Social platforms are just a door from the brand to the client when it comes to business. Many companies make the faulty assumption that once you create a professional profile, all your other social strategies will follow. However, these platforms are not favoring any party, and all the success must be the responsibility of the owners of the profile.

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Twitter is one of the most successful social websites, where the essence of every message is captured in fewer than 140 characters. The character limit itself conducts a fair trial when it comes to messaging awareness. The brands that have nothing meaningful to say are sorted out from the ones who have a clear message. So, the use of Twitter can greatly improve your brand awareness.

However, if used without the proper strategy, Twitter can disclose your weaknesses. It’s frighteningly easy to step into some of these common pitfalls in your attempt to promote your business on the social platform.

FIVE COMMON PITFALLS OF PROMOTING YOUR BUSINESS ON TWITTER

1. PRODUCT, PRODUCT, PRODUCT

Twitter will display the history of your posts, and it will be ruthless when it happens to see an overuse of promotional content. The platform itself doesn’t have rules about the number of selling-heavy posts, but with just a one-second glimpse of a brand’s profile, a prospective client can feel the brand is not interested in a relationship with them, so they will be less inclined to stay on the page and engage with the brand.

People have no reason to follow a brand on social media unless they are given one. Here, everybody communicates with the world about the meaningful events in their life or cultural events they’re interested in. If they want products, they will go to the online marketplace, which is typically the official brand website. The website is full of product descriptions, professional pictures, reviews, promotions, and basically, all the client needs to do is research on the product they need. That’s what it’s there for.

So it then makes sense that you should question yourself on why people go on social media to follow a brand outside the website. Unless the profile has something extra besides the content on the site, it may not happen. Repeating the same content is a dangerous pitfall that most marketers step in.

Your goal with a Twitter account is to make clients remember the product. On the other hand, the interest of the client is to find something meaningful on your profile, so that they have a foundation on which to create a connection with the brand. Thus, the overuse of promotional content can greatly work against you on Twitter.

Solution: apply the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of your content can cover posts promoting and distributing your product. The rest of the eighty percent should focus on connecting with clients. Create meaningful original content for them that still has something to do with the field of your brand. That way, you will promote your business without looking as if you’re selling it too aggressively.

2. LACK OF INTERACTION

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One thing that is certain about social media is that it’s never a one-way street of communication. Some companies might find their lack of interaction with their clients a good method to show that they are a serious culture that is busy working on their favorite products. Or they might just not have designated a person yet to take the responsibility to answer and interact with the clients.

Twitter users are interested in building an interconnected community. Even though your profile has made great use of the eighty percent content destined to engage the readers, it is not enough. Your brand should have a personality that is proactive.

However, the moment you created the Twitter profile, you entered the world of online interaction. Answering inquiries and even replying when not asked is not an option, but rather a responsibility to your brand.

Solution: Make a habit of daily replying and retweeting your clients’ posts to open up the two-way communication street. Make sure you always use the appropriate tone that is in tune with your brand. Usually, your reply should be a reflection of the original post.

Moreover, you should take the two-way communication to the ultimate level. This typically requires designating a qualified employee for this job. You can open a new customer care channel through Twitter chat. People are more open to communication on Twitter, so use it to your advantage to find what the issues of your product are and encourage clients to ask questions related to it on Twitter too.

3. TWITTER PROMOTIONS GOING WILD

The Twitter platform has 313 million active users which make it an open door to a large audience. So, it is no wonder that when Twitter opened up to the possibilities of advertising, the marketing teams had no second thoughts on using Twitter as a trampoline for their products. Or did they?

From the large community of Twitter, there are only 130,000 active advertisers. And that is a waste of easy resources when you come to think that offline sales show an increase of 29% when the tweets are promoted. Paying for exposure might seem a little daunting. However, Twitter is the fastest way to bring your brand in front of prospective clients that have no chances to reach you otherwise. Not even considering the option is a common pitfall in promotion because you might be missing out on vast resources.

