We’ve been saying for a while now that user-generated Contests and Sweepstakes are always reliable ways to engage your audience, drive lead generation, and curate relevant content for the brand while you’re at it. Nothing’s changed there, but if you’re looking to add a little variety to your promotional landscape and keep things interesting for your users, here are 3 promotion ideas to engage your audience.

1. #Hashtag Promotions

Hashtag campaigns let your community enter a contest or sweepstakes through their Instagram and Twitter accounts as well as directly from a Facebook page or Website. They are a great way to engage your audience, spread your promotion virally, allow users to participate from the platform they are most comfortable with, all while still creating a centralized hub to display the content. This contest from We Heart Local is a great example of how these kinds of promotions make it easy to enter from a variety of platforms, maximizing reach and engagement:

2. Voting App

Another great way to engage your audience is with Votigo’s Voting App. Voting Apps are a great way to invite your users into the conversation for your brand, without asking too much of them from a content creation standpoint.

Here are some thought-starters for how to bring them to life:

• Have your users vote on the name of something new that you’re introducing to the market.
• Invite people to vote for their favorite photo from among a brand selection for a chance to win a prize.
• Or, showcase your philanthropic side by asking people to vote for which charity should receive donations on your behalf, like Jewelers Mutual is doing right now in the example above.

Incentivize voter participation by offering a prize, add a leaderboard or include share functionality, and you’ll really see a spike in viral engagement!

3. Viral Sweepstakes

Viral sweepstakes offer the lowest barrier to entry and the highest number of potential entries.  These two factors combined make this a great promotion type to use if you want to engage your audience. When you add on the ability to reward referral behavior, participants then have a reason to share your branded promo with their social networks! Every entry they refer automatically gains them an additional entry.  The result? Cross channel fan engagement, new fan lead generation, and a whole lot of viral buzz. Check out this example from Fine Woodworking to see how it works:

Want to learn more about our products and services, or brainstorm with a member of our team on your next promotion? Click here to schedule a live demo with an Account Representative.