How to make an unusual competition on VKontakte: 56 real examples

Many companies don’t bother and launch competitions on the principle that the simpler the better. The simplest are repost competitions: if you repost, you take part in the drawing.

Admins can be understood: complex competitions with too many conditions scare away subscribers. Well, you have to do something, try. It’s much easier to repost and wait for the coveted prize.

At the same time, I’m tired of the same competitions: I want to come up with something new and interesting for subscribers. Apparently, you need to look for a middle ground so that it is interesting, creative, and not too difficult. I found 56 examples of great competitions for you to get inspired by. Their creators came up with some really interesting ideas. Take it into service!

VKontakte competitions: how to get the desired results and not get banned

Photo competitions

The most popular direction after reposts. They are convenient because photos can be taken on any topic. It’s great when a photo or video competition is related to the theme of the group or to current events - for example, holidays. But if the idea itself is interesting, this is not necessary.

How hashtags work on different social networks

A separate layer is a competition for the best selfie, which can be taken anywhere: in a store, cafe, gym. Selfie contests with a product of a certain brand are popular.

Social Media Contests – Top 50 Best Ideas and Mechanics

Repost or put a hashtag

To repost a post on the VKontakte social network, you need to click on the “Share” arrow next to the post, and then select where you want to repost. On Facebook you can repost via “Share”. For a very long time, Instagram was deprived of such a function, but recently developers gave users this opportunity.

However, we note that you can only repost on Instagram if the publication is open and the reposts themselves are allowed by the account owner. The social network currently supports several types of reposts:

• Stories in Stories – repost someone else’s Story to themselves in Stories.
• Your own Stories in a post - duplicating your photos (videos) from stories into your main feed.
• Post in Stories - adding someone else’s post to your Stories.

Currently, it is not yet possible to repost in the “post-to-post” format using the internal functionality. But these types of reposts can be done if you know some tricks, or by installing special programs, there are paid and free, simple and multifunctional.

The “Repost” contest is the most popular and simple, but it is worth noting that it is not the most effective, even though with the introduction of the smart feed, the engagement indicators for such contests should seemingly push them to the Top.

• Who is the competition suitable for: communities for which the quality of the entered audience does not matter.
• Pros: the ability to work without a budget (we do not take into account the prize).
• Cons: low involvement of the target audience (TA), lack of “freshness” in the mechanics.

• It works if the group has at least some subscriber activity.

When used skillfully, hashtags are a great help in promotion. Users use hashtags to search for the posts they need, because you can’t move through the mountains of content on social networks, and hashtags help you find only what is useful and important.

Hashtags are useful when holding competitions on social networks: Instagram, VKontakte, Facebook, Twitter. They are actively used by marketers and SMM specialists; zhashtags help solve 3 problems:

1. increase coverage - the publication will be seen by both your subscribers and people who specifically search for posts using a specific hashtag.
2. organize information: hashtags are like beacons in a sea of ​​content that immediately tell you what this publication is about.
3. coordinate people: in various online flash mobs and marathons, participants mark their posts with a special hashtag, so the posts will not get lost among thousands of others.

The more specific the hashtag, the smaller the reach, but the warmer the audience. Hashtags are the basis of promotion on Instagram. In many commercial accounts, they take up up to 90% of the description of each post. Online stores especially use a lot of tags.

The competition is huge, posts quickly drop down in the subscribers' feed - the more tags, the more potential buyers will see the post. The maximum number of hashtags is 30. You can fit more, but then the entry will be excluded from the hashtag search.

To select tags for posting, use these services: Websta.me - here you can select “top” and thematic hashtags; Instatag.ru is a whole warehouse of tags in English and Russian on a variety of topics. Among the effective Instagram tags are those that are tied to places and geographic objects.

Flash mobs and competitions are constantly held on Instagram: participants post some thematic photos or videos and sign them with a special hashtag. If you have a lot of active audience, organize competitions. Read Instagram's hashtag tips for a detailed and helpful guide. The page is in English, but you can use a technical translation.

