By Brian McNeil-Smith, Easypromos
Twitter sweepstakes promotions are quickly becoming a critical component of social media marketing strategies for many retail businesses because of their simplicity, ability to increase followers quickly and generate brand loyalty through viralized content at little to no cost.
And with 33% of consumers buying a product because of a promotion on a brand’s social media page, according to customer insights firm Jirafe during a recent webcast, social promotions like those done on Twitter can really drive purchase behavior, particularly as they initiate interaction and promote sharing.
However, while sweepstakes promotions can seem as simple as posting a tweet, a first-time Twitter sweepstakes promoter should take a moment to consider some critical components of an effective sweepstakes campaign. The biggest decisions will depend on choosing the right kind of sweepstakes, and how best to pick the winner.
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To Tweet Or To Re-tweet
- A Sweepstakes Among Your Twitter Followers: This is the simplest way to hold a sweepstakes on Twitter. First, tweet your sweepstakes promotion, and then alert your audience through all of your other networks such as email, Facebook, etc., which will encourage them to follow you on Twitter. Make sure you choose a prize related to your products to ensure those participating are actually interested in your business. Hold the sweepstakes periodically to strengthen loyalty among your followers.
- An Express Sweepstakes Based On Re-tweets: Since 30% to 50% of re-tweets are made on the same day as the tweet is published, express sweepstakes promotions can be one of the most effective Twitter sweepstakes strategies. An Express Sweepstakes works best when the objective is to build buzz and generate interaction quickly. Winners should be chosen within a day or so.
- A Weekly Twitter Sweepstakes Based On Re-tweets: A re-tweet sweepstakes promotion can offer the broadest reach and significantly increase brand exposure and engagement. Prepare a sweepstakes among followers who re-tweet your tweet. Announce the sweepstakes on Monday and choose a winner on Friday. Depending how often you tweet your tweet (no more than 10 tweets), you could accumulate up to 2,000 re-tweets.
- An Objective-Related Sweepstakes: Set up a challenge in different stages and offer increasingly better prizes as objectives are met. For example, if 3,000 followers are reached by a set date, raffle a set of products, and if 3,200 followers are reached, raffle off two sets of products, and so on. This can similarly be performed for numbers of re-tweets. You can also combine followers and retweets and instead of three winners, choose six from among the participants.
Pick Me! Pick Me!
Retailers planning a Twitter sweepstakes should also consider a plan for picking a winner from potentially thousands of participants. Final eligible participant lists should determine eligibility of past winners and inclusion of potential “sweepstakes lovers” who enter multiple times purely for the sake of winning and have little-to-no interest in the company or product.
Further, how to prove impartiality of winners and back-up winners chosen should questions arise, and adhere to Twitter’s rules. For this reason, many retailers are using third-party applications to manage the winner selection process.
With the best Twitter sweepstakes apps, administrators can carry out the sweepstakes and publish the winners through a guided process that adheres to Twitter’s guidelines, create conditions of participation, define winners, minimize fraud and help to publish winners through a customizable link.
Most importantly, they can also offer the administrator a Certificate of Validity to prove the winner has been selected in a legal, transparent way, minimizing questions and exposure for the retailer.
Tips To Help You Get Started
- #HashtagIt: Designate a hashtag for the sweepstakes to help you follow it more effectively. You can also consider generic hashtags to reach more people (e.g. #sweepstakes).
- TGIF: Studies show that the best time to get re-tweeted is on a Friday afternoon.
- Don’t Be Greedy: The more prizes you offer, the better. There doesn’t have to be just one prize.
- Keep It Short: Tweets shouldn’t be longer than 120 characters or users won’t be able to re-tweet it.
- Show Me The Goods: Include a photo of the prize to motivate your users.
- One Time Only: Don’t incentivize your users to re-tweet your tweet many times as multiple participations don’t count.
Brian McNeil-Smith is the Director of Easypromos, North America where he helps agencies and businesses integrate the company’s 18 social promotional applications into strategic marketing and business programs.
