How to run a competition on social media

Businesses have been choosing to run trade promotions on social media since its inception. Social media platforms are enabling marketing to reach new levels of engagement, personalisation and reactiveness.

But is utilising social media platforms worth all the hype?

Promotions that require the entrant to physically enter on social media will discourage 1 out of 3 consumers. (IMI International, ProTrack 2019) For example:

• Comment on a promotional post to enter;
• Post a photo to enter; or
• Re-post to enter (not allowed on Facebook, only Instagram and Twitter).

Why is this? There’s a few key things that make people wary of entering a promotion on Facebook/Instagram/Twitter:

• The entry itself is very public – people don’t want to be judged by their peers;
• The entry method seems too informal to be genuine; and
• Publicly posting in a general forum exposes the entrant’s profile to others in the forum.

To avoid discouraging entrants, consider setting up a microsite with a competition entry form, or ask entrants to email directly.