It may seem as if there are no new and exciting ways to encourage interaction between brands and followers on Facebook. But have you really tried everything? One of the most overlooked and undervalued ways to increase customer excitement is by running a timeline engagement contest. Let's take a look at what it's all about.
What's a Facebook timeline engagement contest? Glad you asked!
As you might have guessed, timeline contests on Facebook are a friendly way for your fans and followers to participate in your social media efforts and win a little something along the way. In return, you quickly increase engagement analytics, grow your email and marketing leads list, and learn more about your customers.
Running a timeline contest takes a bit of time and effort but the payoff is well worth it. Social media agency KRDS studied the post-contest results of 50 brand pages and discovered a whopping 683 percent increase in engagement rate.
Running a timeline engagement contest
Facebook has very strict guidelines about running contests so make sure to review them thoroughly before launching yours. Most prominently, brands can ask fans to post on a page, "like" a post, or message the company directly. They may not, however, require entrants to "like" the page or tag themselves in posts or pictures.
The most effective Facebook timeline contests are fun and encourage creativity without requiring a significant time commitment for your followers. "Remember to ensure you have terms and conditions in place if you're offering a prize with a monetary value - depending on your part of the world the terms will differ but as a general rule, include when the competition ends, how you'll let the winner know (you're not allowed to announce winners on Facebook), that the promoter's decision is final, and that prizes cannot be exchanged for cash," recommends social media strategist David Lee.
Don't underestimate the value of Facebook timeline engagements contests for drumming up new customers and delighting the ones you have. The sky's the limit when it comes to dreaming up promotion concepts so put on your thinking cap and get creative. If you get stumped, Social Times has a list of 30 contest ideas to jumpstart the process.
Photo Credit: wersm.com