How to Run a Contest Through Your Website (In 5 Steps)
- Updated on: 2020-12-27
- Read original article here
Whether you’re an established company or just starting out, there are some common challenges every business needs to tackle. These include increasing brand awareness and finding new leads. Anything you can do to build your reputation and engage with your audience is worth it for long-term gains.
Finding the right methods to achieve these goals can be challenging. However, hosting contests through your website is one option that can encourage people to engage with your brand.
In this article, we’ll discuss why you might want to run a contest using your WordPress site. We’ll also discuss how to set one up, and introduce the various WordPress contest plugins that are available. Let’s get started!
There are a few reasons why running contests can be a smart decision for your business, including:
All in all, you have little to lose by giving contest marketing a try.
Although contests can be effective for promoting your brand, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution for executing them. The following are a few steps you’ll need to consider when laying down the foundation of your contest.
The first thing you’ll want to do when embarking on a contest is ensure that you have a measurable goal that fits into your overall marketing strategy. This will determine the kind of contest you set up and your general approach.
For instance, your goal might be to build your email list. Other examples may include increasing traffic to your website, gaining more paying customers, and so on.
You’ll also want to decide what you can afford to give away as a prize or if you might need a sponsor. While you generally do not need to offer expensive items, skills-based contests should provide rewards that are worth the time spent on the task required for entry.
Next, you’ll need to decide what type of contest you want to run. There are two main categories:
Note that if your goal is to attract an audience who is interested in your product or service, a sweepstakes might not be the best choice. Although the number of entrants for skills-based contests will likely be much lower, they’re more likely to include your target audience.
Next, it’s time to set up your contest. The easiest way to do so is with a dedicated plugin that can manage entries, opt-in participants to your email list, and even select your winners. Here several such tools to choose from:
These and other plugins and services can enable you to host and run contests easily.
You’ll want to keep your contest brief, and set its duration to between one week and one month so that your participants don’t lose interest. It’s also best to keep the entry process simple and fun.
Rules will need to be crystal clear so that it’s easy to understand how to win. For example, you might set restrictions limiting the number of entries per person, the resources that can be referenced while completing skills-based tasks, and so on.
Finally, you’ll want to promote your contest before and after its launch. For example, you can use blog posts to create anticipation among your users. You might also engage your followers pre-launch by asking what kinds of prizes they’d be interested in.
Additionally, you can do a broadcast through your email list after launch. If you have a larger budget, you might consider using social media ads for platforms such as Facebook or Twitter ads. However, these only tend to pay off if you’re offering a high-value prize.
Running contests through your website can be one of the most effective marketing strategies you employ. It can generate more interest and engagement around your brand, and enable you to build closer connections with existing customers.
To run a contest on your website, you’ll want to take these steps:
Do you have any questions about running a contest through your WordPress site? Share them with us in the comments section below!
