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Florist Tech: October 2011
How to Build a Contest on Facebook |
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Written by Georgiana Laudi
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I am often asked by clients “How do I get more fans on Facebook?” and a contest almost always is part of my answer. Holding a Facebook contest is one of the best ways to grow your community of fans and promote your services as a florist. The rules for promoting your contest on Facebook have changed a lot over the past few years though: it can be hard to keep track and make sure you’re within Facebook’s guidelines.
There are a couple of third-party applications that can make the process of following these guidelines easier and that will even manage a contest for you, but you may be subject to fees and you’ll also be stuck following their contest format.
The Wildfire app is the most popular third-party application for managing a Facebook (and social) contest. Though they do offer a free version of their service, be aware that their brand will be present on everything. You can add things such as custom headers and get advanced metrics, for a price.
If you’re more of a do-it-yourselfer there is a way to build a Facebook contest on your terms; it just requires a little time and planning. Arnoud Jaokim wrote an article on YOUmoz that I often refer to when working with my clients. It offers tons of detail about building a contest (see link at the end of the article).
Before you begin a contest, you’ll need a Facebook business page, a new blog post or a page on your website, and something to give away such as free bouquets of flowers.
Build your contest page
On your blog or website you’ll want to create a contest page (or post) with the important details of your contest. Make sure you have the following elements laid out in an easy-to-follow format:
1. The name of your contest. For example: “Win Fresh Fall Flowers from ABC Florist.”
2. A beautiful image of your prize will grab attention and establish the identity of your shop and your contest. You can include a photo of the prize, your logo and even the name of the contest.
3. A clear description of your contest that answers the following:
a. Why are you holding this contest?
b. What are the prizes being offered? (Offering more than one is a good idea.)
c. How should people participate? If you’re offering multiple ways, encourage them to do all.
4. Buttons or links to participate (see below for details).
5. A detailed description of the contest:
a. When does the contest end?
b. How many winners will there be?
c. How will winners be contacted and announced?
6. Sell the prizes!
a. Add a photo of the prize(s) and label as first, second and third prize, if applicable.
b. Describe the prize(s) using as many details as possible.
c. Specify if the prize(s) must be picked up or will be delivered.
7. Invite people to share the contest with friends. Again, make it easy by creating a simple “Share- This” link (see below for details about ShareThis).
8. Thank them for participating.
Encourage participation
There are a number of ways you can get people to participate in your contest. You can ask them to subscribe to your newsletter, submit a photo, answer trivia, etc. One of the easiest and most effective ways is to have them become a fan of your page. To do this you’ll need a little bit of code, so you may want to ask someone with web experience to help.
“Like” button Add a “Like” button to your contest page, which will allow participants to ‘Like’ your Facebook page without having to visit Facebook.
“Share” button You may also want to ask people to share the contest page itself on Facebook (great for promoting). To do this, youll need to add another “Like” button from Facebook, but this time the page to “Like” will be your contest page. Be sure to use words like “Share this contest” and format it a little differently, so people are clear what the difference is. Keep in mind here that it’s important that the title and first paragraph on your contest page are well written. When it’s shared (and embedded) on their wall you want it to accurately display your contest page. ShareThis is an alternative service you could use to ask people to share, and it works on any platform.
E-mail address Unfortunately, it’s against Facebook guidelines to contact winners through Facebook, so you’ll need to get participants’ e-mail addresses. If your contest page lives on your blog, this is easy. Simply ask participants (after they’ve Liked and Shared) to comment on your blog, which requires an e-mail address. If your contest page lives on your website you can add an e-mail form using your favourite e-mail software, or use a free form service such as Wufoo.
Remember to keep instructions as clear and concise as possible; the last thing you want to do is confuse people right out of participating.
Promote your contest
Luckily, the social nature of this contest makes this part a little easier. Sharing your contest on Facebook is a given, but you could also share it on Twitter, your blog, with your mailing list, in store and, of course, on the homepage of your website. If the prize is significant you may even want to write a press release for local publications.
Announce your contest, talk about it with everyone you engage with and be sure to remind your fans and followers when time is running out.
Pick your winners
Of course, you want to be fair, so only choose someone who completed all the participation steps. In a perfect world your winner(s) will be those who have lots of friends on Facebook, followers on Twitter and maybe even a blog. Having an “influencer” win something is great publicity because these types of people love to share their fun experiences, and winning flowers definitely fits that bill!
Resources:
- Create a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
- Facebook promotion guidelines: http://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php
- “How to build a great contest,” by Arnaud Joakim: http://www.seomoz.org/blog/how-to-build-a-great-contest
Tools:
- Facebook Like button code: http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/
- Bit.ly URL shortener: http://bitly.com
- Wildfire app: http://www.wildfireapp.com
- Wufoo forms: http://wufoo.com
- ShareThis: http://sharethis.com
Georgiana Laudi is a web marketing consultant with a passion for local businsess and social marketing. She has deep roots in the flower business as the third generation and long-time manager at Terrafolia Flowers in Montreal. She helps businesses of all sizes and can be contacted at
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