Facebook, VKontakte and Twitter - in these social networks, hashtags are not so important for promotion, but they still work. Facebook doesn't like piles of hashtags in posts. Here text posts rank well, and a large number of tags reduce the readability of the text and irritate users. The optimal number of tags is 1-3.

With VK too - no more than 3 hashtags in one post, but you can cheat a little: attach a picture or video to the post, and add another 5-7 hashtags to them in the description. Use hashtags on trending topics. In VK, the most current tags are in the “Search” tab of the “News” section.

On Twitter, 1-2 hashtags are enough, because the length of the entry is limited - a maximum of 140 characters. But posts with hashtags are retweeted more often.

Repost or put a hashtag - one-day competition

• A good option for “revitalizing” subscribers.

Post a photo and tag your profile

Currently, such competitions are very popular - post a photo in stories and tag your profile. After a subscriber tags your account, you receive a notification via direct message. You immediately need to send the participant his serial number in a personal message, you can also do this live.

Using a random number generator, the winning number is determined. If the drawing is carried out live, then it is advisable to capture the screen of your phone on another gadget.

• Plus: the participant’s subscribers will know about your competition.
• Disadvantage: the post will disappear after 24 hours, or the participant will post the post and immediately delete it.

• The “light” option is to tag you in any of your photos: the participant takes any photo or selfie and tags your account: a subscriber number is assigned and a winner is selected randomly.

Tag the number of friends under the post

Encourage you to tag your friends in the comments. Tags from friends under a post will increase your reach, including through unique visitors visiting your profile.

• Plus: audience coverage will increase due to unique visitors.
• Disadvantage: energy-consuming for participants who do not often show such activity.

Ask friends to vote

You can organize such a competition on all your social networks: VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Moi Mir, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and others: write it, design it beautifully, provide links and ask your subscribers to invite all their friends, acquaintances, and relatives to vote.

Many participants ask friends to vote or like. Someone may have access to public pages with a large audience, which they will not fail to use for personal purposes. This way you can perfectly promote your product.

• The competition mechanics can be effective, but they should not be abused.

Invite friends to the group

Each subscriber asks a friend to join the group. When a participant clicks the "Invite Friends" button, a window with a list of friends opens. To invite group subscribers (all, not just those who are friends), you need to click on the button at the bottom of the window.

Alas, the VKontakte website does not have a special tool to invite all event participants to your group at the end of the competition. Therefore, be sure to make a publication with an offer to join the community in order to always be aware of the new products in your store (salon).

• Plus: the number of subscribers will definitely increase.
• Minus: there will be difficulties with calculations.

leave a comment

The comment competition is one of the most popular, but not the most effective. The mechanics are simple: you need to ask to write a comment, or several, under the post, be sure to set the main prize, or even several.

It is important that the prize is desired by subscribers. Otherwise they won't want to write anything. Due to the same laziness of our age, but in pursuit of prizes, many will leave a smiley face or several symbols.

You can stipulate in the conditions that you can leave meaningful comments. You can choose a winner randomly, not based on the number of comments left.

There are also competitions when subscribers are asked to leave at least one word, even an emoticon, in the comments, or vice versa, to write a mini-story on a topic you have specified. Choose a winner: randomly, or based on the most interesting comment.

Leave feedback

Nowadays, comments on social networks are worth their weight in gold. Competitions for activity in comments affect engagement in a group or page. Motivate your subscribers to leave reviews: announce a competition for the best review in the comments to the post.

The competition will work better if recent buyers are notified that they can leave reviews on the page and also receive prizes for their purchases. Options also work well when the competition smoothly flows into a win-win lottery. For example, a comment telling a story about a product will be counted and awarded with a discount on a future purchase. Choose the best option, depending on your goals.

• The subscriber with the most creative review wins. Determined by the jury, or by likes.

Predict the result (predict, tell fortunes)

This is a kind of fortune-telling contest: invite your subscribers to tell their fortunes by randomly selecting one of the answer options. The competition can include not only fortune telling, but also the choice of an unusual task to complete. In this case, the winner may be the one who guessed correctly and completed the task.

