Connor Brooke
Facebook contests are a fun and engaging way to grow your Facebook following and collect valuable leads for your business. Pick a prize, decide on the theme, promote it, and choose a winner. Remember it’s all about having fun and engaging with your audience.
In this article, we’ll share with you 47 of the best Facebook contest ideas you can use today.
First, the Top 10 Reasons to Run a Facebook Contest
1. Get more Facebook followers & fans
Grow your following with a fun and engaging Facebook contest. Incentivize your fans to share your contest with their network and reach new fans in the process.
2. Increase your brand awareness online
The combination of a contest and promotion will draw-in a number of people to your brand.
3. Collect emails and leads
Start collecting a long list of emails and leads with your contest. A strong and engaged list pays dividends down the road when you host another contest, run a promotion, or have a sale.
4. Collect UGC (User Generated Content)
Social media content creation can be time consuming and resource intensive. Employ the folks who love your brand the most: your fans. Collecting and using fan content like photos, reviews, or ideas is a great way to build a deeper connection with your fans.
5. Generate user feedback
A contest will put your product in the hands of people you’re trying to reach. Generating feedback from your target audience is the only way you can improve.
6. Engage your followers
Communication with your audience shouldn’t only be a one way street. Engage them to keep your brand alive in their lives.
7. Make sales
A business dies a slow death without sales (obviously). Put your business in the right position to make sales with a Facebook contest. Collect valuable leads and direct traffic to your website with a Facebook contest.
8. Promote a new product
Trying to build hype around your newest release? A Facebook contest can help. Choosing to give one away to one lucky winner will build demand.
9. Generate more traffic
A stellar prize and fun entry rules generate lots of excitement for a Facebook contest. Traffic and sales will ensue.
10. Learn more about your target market
If engagement with your brand was lacking a Facebook contest will add some life and energy. Take the opportunity to learn more about your target audience. Respond to comments, start a conversion, and send emails asking questions to learn more.
11. Use a contest building platform
The best way to run a Facebook contest is with a contest platform (like Wishpond). A contest platform makes creating, designing, and publishing a Facebook contest a breeze. It will handle the entire process from selecting a design, creating the landing page, embedding it on your Facebook page, and picking/emailing the winner when it’s complete.
12. Create a compelling headline
The first thing a visitor will see when they land is the headline. The headline should hook the reader and compel them to continue reading down the page. Make it snappy and make it benefit oriented. What’s in it for them? Why should they care about your business and Facebook contest?
13. Create a unique contest hashtag
Make it easy for contest entries to be found and categorized with a unique contest hashtag. Your unique contest hashtag is meant to encompass the theme of your contest (#BlenderCoChristmas2016). As the contest picks up steam your hashtag will be shared and each entry will be able to be found via search.
14. Benefit checklist
On the landing page for your Facebook contest it’s important to list out the benefits of your business/prize/contest. A benefits checklist is an easy to read list of benefits entrants and fans alike enjoy by participating.
15. Employ compelling visuals
A picture says a thousands words as the old saying goes. Use visuals in place of large blocks of text to get your information understood quickly. A picture of your prize or giveaway makes the offer seem larger than life. Entry would be hard to resist.
16. Clear and concise contest rules
Clearly outline the steps and rules required to enter into your Facebook contest. Confusing language or ambiguous rules create a hesitation for visitors which creates friction. Friction will lower your conversion rate and lessen the amount of entries you receive.
17. Detail how the winner will be chosen
In the contest rules make sure to clearly detail how the winner is chosen, how many, and what each receives. The last thing you want is unsatisfied participants.
Make the choosing process simple. A social contest app like Wishpond will randomly choose and email the winner automatically to let them know.
18. Bonus entries
Experiment with bonus entries for everyone who enters. Sharing the contest with their network or entering once a day for example, are a couple of ways to give bonus entries for extra participation.
19. Create a custom cover image
The Facebook cover image is an often overlooked opportunity for more branding and promotion. Create a custom cover image to promote your contest for everyone who visits your Facebook page.
20. Customize your Facebook tab and landing page
To host your Facebook contest directly on your Facebook page you’ll need to create a customer tab and landing page. Customize each with the branding of your business to keep it familiar for your visitors.
21. Use checkboxes
When it comes to the entry form on your Facebook contest page use checkboxes instead of form fields or drop down menus where possible. Checkboxes offer a better user experience for visitors and less effort to complete.
22. Use a countdown timer
A countdown timer placed on the contest landing page creates urgency. Urgency commands action. Knowing clearly what amount of time is left will make visitor act now instead of later.
23. Make entry dates clear
The entry dates of the contest matter more than you would think. Pick the appropriate amount of time to maximize the amount of entries. Too long and the excitement can dim as time goes on. Too short and you might miss out on some entries.
24. Pre-contest email
Send a pre-contest email to all of your newsletter and social media subscribers before your contest begins to build anticipation. An email that shows off the prize package will certainly put your Facebook contest on your audience’s radar.
25. Cross-promote on all channels
To maximize the exposure of your Facebook contest it’s important to cross-promote on your other web properties. This means posting on LinkedIn, tweeting, pinning on Pinterest etc.
26. Pin your post
Once your contest is published make sure to pin it to the top of your Facebook feed. A pinned post sticks to the top of the feed and accumulates more exposure from visitors.
