Hi all. Today I would like to raise the topic of competitions on social networks. It's no secret that competitions are a great option for promoting your group or your business. This is a great tool for promoting your business.
But even here you shouldn’t do the same thing over and over again. If you start a repost competition, you shouldn’t think that you will promote the group within a year only through this competition. Users will get tired of the monotony.
So what to do?
In this article, let's look at possible competition options. What competitions can you create for groups on social networks? If I missed something, I will be glad to see your comments.
Photo competitions
One of the most common options. The task is to take one photo, a series, or a “photo-toad” on some totem. The topic may or may not completely coincide with the main idea of the community; it may or may not be related to the brand’s products.
I will give a few examples to make it clearer. Let’s say the theme of the group is “Animals”. You can organize a competition for the best photo of your pet. If the topic is “Moms and Children,” you can hold a competition for the best photo of the child. The “Books and Coffee” art club held a competition for the best photo report about the club (see screenshot). Within 10 days, you had to take photos at the club and post the report on your page. Then the administration chose the 10 best and held a vote.
If you sell travel services, you can organize a competition for the best photo report from excursions or tours, just from any trips.
A good idea is to create funny photoshops. By the way, this option is often used on political resources: “Draw the best “photograph” of the “party of swindlers and thieves” and get a prize!”
It’s worth remembering that you don’t have to be tied specifically to the photo. This could be a drawing, a picture made in Photoshop, etc.
Let's summarize
Of course, all variants of creative competitions can be combined with a classic story, adding the conditions of reposting / tagging a photo / subscribing / commenting / liking, the main thing is not to overload the competition with unnecessary conditions (only if you are not raffling off a car).
Among the numerous New Year's competitions, you can stand out if you pay attention to your target audience and let your subscribers talk about what is really interesting to them.
Competitions for the best article, review, poem, story
The task here is to write a text. So, in my Internet marketing community, a competition for the best (useful) article or case on Internet marketing would be appropriate (by the way, this way you can create a lot of good content for the public). The already mentioned Books and Coffee club regularly hosts competitions for the best review of a book from the store’s assortment. The prize is tickets to the concert. Participants can also write a funny story from life, just a story, or a thematic poem.
True, people's creative abilities are poorly revealed here, but it is clear who knows how to use Google.
Goals of social media competitions
Defining a goal is where any work begins, including work with competitions.
What could this purpose be:
- Attraction of new clients;
- activation of old clients;
- getting new subscribers;
- attracting traffic to the site;
- increasing audience loyalty;
- obtaining material for content;
- introduction of a new product or service in your company;
- the desire to “go viral” in order to force people to talk about themselves. This way you can achieve high viral reach.
The mechanics of holding a competition on a social network will be different for each purpose. Therefore, we follow the algorithm: we decide for ourselves what we really want, select the appropriate rules for the competition, and invest in the organization and conduct. Ideally, you will get a powerful profit, and if the business fails, well, at least you will gain experience and be able to learn from your own mistakes.
So, let's see what kind of competitions there are and in what cases they work. Choose those mechanics that suit you and your goals.
New Cosmos of Photography 2016
Deadline: June 15, 2016
All photographers can participate in the competition, regardless of nationality, age, gender and professional level.
Participation is free.
Grand Prize: One million yen.
Sponsor: Canon Inc.
Canon seeks original photographic work that pushes the boundaries of creative expression and genre, regardless of size, format (video accepted) or number of elements.
You can submit either a digital version of your work via the web or a physical copy by mail or courier.
Competition website here
Kandinsky Prize 2021
Deadline: June 20, 2016
Applications for the Kandinsky Prize, an independent Russian prize in the field of contemporary art, are now open. The Kandinsky Prize 2021 includes three categories:
1. “Project of the Year” - for artistic projects/works (award 1,800,000 rubles);
2. “Young artist. Project of the Year" - for artistic projects/works completed by authors under the age of 35 inclusive (award of 450,000 rubles);
3. “Scientific work. History and Theory of Contemporary Art" - for scientific works (monographs, dissertations, studies, articles) on the history and theory of Russian art of the second half of the 20th and 21st centuries (prize - publication of the work in Russian or English).