• It’s a kind of sweepstakes and, if the competition is carried out carefully, it can turn out both interesting and not bad.

Subscribe to profile

It's simple: the user subscribes to you and gets a chance to win a prize. The easiest way to promote and an easy competition for users. But it has its pitfalls. A subscriber who subscribed to you from a competition in most cases does not look at your profile, although the latter may be very interesting.

This is due to the fact that there can be more than a hundred sponsors, and he, roughly speaking, will simply be too lazy to look at them. He is only interested in drawing the promised gifts. And the subscriber who came from targeting will come in, take an interest and subscribe, and will be constant and stable in the activity of your profile.

• Hence the conclusion that, having spent a lot of money on sponsorship in a competition, it is better to spend money on targeting. A warm audience will come to you.
• With the help of such simple mechanics and promotion of the competition, it is possible to attract over 200 participants within 2 weeks (account of 10,000 subscribers).

Take a photo of the product (service)

Everyone needs to take a photo of everything they liked about your store. Ask participants to post photos that include your product or logo. This will increase brand awareness and loyalty.

You can also ask to take a selfie with your products. These photos will bring your brand to life: potential buyers will see that people love and buy your products.

• The winner can be chosen randomly or based on the number of likes on the photo. Don't forget to come up with a hashtag for the competition.

Take a photo while traveling

• The subscriber needs to take a photo or selfie of the product outside of Russia, if you have any.

Take a photo quest

You need to find the goods on the city streets. If you believe that people are lazy and have no time for such activity, then you are deeply mistaken. The competition arouses keen interest. The task could be much simpler:

Dear friends! We invite you to take part in an exciting and socially useful PhotoQuest, which will be held as part of the “Feelings in Pixels” photo competition! The photo quest will be held from 13.02 to 20.02. Participants in the photo quest are invited to take three photos on topics that will be sent by e-mail. To register you must follow the link. Participation in the photo quest is FREE. An amateur photographer can take part in the photo quest... The work is assessed by a jury from the organizers. The winners will receive prizes!)

Hurry up to take part.

14. Take a photo (selfie) - in a store (with a product)
Photo competitions are the most popular trend after reposts. They are convenient because photos can be taken while visiting your store. It’s great when a photo or video competition is related to the brand’s theme. Participants need to take a photo from a service salon or store with a note, signature, and hashtag.

The big feature is a competition for the best selfie, which can be taken in a store, cafe, gym, or salon. Selfie contests with a product of a certain brand work great.

Take a photo to show how much you love the brand

Photos of animals are always a win-win option, and if the competition is tied to the brand’s theme, it will be wonderful! It is better to accompany such photos with reviews. Attracts many users.

Take a photo (selfie) of presence-feedback

You need to take a photo at the opening and presentation of a new collection, new product and other events. You will receive customer loyalty, new subscribers and feedback, plus good photos. Participants share tips on using your products on social networks. This is a fun and easy way to teach your audience how to use your product and create conversations on social media. Choose a winner randomly or by voting.

Photo contests are simply made for social networks. There are a lot of photo competitions now, this has never happened in the history of photography - international and national competitions, competitions of creative unions and sports societies, annual and monthly competitions, documentary, wedding, family photography, not to mention portrait and architectural competitions.

A photography competition is an interesting option for a raffle, because photographic material always comes first and attracts more attention. Users love to take photos and selfies everywhere. Therefore, competitions with photographs are very popular and, if carried out skillfully, will bring the desired result.

Take a photo according to the plot

Participants need to take photos according to the organizer’s instructions for certain subjects. They can be arranged frequently for subscribers. It is advisable to come up with tasks even with humor, for example, take a photo of a man’s yellow shoe, etc. Or ask to take photos on any fun topic.

Take a simple photo

You just need to take a photo of a pet, office, landscape from a window, etc. If your products are somehow related to pets, be sure to launch a contest in which owners share photos of their pets. They will happily post photos on social networks and encourage friends to share and like them. Well, you can learn more about your clients and their animals.

