Wednesday 16 May 2012

Who will win?! Social media competitions.

It used to be that you would say 'like my page to win X' and the power of social media would take hold and the page would win likes.

I did this with my own business, Go Fudge Yourself, a fudge company I run with someone else. I managed to get 700 or so likes within a week, just by saying I would give away a box of fudge for every 100 likers I got.

Sadly,  Facebook changed the rules, or I was made aware of them by the wonderful Veronica Pullen, another Social Media Consultant, she then posted a blog about the change here: Facebook Promotions

So, the question becomes how do you get the likes? In my opinion, Facebook have done this so we have to rely on adverts to promote our pages. Not everyone wants to do adverts, and I don't blame you. Having been playing around with them myself recently, I've found that I'm spending money on something that's not really getting anywhere, unless I set a big daily budget, which is unaffordable.

Facebook likes can be generated a number of ways.

First of all, ask all your friends to like your page, their friends may then see that (if they've not changed their privacy settings) and be interested in your page.

Then, get on twitter, ask people to like your page, but not in a needy way, tell them there's more information on your Facebook page, or how to enter the competition on your Facebook page.

For my clients, I set them up a tab using mail chimp and ask their likers to enter their details in order to be entered in the competition.

The next thing to consider is Twitter competitions. I don't really like them. I think twitter is the wrong place for competitions unless you're a big brand, who people are following simply because they're interested in Tresemme hair products. It's a bit cooler on twitter, you don't ask someone to follow you, because it's like going up to the cool kid in the playground and asking them to be your friend. It's a bit weird!

When it comes to twitter, you will get followers by engaging with people and listening.

Going back to Facebook, I find the rules a little bit ambiguous. I'm not stupid, I've got a law degree, and I should be able to decipher whether or not I've broken the rules, but I don't know! I've just shared on one of my pages the option of 'sharing the status' to be entered into the competition. Who knows if I'll get told off by Facebook, I once got told off when I was running the cupcake company because I posted a picture of a cupcake with a willy on top! I guess only time will tell, and hopefully I won't have done!

2 comments:

  1. Thank you. How cool!

    I disagree about the FB ads though as like any ad, first it has to be targeted to the right people, then it has to grab their attention and then the offer/call to action has to be in place

    I've spent £27 on FB Ads and gained 100 likes, 35 opt ins and 3 sales in 3 days for my Social Media Prospector training product but in the past I've run ads in my local area and got nothing in return. It's a science like all advertising

    Nice blog though and thanks for the honour of including me xxx

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  2. Good Blog Helen. I must sort my G+ Page!

    I have to agree with Veronica about Facebook Ads. You say that people dont want to use them, I think its because they dont understand how powerful and targeted they can be, I read a lot about Internet Marketing and certainly the big boys on Facebook swear by FB Ads. Like Veronica says there is a skill and a knack involved and its not always the way it seems.

    I did some for by Pug Page! I will be monetising this so I want as many fans (and very soon opt ins) as possible. £37 spent, 520 clicks of which the vast majority 'Liked'. 7p a click because it was targeted.

    Rhys

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