You want to run a wicked contest that will drive engagement and attention to your Twitter page, but you’re unsure where to even begin. Here are my 6 tips to help you run a successful Twitter contest.

1. Layout your goals

Just like any successful campaign, it is important to lay out your goals of a contest. As much as it is fun to just do a contest for the sake of doing a contest, it is always best to have some sort of goals in mind that you’d like to reach through your contest. This will also help you in building what your contest will look like.

2. Think of awesome prizes

There’s very few companies/brands that people are so passionate about that they’ll go out of their way to enter just to win something small and/or boring. Try to think of prizes that your demographic would want or that you can tie into your brand and overall campaign/initiative that you are promoting.

For example: If you are a college trying to promote the use of your on-campus food bank, perhaps you’ll give a grocery gift card to students who enter.

If you don’t have a budget for this sort of thing, try to think of sponsors that may want to team up with you, or donate some.

3. Rules & Regulations

For even the simplest contest it is best to have your rules clearly stated and accessible incase anyone wants to view them. This will also cover your butt if for any reason something someone comes back at you saying, “you didn’t say that in the rules.”

Your rules should clearly outline who is eligible, how you can enter, the length of the contest, and how the winners will be chosen.

4. Promote, promote, promote!

If you want your contest to be successful, it is best to promote that you are running one on all your platforms. Maybe your Facebook fans aren’t following you on Twitter, or your Instagram fans don’t even know you are on Twitter. Share your contest information on all platforms and direct everyone to your Twitter page or your contest rules/details page so they can see how to enter!

It’s also helpful to promote your contest offline as well to reach even more people. Think of creative ways you can get your staff members on board, or to promote your contest offline. For example: If you’re a restaurant, you may want to get table toppers made that promote the contest. That way every person who visits your restaurant will more than likely read about it while they’re at their table.
5. Have a #hashtag

As you probably know, it’s easiest to group tweets together and track something when there’s a hashtag involved on Twitter. Create a creative hashtag that matches your contest.

A good rule of thumb is to Twitter search your hashtag beforehand to make sure it’s not being used by another contest or similar campaign that may make tracking confusing.

6.  Don’t overcomplicate

Try not to overcomplicate your contest. Unless you are a large business or brand with a very dedicated community and sick prizes to giveaway, very few people will want to follow 25 steps to enter your contest. Keep it simple, yet keep it engaging.

These are just some tips to help make sure your Twitter contest is a successful one. With smaller businesses and brands, it may take awhile for these to catch on and for your community to get engaged but having 10 people enter your contest, is 10 more people engaging with your brand that you may have not had before. Twitter contests can be a great way to work with your community to spread the word about what you have to offer. Have a plan, and have fun with it!

*article courtesy of Lauren Marinigh at SocialMediaToday.com*