Send your photo

Suitable for salons, firms and companies providing services - for photographers, stylists, hairdressers, beauty artists, etc. At stake is the winning of the service: the winner is selected based on a certain type.

Make a video

Videos are more time consuming for the subscriber, so the prize should not be cheap. Ask participants to make a short video of themselves using your products, why they love your brand and why they should win. These videos during and after the competition can be used as social proof.

Write a story, slogan, poem

Creative competitions are more difficult to implement. In addition to growing subscribers, they work great for engagement, which, in turn, affects reach and sales. Popular competitions include writing a poem or coming up with a slogan, taking part in a quiz, or telling a story. In the creative competition, the author of the most interesting and catchy work is awarded.

Many users like to fantasize and write poetry. Take advantage of this love of creativity and make it the basis of the competition. The winning jingle or slogan can then be used in an advertising campaign.

Write a story about yourself

• Subscribers will be able to surprise – the most creative story wins.

Draw a product

You need to depict a product or make a comic. Invite participants to draw your product or a picture on a topic related to your store. Have a vote for the best drawing.

Make it, do it yourself

• You need to make or do something with your own hands in the theme of your company. You can also time it to coincide with a holiday or season, for example, a birdhouse, Santa Claus’s staff, etc.

Guess

Today there are a lot of riddles, puzzles, and charades on the Internet. But it increases interest, like find a couple of differences. You can give all participants one problem that needs to be solved. The winner will be the one who gives the correct answer first. This could also be a series of questions about a product or company. If there are several people who answered correctly, it is worth thinking about the final stage.

Users need to guess what is shown in the photo or how much of something is shown. There are examples when users are asked to guess how many candies are in a jar, count how many packs of tea are “hidden” in a photo, or even guess when the first snow will fall.

Answer the question

The questions are tied to your company, but also with interesting implications.

Contests in which users were asked to answer a question about the goodies shown in the photo were very popular. Those who answer the question correctly are given these goodies as prizes, which provides incentives.

Take part in a regular competition with a product

• The client buys a product, for example, a mug, then brews coffee in it and takes a photo with the comment - look, how lovely, or buys cosmetics and writes, look how I put on makeup from the company's cosmetics - and how lovely I am.

Take part in an unusual competition with a product

• The task is asked: how can you use this product in an unusual way? The most inventive one gets a prize.

Take the quiz

Keep in mind that everyone loves games, including adults. The quiz involves an intellectual load, and thinking with your head is both useful and interesting.

Come up with a signature or name

The winner is the author who came up with the coolest inscription or name that can be added to the status. Don't forget about a decent additional financial reward for the author.

One of the effective and exciting ways to attract the attention of users of social networks is this competition - as the name implies, in order to take part in it, you need to come up with a name, or a slogan, or even a mini advertisement, etc. for the published photo.

And “Trend We Love,” for example, asked subscribers to create titles for a series of photo trends that they posted on the page every week.

Participate in a competition for the holiday

For a holiday, for example, the New Year, each subscriber needs to try on the role of some New Year's character, even Santa Claus, etc.

Online competitions are an ideal marketing strategy for any fashion company. When planning your targeting, remember that on the eve of the holidays it is better to contact the significant other and family members of your target audience. After all, they are the ones who will make the purchase. The most popular occasions: New Year, Valentine's Day and March 8th.

Take part in a speed competition

• For example, you need to be the first to comment on a post, and he will receive some small prize. You can do this regularly so that your subscribers get into the habit of coming to you.

Finish the sentence

This is a competition for creativity. Happy endings are welcome. An interesting and productive competition, to participate in which you need to leave a comment. To celebrate Daughter's Day, Future Generali is asking users to complete the phrase "Daughter is unique because _______" and is offering a prize for the best answer.

Find the code word (phrase)

• You can hide a code word in a post. Let subscribers search both on the website and in newsletters. This game is worth the candle.

Fill out the form

Each subscriber receives a prize for filling out the questionnaire - everyone wins: including you, receiving useful information about followers for the development of the company. Online shoppers are the best target market for contests. They are familiar with new technologies, actively use computers and social networks, and willingly share information about competitions with their friends. Use this advantage, learn more about them, this will help in promotion.

