any opportunities to win!

Brand Personality

One of the reasons you want users to follow you on social media is to give them a good impression of the personality and character of your brand. With this in mind, you want to post fun and interesting things so people see your brand as approachable and entertaining. Better yet, competitions can be a great way to add some fun to your page. Rather than just asking people to like or share, why not set up a competition asking users to name a new product?

This kind of content encourages people to be creative and have fun when engaging with your brand. People who weren’t necessarily interested in your business previously may pay attention to posts of this nature and make a mental note that your brand is fun to engage with in the future.

If you’re gaining bookings / purchases due to running a social media competition, the reward you’ve offered will have potentially gained you much more money than you’ve lost by offering a giveaway. It pays for itself! This is especially worthwhile for small brands looking to grow their following from scratch.

Once you've set up a social media competition, read up on our blog post advising what T&C's to include. To find out more about the social media services we offer, click here.

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