27. Tie your prize back to your business
When choosing your prize package make sure it is tied back to your business. If your business sells appliances it’s not a good idea to give away an iPad. Tie the prize back to your business by including your product or a giftcard to spend at your store.
28. Regularly update fans on contest status
Don’t make your contest a one-and-done type operation. Keep your fans and participants updated on the status of your contest. This means number of entries, time left in the contest, and further content promoting the contest.
29. Promote with Facebook ads
Facebook ads are by far one of the most effective avenues for capturing immediate traffic for your Facebook contest. Facebook ads target users based on interests so it’s possible to locate those who are interested in your specific niche.
30. Place banner on your website
Just because you contest is on Facebook there’s no reason to neglect your own website. Employ a banner CTA on your website to redirect your visitors to your contest. The banner will act as a tool that redirects traffic and as an alert for those who don’t follow your social channels.
31. Partner with other companies for prizes
When it comes to Facebook contests it never hurts to include additional parties. Include a partner to double the size and reach of your audience. Your prize package will increase in value and appeal to a wider range of people.
32. Choose a proper theme
A Facebook contest theme like a holiday or anniversary can help establish more of a purpose for your contest. Celebrating your business’ one year anniversary for example, acts as a more compelling reason for visitors to accept your offer.
33. Have clear goals to measure success
Before building any part of your Facebook contest, establish the goal. Your goal will determine the measure of success for your contest. Leads, exposure, or follower growth are typical goals that can be measured against your cost per lead or cost per customer. Keep your goal in mind when deciding how much you’d like to spend on a prize and advertising.
34. Make your prize a package
Instead of a single massive grand prize, break it up into an entire prize package made of smaller prizes. This way your prize will have more variety and appeal to more people. A large number of items will also make your prize seem more valuable because of the variety.
35. Optimize for mobile
Half of all web traffic is now coming from mobile devices which means that your contests need to be mobile responsive. The best way to do this is to start with a Facebook contest building tool which comes with fully responsive templates.
36. Optimize for speed
Aside from using a speedy Facebook contest building tool, there are a few ways you can optimize your contest page for speed.
- Reduce your image sizes.
- Clean up unnecessary code.
- Shorten the page.
- Upgrade your hosting.
37. A/B test your call to action
For a contest that is running for a longer period of time it is a good idea to run A/B tests on your call to action. By split testing your CTA you can see what language compels your visitors to convert more. Facebook contest platforms are able to split the traffic and send them to two different contest pages and see what works best.
38. Include the contest in your regular newsletter
Don’t forget to mention your new Facebook contest in your weekly/monthly newsletter for the people who don’t follow one of your social channels.
39. Pre-populated Tweets
For one of your bonus entries try using a pre-populated tweet for your visitors to share. Write up some exciting copy for your visitors to share with one click. You’ll receive more attention for your Facebook contest and they’ll receive a bonus entry.
40. Feature the winner
When it’s all said and done feature the winner of your Facebook contest. It’s important to highlight the honor of winning and be sure to make them feel as special as possible. The amount of praise you’re able to give will prep and excite people anticipating your next contest.
41. Feature the entry content
As the contest is in full swing highlight a few of your favourite entries on your social channels. Give your social media followers an example of the kind of entries you’re looking for. It will encourage more participation and engagement amongst your followers.
42. Add social proof
Trust and credibility play a major role in incentivizing a conversion. The more visitors trust your brand the more likely they will convert. That’s why it’s important to add some social proof to your Facebook contest page. A testimonial or stellar review from a real user can make the difference when someone is thinking about entering. Giving away personal information is no longer as easy as it once was for most people. You need to provide social proof to build credibility and trust in your brand.
43. Include the contest in inline links
Don’t forget your blog. For those that follow your blog closely, inline links can be an effective way to direct traffic to your Facebook contest. Inline links work well in terms of click-through-rate because they’re relative to the content being mentioned.
Let’s say you’re writing about the Top 5 Countertop Blenders for Big Families on your blog. In an inline link you’d be able to mention that you’re giving away the exact same blender in your Facebook contest. Mentioning your contest this way leads to a much higher click-through-rate because it’s related to the content at hand.
44. Ask for a feature on popular niche sites
It never hurts to ask. Reach out to the other sites in your niche for help. This could mean featuring them in your contest or mentioning them in the copy. Getting a helping hand from another brand with a large audience is the quickest way to gain traction.
45. Use popular hashtags
Join in and use other popular hashtags every time you post an update to your Facebook page. By participating in other conversations with hashtags you’ll effectively amplify the reach of your posts.
46. Don’t forget offline promotion
Because your contest is being hosting right on Facebook it’s simple to employ some offline promotion methods as well. Handing out flyers and marketing swag with a link to your Facebook page makes it easy to find your contest and participate. Word of mouth is a powerful tool that, when used, can spread the reach of a contest even further.
47. Be social!
When it comes to social media we can all get lost in our strategies sometimes and forget the most important part: being social. The last thing you want is to be a brand that only gets attention when it hands out free stuff. Contests and giveaways aren’t meant to be a one-click solution to engagement problems.
You need to be consistent. This means consistently posting content, answering questions/comments, and creating conversation. It’s a slow process, which is why most brands avoid investing the time, but it pays off in the long term when the engagement begins to compound.
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This article was written for Business 2 Community by Connor Brooke.
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