Solution: Twitter promotions are suitable both for small and large companies. And there are two ways to do that:

1. Promoted Tweets: these are the same as usual tweets, but the only difference is that they appear as a promoted post. You can set the demographics of your audience, and also set the budget you want to use for a day. Twitter will do the rest, by selecting the users that have interacted with similar content and bringing your post in front of them. You only pay once a user interacts with your post or profile. So, no money will be wasted.
2. Promoted Account: by activating this paid option, your account will appear more prominently in the “Who to Follow” section. Your brand will be among the first recommended Twitter accounts, and it is an agile method to increase the number of followers. Moreover, your new followers won’t be unrelated to your domain, but they will actually have a genuine interest in your product. If used right, the advertising options can be non-intrusive and work just like organic marketing strategies.

4. HASHTAGS AS JUST WORDS

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Many industries underestimate the power of #hashtags. These keywords are designated to represent an entire marketing campaign, and they also prove to be some powerful trackers of the activity of your campaign.

Choosing the proper hashtag is vital for the success of any Twitter campaign. There are numerous examples of quality promotions that might offer inspiration. However, there’s one thing a business should remember: skipping research can empower the hashtag to ruin an entire Twitter activity. Entenmann’s, which sell divine bakery goods, had chosen the #notguilty keyword to play as an ambassador for their low-calorie products. At first sight, it seemed like the ideal choice for people who want to enjoy delicious food without worrying about the calorie intake. However, it proved to be a disaster. The same hashtag was previously used for a crime case featuring the controversial murder verdict of Case Anthony. The rest of the story was a nightmare for the bakery company.

Solution: Do your homework, and make sure your hashtag is original. It also should represent the brand itself, so if the tone of your tweet is funny and entertaining, the keywords need to send the same message. Moreover, use the power of hashtag at every step of the campaign, and even print them on the product’s brochures, posters, to include them in the real world also.

5. THE SPECIAL WEEKLY TWEET

Indeed, scarcity is one of Cialdini’s main principles that drive the success of a marketing strategy. You can tempt your followers with short, concise, yet inconclusive pieces of a story to make them want more. However, Twitter is the exception from the Cialdini’s rules. Under most circumstances, Twitter works best with minimum content.

As emphasized above, your interest with Twitter is to make your brand seen by as many people as possible. Sticking to your weekly creation of content and only tweet about this won’t do you much good. On the contrary, your followers will lose interest in a poorly organized official profile, and will move on to the next of your competitors in line that spoils their community with fascinating news about their field.

Solution: there is no such thing as “I have nothing to tweet about at this moment.” The online world is full of interesting articles, and there are new research studies or study cases on a daily basis. The only limitation could be the unfounded limitation of links that come only from your suite of websites. There is nothing wrong on sharing external online articles that have something of value to say to your Twitter community. It is actually recommended to share relevant content. Make it a habit of posting at least once a day with insightful new details that concern your field.

IN SUMMARY

All in all, these are the five pitfalls to avoid when promoting your business on Twitter. We’d love to hear about your insights too, and how you’ve found success with your Twitter account!

This article was originally written by Thea Millard for the Heyo blog. 

When you’re planning your next campaign, there are always a handful of different promotion types to choose from depending on what your campaign objectives are. Simple enter-to-win sweepstakes or UGC photo contests are always popular choices. However, if you’re looking to add a little variety to your promotional landscape and keep things interesting for your fans, try throwing a #Hashtag campaign into the mix and engage some additional platform audiences.

Hashtag campaigns let your followers enter a promotion through their Instagram and Twitter accounts as well as directly from a Facebook page or Website. This way, people can participate from the platform they are most comfortable with, which is a great way to ensure high levels of campaign engagement for your brand. Here are some great examples!

Nature’s Bounty #DearFutureMe Photo Sweepstakes

This campaign was specifically designed to give the Nature’s Bounty audience a way to share what the brand means to them. Entrants are invited to submit a photo with a caption that represents their commitment to a healthy future. Participants can enter via Direct Upload on Desktop, Smartphone or Tablet or with the campaign hashtag #DearFutureMe on Twitter or Instagram. Allowing users to choose their preferred entry method is great for engagement rates and since the promotion is also embedded into Nature’s Bounty’s main site, there is a seamless user experience that also benefits the brand’s SEO. This campaign was built by Votigo’s talented full-service development team and features fully responsive design, a custom header image carousel, photo moderation and viral ‘share’ functionality.