Be the most active

Give out prizes for any activity: encourage likes, reposts, comments.

Take part in cosplay

• The same thing as participating in a holiday - you need to try yourself in the role of a hero, only without any reason. It is important for every subscriber to cosplay their favorite character.

Give out lifehacks

Subscribers are offered to give out tips and life hacks about the brand left and right, and you hand out “carrots” to active and creative people.

Come up with a new type of product (service)

• A very original competition and, by the way, gaining momentum. Subscribers are invited to create a design for a clutch, or even a string bag, or come up with an unusual service, for example, painting a mustache a la school ink for Halloween.

Compose and receive a gift

• The organizer will hide the object behind the picture, and subscribers are asked to guess what it is. Only the object must be predictable and recognizable; there is a hint in the picture. Or like in this competition presented below. Ask participants to come up with something funny and funny to go with your photo, which, of course, should include your products or store. The winner is the one whose signature you like the most.

Reply how well they know

• It is important that you are known, at least a little, by both the company and the products (services). Subscribers need to answer questions about you, individual entrepreneurs, etc.

Pay off

Prepare your “gingerbread” and play with subscribers, for example, the 1st, 10th, 150th will receive a prize, or every 5th.

Come to the competition offline

• Announcing online is a great way to promote. Therefore, you can combine online and offline events, and hold a competition on both platforms.

Become part of the company

This way you can find an employee for your team, for example, a copywriter, freelancer, poet or volunteer for a project. The competition even allows candidates to be interviewed. Then, the best story from your own experience about living and working, for example, in a brand hotel, will become a new competition, the mechanics of which will increase activity and attract new loyal subscribers who are interested in your work.

Prove that you are worthy of the prize

It is important not to limit the imagination of subscribers, let them talk and take pictures. The main thing is to connect competitions with the brand’s theme, but so that everyone is interested, and think over original and valuable prizes, ones that are relevant and necessary.

Participate in a marathon

The main thing is to come up with an interesting, “long-lasting” task, for example, subscribers are asked to post daily photos in brand clothes or with a service.

The essence of a marathon is completing tasks designed for a certain period of time. The goal of the participants is to overcome the distance. The success of brand promotion depends on a combination of different methods, such as mass following, barter advertising, targeted advertising, marathon competitions and other competitions.

When developing accounts on social networks and if you strive for loyalty, then do not neglect marathons: first of all, they are very popular now; then you get closer to your audience - potential clients, and finally, in the marathon you are “in the same boat” together.

Show how many products

A subscriber who has bought a lot of products gets a chance, like a prize, to get something else from your store. In general, organize competitions with several mechanics: marathons, photo-video competitions, questions and answers, etc. Conduct surveys among subscribers: which prizes from your products are the most desirable.

Bring a friend

The mechanics are simple, but work brilliantly, as in the familiar saying.

Buy a product and become a participant in the promotion

If sales do not continue, the best option is to “revive” customers.

Gain subscribers

• The subscribers themselves need to gain subscribers in their accounts. The one who succeeds in this - collects more than others - is the winner and receives a prize.

Video competitions

In principle, they are no different from photo competitions, except that the possibilities of the video format are wider.

200 students became winners of the All-Russian competition “Your Move”

The names of 200 winners of the first All-Russian competition “Your Move” of the presidential platform “Russia - the Land of Opportunities” have been announced. They won cash prizes in the amount of 1 million rubles, which can be used for training, launching a startup, or improving their living conditions. In addition, all winners will travel around Russia: they will be able to take unique educational tours to the North Caucasus, Sakhalin, Kamchatka, the Urals and other regions of the country.

The award ceremony took place in the Sirius Science and Arts Park. It was attended by First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko, General Director of the ANO "Russia - Land of Opportunities" Alexey Komissarov, Head of the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs Ksenia Razuvaeva, Deputy Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation Grigory Gurov, Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Boris Chernyshov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Youth Policy Artem Metelev.