For a detailed description of the conditions of participation, see the official website.
Prank quest
If you want to promote your business, attract attention to it and at the same time not resort to the standard rules of “tag a friend, subscribe,” you can go the other way. For example, offer subscribers participation in a quest.
To do this, you will need to prepare several gift certificates in advance and hide them in different places in the city. Afterwards, all that remains is to open the start of the drawing and give participants tips on where they can find the hidden prize. A blogger can negotiate with a caffeine chain and hide the certificates with them. For a coffee shop, this will be a great way to attract real customers, and for a blogger, it will be an opportunity to earn money for helping to promote the network.
You can go the hard way and come up with a quest with a task. For example, participants will need to sign up for any procedure at a specified hairdressing salon, and during a personal conversation with the master, chat with him and get a tip where the treasured certificate is hidden. But this version of the draw can only work if there is a very loyal audience.
Invitation to visit
As one famous saying goes, “The forbidden fruit is sweet.” People are always interested in what happens on the other side of beautiful videos and photographs, and what is behind the production of products. This interest can be used in a competition. For example, offer followers to win an excursion, as was done in the KEAT Pub account @pivokeat_official.
Instagram competition from @pivokeat_official. The prize is an excursion to the KEAT plant.
Participants in the drawing were asked to write “I want to go on an excursion” in the comments, tag five friends, like the post and subscribe to the account. The winner and five friends they tagged received a free tour and product tasting at the pub's own brewery. This is a great example when friends who are tagged will definitely get involved in the game, because the victory will spread to them.
It is worth holding such a draw when we are talking about a truly interesting production. The prize can be adapted for other types of accounts. Here are just a few interesting ideas:
For bloggers:
- “For the winner, I will give the most unforgettable tour of my hometown”;
- “Drinking tea together right in my kitchen”;
- “Three winners will be able to join me in a photo hunt for the most beautiful locations in the city of N.”
For commerce:
- “The winner will receive a master class from the chef on how to prepare ours. The winner will become an assistant fitness trainer for the day”;
- “Win a chance to go with our buyer to purchase a new batch of goods”;
An excursion as a prize is also an excellent opportunity to show the winners themselves and their business from the best side.
Space Salim
Registration deadline: June 6, 2021.
Project submission deadline: June 17, 2016
Seoul authorities have announced an international architectural design competition to design a women's and family complex 'Space Salim', in the Dongjak-gu Daebang-dong 340-3 area and adjacent to the Dongjak-gu Daebang Station. The competition is part of a plan to develop the site of a former US Army base. The main winner will receive a contract, and 4 more projects will be awarded large cash prizes (from 10 to 40 million won).
In addition to the military base, the area for a long time housed a shelter for women in difficult situations - prostitutes, tramps, elderly or mentally damaged. This is a place where poverty, inequality, cruel women's destinies were concentrated, and which has fully experienced the pain of modern history. The idea is to transform a dead and dark space, which is avoided, into a new space - 'Space Salim', where they will heal, care for women, revive families. Here they will look for solutions to long-standing problems, including the breakdown of social ties, lack of relationships between family members, and low participation of women in the labor market. Such problems cannot be corrected in one step; interaction in different areas is necessary, influence on people’s hearts and creative ideas. That's why Seoul needs a new space, a platform for social change, where people can come together and work in groups. A meeting space, a space that shapes culture and creative community, promoting gender equality in the family and society.
Both local and international experts in the fields of architecture, landscape, and urban design can participate. Team participation is acceptable, but no more than 5 people.
After the competition helps determine the design project, construction is planned for 2017-2019.
Competition website here
Cheltenham Illustration Awards 2016
Deadline: June 1, 2021.
