How to Plan a Winning Twitter Contest?

Over the past decade, Twitter has established itself as one of the most prominent social media marketing platforms. We have also witnessed numerous marketing tactics come and go in recent years. But no matter what, one marketing tactic that never fails to attract engagement is a Twitter contest.

Although, running a Twitter contest doesn’t simply mean tweeting a prize and counting retweets. Implementing certain guidelines and entry rules can help you an effective Twitter contest that attracts engagement.

But before we dive into the best practices to develop a wining Twitter contest, let’s understand the guidelines in detail.

Here are some of the key guidelines that you should remember while launching a Twitter contest.

• Creation of multiple accounts-

Encourage users to abstain from creating multiple accounts to enter a contest, Twitter might suspend all the accounts including the user’s official Twitter profile. You must make sure that your contest has a guideline that states that a user may only use a single account to enter the contest.

• Posting the same tweet repeatedly-

Avoid setting a rule that encourages users to post several duplicate updates in the contest. In other word avoid setting a rule that requires most retweets to win the contest.

• Twitter contest hashtag-

Lastly, users must mention you in their post. The best way to do this is to develop a campaign hashtag and encourage users to post content with the contest hashtag. Also, keep in mind that users must post relevant content with the contest hashtag.

Remember, these are some of the basic guidelines provides by Twitter. There may be some additional rules that you may have to comply varying from where your business is located to which industry you operate in.

Now that you are aware of the guidelines to follow while running a Twitter contest, let’s dive into the best practices to maximize its success.

Define goals

Similar to every social media strategy, the Twitter contest also requires a defined set of goals. What is the Twitter contest for?

• Increase brand awareness
• Increase engagement
• Increase sales
• Increase website traffic and conversions

You must revisit your brand values and analyze your audience to further define the extent of these goals. You also have to evaluate what type of contest aligns with your overall marketing goals and can help you achieve it.

Choose an attractive Twitter contest prize

One of the most vital aspects of a successful Twitter contest is a prize that is attractive and appealing to the audiences. A contest doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive. You must choose a prize that has worth among the audience.

For example, Audi encouraged Twitter users to post a tweet on why they want an Audi R8 with the hashtag #WantAnR8. The winner would get to own an Audi R8 for a day. The move attracted a tremendous response and engagement from the audiences.

Select the Twitter contest type

Selecting the suitable type of Twitter content that can help you achieve the intended goal is the most difficult part. A contest giveaway that aligns with your marketing goals. There are various types of Twitter contests that you can choose from, let’s begin.

• Retweet and follow

Just as the name implies, this type of Twitter contest requires users to follow your brand’s official Twitter profile and retweet your intended content post to enter and compete.

It is one of the easiest Twitter contests that have no complicates steps. This type of contest can help you increase the followers and engagement for our brand along with brand awareness.

• Comment to enter

In many cases, brands only require users to comment on a particular post to enter a contest. This type of contest can help you attract enormous engagement and increase the visibility of your brand on Twitter.

• Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are Twitter contests organized to drive traffic to your brand’s website and increase conversions rates. These contests do not play any role in increasing engagement or Twitter followers.

• Photo contest

This type of contest highly focuses on user-generated content. The contest requires users to post photos according to the provided theme. The photo must be posted with the specific contest hashtag in the caption.

You can also use the amassed user-generated content for future promotional efforts.

• Creative and inventive answers

In the creative answer Twitter contest brands ask followers to participate by answering a question. The most creative and innovative answer is chosen as the winner. You can initiate the competition by asking a funny question and relating it to your brand.

Measure the impact of the Twitter contest

Measuring the impact of your Twitter contest and the conversations in real-time is vital to ensure its success. You need an effective Twitter analytics tool that can help track and monitor conversations along with engagement.

TrackMyHashtag is an amazing AI-based, event and hashtag tracking Twitter analytics tool. It can help you track and monitor hashtags, keywords, conversations and @mentions in real-time.

Key features of TrackMyHashtag

• Real-time hashtag engagement metrics
• Identify resonating content
• Identify the target audience and influencers
• Identify your competitors’ hashtag campaigns

TrackMyHashtag can help you monitor and measure the impact of your Twitter contest in real-time and provide predictive analysis on the analytical dashboard.

Twitter contests are and have always been one of the most effective marketing tactics to increase engagement, followers, and conversion. Even so, monitoring and measuring its impact is crucial for maximizing the success of the Twitter contest.

Start monitoring your Twitter engagement statistics with TrackMyHashtag today. Do give it a try!

See you next time!