A few months ago I tried an experiment to increase the fan count of one of my clients. We decided to run a simple contest with a gift card as the prize. The client’s fan count quadrupled. Promotions are one of the oldest kinds of advertising because they play on people’s competitive natures. People love to win! Social media is exploding because it harnesses people’s need for interaction. By connecting your brand with competitive events that allow your customers to display their talents and opinions is a super way to grow your Facebook fan page.
The experiment we ran was the sweepstake and giveaway promotion method. Everyone has a chance to win and winning is done easily. In the process of doing the promotion, you will have a chance to increase your e-mail marketing lists as Facebook requires an email and date of birth on all sweepstakes. Be sure and suggest a sense of urgency by advertising that the promotion will only run for a limited amount of time. Think auto dealers.
Another promotion is the User Generated Contest (UGC) in which the contestants create something like a photo or an essay. These work well because they use game theory as well as provide your fans a way to voice their thoughts. You can go into a second stage here and put out the best of the best and have people vote on their favorite, just don’t be too restrictive with the rules.
You can also go for coupons. In this case you would do well to make the coupon values random, adding a gaming element to the promotion. This has been used very successfully by soda companies where different values were printed on the inside of the bottle lids.
The Groupon idea has caught on in other areas. This is an excellent way to increase your fan count because they require others to participate. This is an effective way to increase your coupon promotions because it requires a group buy-in. People love to belong to a group. Be sure you only offer relevant offers or people will be gone in a hurry.
Whether you need to add to your Facebook Fan page or keep your clients enthusiastic about your brand, promotions are a great way to succeed.
Related articles
- How to grow your fan base? BoomTime Sweepstakes for Facebook! (coverboom.com)
- Create Fans with Sweepstakes on Facebook (coverboom.com)