It’s coming up to the holidays and finding the right gift to get someone is a task. When that someone is your entire customer base, making sure they’re not disappointed takes some effort. Fortunately, social media contests are a great way to reward customer loyalty, get creative and promote yourself all at once. Social&Loyal has just 15 Social media contest ideas to get you started.
Photo Contest
We’re starting with the standard. When you post on your own social media platform, you want to get as many likes as possible. Creating a photo contest with your followers allows them to get more likes, you to get more exposure and some lucky winner a tailored prize helped along by the right customer loyalty software.
Trivia Contest
While smartphones are the future for customer loyalty, they’re also the bane of pub quizzes anywhere. Finding a trivia contest which works with your current promotion is a great opportunity to reward customers not just for their loyalty, but their smarts. Ask a question which can’t be found in the top 10 Google results and you have a puzzler which creates immediate customer engagement.
Fan Art Contest
Simply one of the most fun and creative social media contest ideas out there. Have artistic customers provide some Instagramable fan art which uses your product, service, spokesperson, logo, etc. Have a vote for the winner or simply select your favorite to cross promote. Best done when you’re already somewhat established.
Naming Contest
Naming contests in the UK have notoriously born public mocking (Boaty McBoatface anyone?), but even mocking can go viral. If you have a new product or scheme which could use some customer input, then a naming contest can do good for your business even if the joke’s ostensibly on you.
Mascot Contest
Sort of a cross between fan art and a naming contest, creating a contest to name, choose or even design your company mascot can be such a win for all involved. Provide a sufficiently desirable prize to go along with it and you will have graphic designers champing at the bit to have their name associated with your brand for years to come.
Like Race Contest
Simple, but effective. The winner is the first follower to get a certain amount of likes using a post with your name on it. Lets them get likes and exposure for their own online presence and uses the customer’s own network to promote your brand.
Dinner Party Contest
This is a great idea for those in the food and drink industry. Whether you are launching a new product or trying to put some new life in an old classic, this can work wonders. Followers on social media create a themed dinner party using the product and the most inventive, delicious or even funny looking meal gets the prize. Taps into social media user’s insatiable desire for tasty food pics.
Creative Promotion Contest
Some of your customers might not be the best with a pen or brush (whether analogue or digital), but that doesn’t mean they can’t prove their loyalty in other creative ways. Send out a promotion where the most unique way of promoting your brand is the winner. Flash mobs, fun pet videos or any (legal) way to draw attention to your brand in a shareable fashion, it’s all good for the both of you.
Cross Promotional Contest
With customers so highly valuing inclusivity in brand promotion, what better contest to provide than one which shows you can work together with other brands. Find a way to either work towards the same goal or even show some fun rivalry with another brand. Create a contest prize which takes aspects of the two brands to create something unique and mutually beneficial.
Feedback Contest
Another simple one which pays dividends. You should have customer loyalty software which has ways of collecting feedback anyway. But creating a contest whereby providing feedback enters them into a prize draw is a great way to promote your brand and get that all important customer profile.
Tag-a-Friend Contest
True customer loyalty means not only retaining the customer, but helping the customer help you by making referrals. Tag-a-friend contests on social media are one of the most blatant, yet effective ways to do this. It will be a lower reward type of contest, offering a discount code or entrance into a sweepstake when they tag a friend on a post. However, this means you can do it more often and it really can drum up some business in the short term.
Easter Egg Hunt Contest
On the other end of social media contests for customer retention is the online Easter Egg hunt. This takes active participation on behalf of the customer, but can be as easy or as tricky as you want it to be. Put hidden messages, emoji or links all across your social media platforms. The first to collect them all gets the big prize, but you can offer smaller rewards to those who put the effort in so you don’t alienate those who give you loyalty.
Caption Contest
Another simple one here, but by posting a picture and having followers caption it, you can tap into something fun and useful. You can get other followers to vote for the winner, using different types of ‘like’ buttons for different submissions. You get boosted posts, someone gets a prize, but all your followers also get to see the fun unfold.
Charitable Contest
You can’t be cynical with this one. Exploiting a charitable cause to flog product is not cool. However, if your brand is committed and passionate about a certain program which needs help, then creating a contest which creates awareness, and maybe even donations, is a worthwhile tool. For every like or post, you can donate a certain amount. You may need to cap this amount, but if you reach your goal it’s a win for everybody.
Guess The Jellybeans Contest
Finally, let’s go old school. Post a picture of something which comes in abundance. In the old days you’d have a jar of jelly beans, but now you have the opportunity to get creative. Find something countable related to your brand, post a picture of it and have customers guess the amount. Best done by putting a certain time limit so that you can extend the promotion as long as possible. Reveal the winner and reward the prize.
As you can see, this is just a tasting menu of what type of contests are possible on social media. Make them fun, make them your own and show the customer that you are the kind of brand they’re happy to be associated with. This way they’ll stick with you to look forward to what’s next up your sleeve.
If you want to learn how your brand can use loyalty program software, set up a free consultation with our loyalty experts today!
