Attract New Fans With a Contest

It’s called “The 12 Days of Baseball” and it’s an annual social media event by the University of Houston’s Cougar baseball team. Beginning December 13th and running for 12 days, fans clicked into Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to participate and take a chance to win a prize.

Each day’s contest is different, from baseball trivia to local history quizzes. Contest winners are decided based on a random drawing of the participants who took part in the day’s respective contest.

Winners are split evenly between the 3 social media networks, so fans who followed the Cougars on all of them increased their chances of winning. Winners of the “The 12 Days of Baseball” receive prizes that included autographed baseballs, game tickets and the honor of throwing out the first pitch.

Sponsor a Contest or Giveaway to Attract Readers to Your Social Media

Running a social media contest or giveaway is a great way to attract readers to your postings and increase awareness of your brand – your practice. You’ll get new followers and increase your email contact list too.

Consider a giveaway such as gift cards to a grocery store chain at the holidays, dinner for two to a restaurant for Valentine’s Day, or everything you need for a barbeque for the Fourth of July. Here are some tips to get you started:

• Decide on the type of contest you want. A photo or video contest where fans vote on their favorite will generate lots of engagement. You can also post a photo and ask fans to give it a caption. To determine the winner(s), you can pick them randomly or ask a team member from your office to choose their favorite.
• Select a platform. Do you want to run your contest on Facebook only or expand it to Twitter and Instagram? Even if you choose just one of these, you can cross-promote your contest on the others.
• Target your contest. Don’t offer a free ice cream cone as a prize if you are a dentist! Make sure your contest-related photos, trivia questions and prizes relate to your practice. Consider multiple prizes to encourage the likelihood of winning. Encourage people to invite friends and family to enter, too.
• Promote, promote, promote. Use e-blasts, newsletters, and all your social media sites to talk up the contest. Create a fun hashtag specifically for this occasion.
• Stay on task with brand messages. Many participants will drop out after the contest ends, so insert messages about your practice into anything related to the contest, even prize announcements.
• Check the rules first. Always do your research to make sure that you follow each social media platform’s requirements and laws governing giveaways for your profession.

Ask About Our Unique Marketing System

Blue Orchid Marketing offers custom-written marketing elements designed to increase your bottom line. We also focus on external marketing by placing your practice on more than 70 local online directories and writing weekly custom blogs and social media posts to ensure your practice is found on internet searches. That’s more than 40 posts a month … it’s a service you need to stay competitive!

Need a web site? Live chat? Adwords? We have the solution!

To learn how our internal marketing solutions can put money in your pocket and our internet presence solutions and web sites can help you to attract new patients and clients, please call us at 203-746-5901 – ask for David – or send an email to DavidB@BlueOrchidMarketing.com. We’ll create a package that’s right for you!