The Cheltenham Illustration Awards have always gravitated towards the narrative genre, what is called “storytelling” (the art of stories), in this case visual, from a single image or series, opening up space for the imagination.
Participation is free
This year's theme: Tales of Nonsense
The organizers comment on the choice of topic: “We sing nonsense rhymes to our children, we speak in riddles when we can't face the facts, and we hide our deepest mysteries in absurdity. Nonsense attempts to explain the inexplicable, it struggles in our minds with the logical and the sensible. Nonsense blows a raspberry at the pompous and the opinionated, it sustains us all when common-sense fails"
The competition is open to students, as well as new and existing illustrators.
The best works will be presented at an exhibition in Cheltenham (England, Wilson Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum) and published in a yearbook, which will be distributed among publishers and teachers.
Challenge "boom"
"Challenge" - translated from English means "challenge".
On the Internet, this is the name for videos in which a blogger performs some task, and then invites his subscribers to repeat this action. It turns out that the blogger poses a “challenge” to his audience.
Challenges are great at engaging the audience. Users try to write down a worthy response to the “challenge”, pass this kind of baton to their friends, and ideally the challenge catches the “hype”. This technique can also be used for holding a competition.
You can come up with some action, perform it, post it on your account and invite your subscribers to repeat it. Let's consider a version of such a challenge competition using the example of a restaurant account:
- The first step is to come up with an interesting action that will need to be repeated. This could be an unusual way of flipping pancakes, quickly cutting vegetables, preparing a complex dish in the shortest possible time, or beautifully decorating the dish.
- A restaurant chef performs this action on camera. The recorded video is posted on the profile.
The text might look like this:
Get your camera and knives ready! The chef (NN) of our network challenges you. You will have a chance to compete with a professional and show your abilities! To do this you need: a description of what is happening in the video. Post your video with the “Answer”, put the hashtag #(network name) watch how I can and pass the baton to three of your friends. Anyone whose video literally “blows up” the Internet and gets to the “TOP” using the hashtag will receive a certificate for 5,000 rubles, which can be spent in our restaurant. And the one who received the “like” prize from our culinary team will receive a “surprise” from the CHEF! We will announce the results of the competition exactly one week later at 20:00 Moscow time.
As a “surprise” you can present a set of kitchen knives. At the same time, after the results are announced, you must upload the winner’s video and the video that received the chef’s award to your profile.
AlterEgo ArtBattle Berlin
Deadline: June 15
The competition is open to students, architects and designers around the world. Participation is free and can take place either individually or in a team. The first place winner will receive a prize of 10,000 euros, second place 5,000 euros, third place 2,000 euros.
20 of the 271 apartments in the residential complex “The Mile!” in the center of Berlin at Chausseestrasse 37 will be decorated by participants in the AlterEgo ArtBattle competition. For the decoration of each of the apartments, the size of which is approximately 44 square meters, a budget of 12,500 euros will be allocated. The bathroom and kitchen will be equipped separately by the landlord.
Water 2021 with Juror Richard McCabe
Deadline: June 1, 2021.
The international competition accepts a variety of genres and styles of photography - photographs that capture water in all forms and aspects, including fog, oceans, snow, drought, and so on. Amateurs and professionals from any country can participate.
The competition is organized by The Center for Fine Art Photography, a non-profit organization of photographers founded in 2004. The center provides support to photographic artists through exhibitions, portfolio reviews, publications, educational events, and helps connect with the community of curators, gallery owners, and photography professionals.
The final exhibition will be held at the Center's Main Gallery in Fort Collins, Colorado. At the exhibition, your works will be seen by international curators, collectors, art consultants and fans of art photography.
The main prize is $400.00, in addition, the winners will receive promotion on the organizer’s social media, professional installation of works at the exhibition, placement of works in offline and online exhibitions with links to the artist’s website, mention in press releases sent to the media.
Participation is subject to registration fee.
Photos are accepted online, after registering on the organizer’s website here
For questions you can contact
