Do you really want to be the "Johnny Knoxville" of Social Promotions?
Photo credit Dick House
Every brand is either running or looking into running promotions on Facebook and Twitter. This has spawned an eco-system of service providers to help run these promotion - from official network-approved platforms to legal advice to promotions specialists to community management. Social promotions are like operating in a different country - there is a whole culture, approach, dangers, bonuses, best practices and metrics, of course. Today's post will briefly explore the greatest risk and reward.
The greatest risk is a loss of credibility - not to mention legal action, liability, and loss of business. When you don't run a contest properly because you didn't plan for the worst, your brand is opened up to all sorts of exposures. In my opinion, the loss of credibility and the related trust are the greatest potential risks. Examples of things that can go wrong in your contest range from not using an approved platform to inadequate rules to poor choice of prizes (and a whole lot more).
The greatest reward is the generation of excitement - which can lead to greater participation and interactions with your brand. Depending on the community building approach, interactions, trust, and commerce are causally related. Knowing your story and audience should lead you to the selection of an appealing promotion, an enticing prize, a pleasant promotions experience and the growth of your community.
While the intricacies of social promotions are vast, layered, and complex - the major risk and reward scenario is relatively straightforward. If you're a careful brand strategist, then the planning component becomes very important. If you're the "Johnny Knoxville" type, then by all means dive in spontaneously and come what may. Either way - Facebook sweepstakes, Facebook photo and video contests all have a lot to offer.