“You are all winners because you were not afraid to apply for the competition, test yourself, and you succeeded. 200 winners will receive a guaranteed million to complete master's programs at any Russian university, and if they enter a budget department, they will spend it on additional education, internships, scientific work, or as an investment in their business. But all finalists and winners also receive trips as part of the “More Than a Travel” program. Many of you participated in the development of these tours, and everyone will have the opportunity to go on one of these trips and see our beautiful country. And this is not only an acquaintance with amazing nature or beautiful places, but also meeting with students like you. This is a unique opportunity that gives you a sense of the amazing country in which we live, and opens up new opportunities for each of you,” said First Deputy Head of the Russian Presidential Administration Sergei Kiriyenko.

Sergei Kiriyenko noted that for the “Your Khod” community a session will be organized at the summer youth forum “Territory of Meanings”, which is held annually at the site of the Senezh Management Workshop, as well as a separate “Your Khod” camp at the large festival “Tavrida-ART” . Also, starting next year, an annual large All-Russian student forum will be held. The first one is planned to be held within a week in September 2022 in Kazan.

“Nothing is impossible, everything is in your hands. And as our president has said more than once: “Russia is truly a country of opportunity for every talented person.” You are incredibly talented! These are your opportunities!” said Sergei Kiriyenko, addressing the participants.

The 50 universities that sent the largest number of participants to the final of the “Your Move” competition will be awarded grants in the amount of 2.5 million rubles, which can be used for the development of universities.

“Dear competitors, you have already come a long way and achieved a lot. Just think about it, at the very beginning of the competition, at the registration stage, there were more than 560 thousand of you. Only 1 thousand students made it to the finals, and 200 people became winners. That is, the competition was crazy, this does not happen even among applicants from leading universities in the world. At the finals, I met many guys who were winners, finalists, and participants in other projects of the “Russia – Land of Opportunities” platform. Just 3.5 years ago, the President of Russia decided to create our platform so that everyone could realize their potential. And today there are participants in the “Masters of Hospitality”, “Digital Breakthrough” competitions, the “I am a Professional” Olympiad, the “Manage!” Cup. and many other projects. Not only have you already achieved a lot yourself, you are giving opportunities to those around you. And thank you very much for this!” said Alexey Komissarov, General Director of the ANO “Russia - Land of Opportunities”.

Many active participants in the “Your Move” competition received special prizes and invitations to internships at the largest companies in Russia, including MMC Norilsk Nickel, Rosatom State Corporation, Russian Railways OJSC, and the Russian technology company VK.

The final of the All-Russian student competition “Your Move” was held from November 27 to 29, 2021 in the Sirius Park of Culture and Science. 1 thousand students from 76 regions of the country took part in it. At the finals, they were designing a university of the future, responding to mega-challenges - strategically important tasks for modern youth and Russian universities.

The All-Russian student competition “Your Move” was held for the first time. It was organized by the ANO "Russia - the Land of Opportunities", the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Rosmolodezh) and the National League of Student Clubs with the support of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia.

In total, more than 560 thousand students of higher education institutions from all over the country submitted applications for participation in the first All-Russian competition “Your Move”.

Riddles, tasks, answers to questions

We also shouldn’t forget about entertainment content. Guessing competitions are very popular now, where subscribers are required to have creativity, intelligence and a sense of humor. Quizzes, answers to questions, even tests specially created for the competition - there are many options.

Guide to GIFs: where to look, how to create and how to use on social networks

Features of Twitter competitions

Most of the above ideas will work just as well on Twitter, but there are still options that resonate best on this network, where speed, newness are important and hashtags rule everything. These are competitions for the fastest correct answer, as well as creative competitions for tweets with a given hashtag (for example, tweets about why users love your product plus a topical hashtag).

At the end of any competition, not only congratulate the winners, but also praise all participants, then they will take part in your subsequent activities with great pleasure.

Good luck!

Original

True story, story, poetry

These are creative competitions in which you don’t just have to guess or take a photo, but write a really catchy story or poem. It is clear that the winners will most likely be people who are good at writing, but others will also try, and the number of subscribers in the group will increase.

