Have you ever hosted a Facebook contest? It’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to grow your audience and your brand.
In fact, a study done by shortstack.com found that 82.4% of Facebook contests helped corporations meet a specific goal. The most common goals:
- Increase fans/likes (44%)
- Increase loyalty (30%)
- Collect data (19%)
Whether you host a sweepstakes, photo contest, essay contest or video contest, Facebook can help you reach your brand’s goals. Plus, with 70% of American adults online with high-speed Internet and 1.19 billion active Facebook users, they have the audience you need.
Here are three of the best corporate Facebook contests and why they were so successful:
Papa’s Specialty Pizza Contest
In 2010, Papa John’s Pizza hosted a recipe contest. Facebook fans got creative and submitted a new specialty pizza recipe. The chef with the winning pizza would not only see it on the Papa John’s menu for a year; they’d also get up to $10,000, free pizza from Papa John’s for life and an appearance in a Papa John’s commercial.
The winning recipe: The Cheesy Chicken Cordon Bleu, which represented 45% of the more than 240,000 specialty pizzas sold the first month following the contest.
The pizza Facebook page received more than 12,000 recipe entries. Those entries were then narrowed down to three finalists. According to a Papa John’s press release, “each finalist was given a $1,000 marketing budget to promote their pizza. Hyman [the winner] spent her dough on local promotions and a Facebook page.”
What worked?
- The contest created a PR frenzy for Papa John’s, as it received lots of media attention.
- Users had to “like” the page in order to see the contest, significantly increasing the number of Facebook fans.
- The contest was an inexpensive way to create buzz around a new Papa John’s product.
The Great Eggo® Waffle-Off
Earlier this year, Eggo Waffles held a similar recipe contest, titled Kellogg’s Great Eggo Waffle-Off. Participants had a chance to win $5,000, $2,500 or a year’s supply of waffles.
Recipes were submitted with an Eggo waffle as the main ingredient and a picture of the dish. Weekly winners were chosen based on originality, taste appeal and visual appeal and the grand-prize winner was chosen by the public.
What worked?
- People were engaged with the contest for a long period of time – the voting process lasted more than three months.
- Eggo Facebook page received many impressions every time a recipe photo was submitted and when a vote was cast.
- An Eggo waffle recipe website was created, encouraging consumers to get creative (and purchase more products).
Ikea Facebook Showroom
This furniture company held a contest that had never been done before: a photo tagging contest. On its Facebook page, Ikea would share pictures weekly from its showroom. Whoever first tagged themselves on a product in the photo, won it.
By the end of the contest, thousands of people had tagged themselves in one of these Ikea pictures. Ikea showrooms then showed up on others’ profile pages and news feed – not as an ad, but as someone’s tagged photo. Ikea used what Facebook already had to offer – tagging abilities – to increase interest in their company and new products.
What worked?
- It was simple for Facebook users – no application was required and users already knew how to tag a photo.
- Because you had to be the first to tag in order to win, it required fans to regularly check the Ikea Facebook page.
- It gave an exclusive offer to fans – the primary reason someone likes a brand on Facebook,