Facebook Contest Ideas

Due to recent changes to Facebook's algorithm, contests that include comments will have the most reach. But this does not mean that your competition cannot be based only on likes. Follow your audience, give them what they are waiting for, and any activity you do will be gratefully received.

Ask a question

This is one of the simplest competitions there can be. Ask an open-ended question (that is, one that cannot be answered simply with a yes/no answer, but requires you to express your opinion) and choose the best answer. You can talk about how people use your product in unusual ways, ask for a recipe, or come up with a name for something. This will provide you with a flood of comments and boost your publication.

Arrange a vote with likes and emoticons

Ask your followers which is better: This or That - and ask them to vote accordingly. Almost everyone willingly takes part in such voting, because it is not difficult, does not require much time and is simply fun. You can choose, for example, the most active participant in such voting during the week as the winner, or choose randomly through random.org and similar services.

PS Just the other day, Facebook announced that it would mercilessly ban people for such votes. So far there have been no precedents, but everything can be expected from Zuckerberg.

Quiz

The spirit of competition is present in each of us, so feel free to arrange small quizzes and friendly competitions. This could be an enlarged image of something that you need to guess, or two almost identical photographs to find a certain number of differences between them, etc.

Make sure that the question you ask is not too difficult and at the same time not too simple - it’s not cool when almost the first subscriber to your page immediately solves the puzzle and spoils the fun for everyone else!

Give the prize to the first person to give the correct answer, or draw it among everyone who gives the correct answers.

Like and comment

One of the most banal, but nevertheless the most popular types of competitions on Facebook - you ask to like and comment on your post (plus you can specify that you must be a subscriber to your page). At the end of the competition, you randomly select several winners who completed the specified actions.

Here, many organizers often walk on a knife’s edge when they ask to repost a message about a competition, because this is contrary to Facebook rules. Better ask to tag a friend in the comment. This will start word of mouth and may even make your post go viral, especially if the prize is attractive and desirable to the winners. Such referral promotions work very well, increasing the number of followers of accounts on both Facebook and Twitter or Instagram.

Crowdsourcing (ideas and advice)

People love to feel important and needed, so subscribers are always very inspired by requests to share their thoughts, opinions and ideas. You can ask what they think about your new logo, or ask what they want to read about in your next post. Let them share their thoughts on a particular topic, and then you choose one or two winners. Such competitions are ideally held on Facebook and Instagram.

Write a short story-essay

Here it must be said right away that this competition is not for everyone. It’s unlikely that followers of an online cosmetics store’s page will write essays, but for the book club audience, the competition is just the thing! For convenience, in the post about the competition, you can indicate the landing page where you can send you an email with an essay.

Review competitions

A brilliant idea in its simplicity - to motivate subscribers to write reviews of brand products. This kills several birds with one stone: the number of subscribers grows, knowledge about the brand’s target audience is formed, plus reviews themselves are collected - also a marketing tool.

How companies respond to reviews: 44 real examples

Content

• 1 Purposes of competitions on social networks
• 2 50 mechanics for holding competitions on social networks 2.1 1. Repost or put a hashtag
• 2.2 2. Repost or put a hashtag - one-day competition
• 2.3 3. Tag us in any photo of yours
• 2.4 4. Tag N number of friends under the post
• 2.5 5. Get your friends to vote for you
• 2.6 6. Invite friends to the group
• 2.7 7. Leave a comment
• 2.8 8. Leave a review
• 2.9 9. Predict the result
• 3 10. Subscribe to profile
• 3.1 11. Take a photo of the product
• 3.2 12. Photo-journey of the product
• 3.3 13. Photo hunt
• 3.4 14. Photo - you are visiting the company
• 3.5 15. Photo - how much do you love our store?
• 3.6 16. Photo + review: were you with us? Holding a competition after the event
• 3.7 17. Take photographs of certain scenes every day as instructed by the organizer
• 3.8 18. Just a photo
• 3.9 19. Send your photo
• 4 20. Make a video
• 4.1 21. Write a poem or story about the company
• 4.2 22. Write a story about yourself
• 4.3 23. Draw the product
• 4.4 24. Make it
• 4.5 25. Guess the riddle
• 4.6 26. Answer the question
• 4.7 27. Standard manipulations with the company’s goods
• 4.8 28. Non-standard manipulations with the company’s goods
• 4.9 29. Take the quiz
• 5 30. Come up with a signature or slogan
• 5.1 31. Participate in a competition for the holiday
• 5.2 32. Be the first: speed competition
• 5.3 33. Finish the phrase
• 5.4 34. Find the code word
• 5.5 35. Fill out the form
• 5.6 36. Be the most active
• 5.7 37. Participate in cosplay
• 5.8 38. Give advice, life hack
• 5.9 39. Come up with a new type of product or service
• 6 40. Guess
• 6.1 41. Answer: how well do you know us?
• 6.2 42. Let's calculate
• 6.3 43. Come to the event: offline competition
• 6.4 44. Become part of the company team
• 6.5 45. Prove why you deserve this prize
• 6.6 46. Participate in a task marathon
• 6.7 47. Show how many products you already have from our store
• 6.8 48. Bring a boyfriend
• 6.9 49. Buy a product and automatically become a participant in the promotion
• 7 50. Gain subscribers in your account, if there are a lot of them, you win

Commentator Activity Contest

Sometimes commentators are incentivized so that activity in the group increases and people feel the impact of their comments. The most active ones are rewarded with prizes or other goodies.

life hacks

Coming up with a cool idea on how to run a competition on VK is not enough. It is important to take into account a few more points that will help increase the effectiveness of the draw, so below I have collected for you the main life hacks for conducting it:

- Requirements

First, read the requirements from the administration of the social network. This will save your competition and the community from a sudden ban for non-compliance with the general rules.

- Conditions

Clearly and in detail describe the conditions of participation, indicate the prizes and the dates of the drawing. This can be done in community discussions, a separate post, or a wiki page. This will ensure your safety in case of complaints from participants.

- Decor

Take care of the design of the competition post. Write a catchy headline and selling text. Half of the result depends on how vividly you described the audience’s benefits from participation.

– Announcements

Post reminders about the competition in the group and the drawing of cool prizes after publication. This will increase the likelihood that the competition will be noticed by more of your subscribers.

– Secured

Pin the competition post on the community wall for the duration of the draw. This way, not a single random guest of the group will pass by.

– Promotion

Use paid methods to promote your competition post, such as targeted advertising. This will help increase reach and engagement.

– Comments

Monitor the comments under the giveaway regularly. There may appear both organizational issues and negative statements from distrustful users or haters. Try to resolve all emerging issues in a timely manner.

– Winner

Show your subscribers how you chose the winner so that they can be confident in the integrity of the result. For example, publish a video showing how you randomly selected the lucky winner.

– Results

Publish a separate post with the results of the drawing, tag the winners, and tell them how they can receive their prize. This technique has a positive effect on audience loyalty, because people will be convinced that the competition was really real.

The most interesting

For last, I left the most unusual competitions that I came across on VKontakte. Some of them can be safely called unique - I don’t think anyone else will make old wallpapers the theme of the competition. And the last two made me just laugh out loud. Whoever came up with this, dude, know you're cool!

We are engaged in SMM. We work for results according to clearly defined KPIs. More details

TOP 10 services for competitions

We’ve sorted out the ideas, now I’ll share the services with which you can automate your competition. A special bot of the service will perform actions, communicate with participants and monitor its progress. Their operating principle is similar, so for your competition, choose which one you like best.

By the way, how to work in such programs was written in a separate article, so after reading this, go there too.

In the following selection you will find tools where competitions are one of the functions, and in addition they allow you to parse the audience for it and determine a random winner using a generator:

• Parsers : Pepper Ninja (“INSCALE2021” +30 days of the same tariff), Segmento Target (“INSCALE” + 30 days of the same tariff);
• Randomizers : Randomizer, RandStuff, RandomPromo.