#NutrisystemSnaps Photo Gallery 

Engagement campaigns are a great way to invite your audience into your brand conversation in a way that allows fans to really feel like they are part of something. In Nutrisystem’s case, they are using a uniquely branded hashtag, #NutrisystemSnaps, to allow people to share the impact that the brand has had on their life and weight loss efforts. The hashtag allows people to participate from whatever platform they prefer, and the centralized gallery experience creates a great forum for storytelling on behalf of the brand. This campaign was built using Votigo’s self-serve-platform and features mobile responsive design, content moderation and social sharing.

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.

Enter-to-Win Sweepstakes and UGC Contests are both great ways to grow your marketing lists and engage your audience. In the case of a sweepstakes, the barrier to entry is low, which means the likelihood of getting of lot of entries is high. And in the case of a UGC Contest, you have a great opportunity to curate meaningful and relevant content from your audience in a way that allows them to be part of the brand conversation.

But don’t take our word for it! Here are some new live examples from HISTORY and Melissa & Doug to inspire you as you plan YOUR next campaign!

HISTORY’s #HonorAVet Photo Contest

To celebrate Veteran’s Day this year, HISTORY is inviting people to submit a photo & story about a veteran in their life, for a chance to be featured during the network’s special marathon event later this month. Participants can enter via Instagram or Twitter using the hashtag #HonorAVet or they can submit a photo directly online. This way, people can choose the platform that they are most comfortable with in order to participate, which is great for campaign engagement. Built by Votigo’s Self-Serve-Platform, this campaign features mobile responsive design, content moderation and social sharing.

Melissa & Doug’s Terrific 25 Giveaway 

Children’s toy company Melissa & Doug is currently running a Giveaway Sweepstakes in which a prize is awarded every day for 25 days. This strategy is a great way to keep people engaged throughout the length of the campaign. And because the barrier to enter is so low (all people have to do in order to enter is complete a simple registration form), it’s a great opportunity for Melissa & Doug to grow their marketing lists! Also built using Votigo’s Self-Serve-Platform, this campaign features mobile responsive design and email newsletter opt-in.

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

Image Source: Pixabay.com

Efficiency is key when producing social content for your business. With 78% of U.S. Americans having a social media profile in 2016 (and this number growing), your brand identity is reliant on the platforms you post on. What you post on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter etc… is a representation of what your company is about.

Don’t you want to look good in the eyes of the public?

The best way to manage your efforts is to have an organized social content calendar. They are proven to not only be helpful in delivering content on time, but also in increasing your overall marketing productivity. Let’s look at 5 of the top industry tips any business can use to add to the development of their social content calendar.

1. BE CONSISTENT WITH HOW MUCH YOU POST

One of the biggest issues with organizing social media has to do with companies not knowing how much or even at what times to post. Posting too little or even too much can both have negative effects on the rate of engagement you receive. Finding that middle ground is key when trying to communicate with your users. A few guidelines to get you headed in the right direction:

• Know your industry and get an idea of how frequently other competitor companies post on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc…
• Know the days on which you get the highest engagement from your target audience.

Posting at a steady pace throughout the week lets the audience see the structure within your company. Your social media platforms are a portrayal of your brand identity to your consumers. Consistency is crucial in establishing yourself as an industry leader with professional business standards.

2. WHICH CHANNELS WORK BEST?

With so many different social media outlets available on the internet, companies need to understand which ones get them the best consumer outreach. It’s different for each industry. Instagram might work really well if you’re a fashion brand selling design clothes, but may not work so well if you’re a law firm. Knowing your consumer, where they hang out, and associating them with a social channel is vital. Looking at the statistics or analytics of your different pages can provide information that’s necessary to help you prioritize channels and know where you should be for the highest return on your investment.

3. CONTENT WILL ALWAYS BE KING

Having engaging posts that keep users intrigued and entertained will make them stick around and absorb what your brand has to offer. Which types of posts perform the best? According to Sprout Social, figuring out the post types that perform well with your audience is essential to any campaign. Links, photos, videos, social statuses, hashtags, quotes, offers etc… could all be potentially beneficial for your brand. Try some A/B testing to see what your audience is interested in, and adjust your efforts accordingly based on what you learn & observe.

4. PLAN IT OUT!

The number one rule when making a calendar is to schedule your content in order to be sure you’re meeting your goals for each period. This relieves some of the day-to-day pressure when it comes to rolling actions out in a timely manner. This same notion can be applied to creating a social media calendar. Your team is already worrying about many other things. When it comes to social media, things can get hectic. You don’t want to be in a situation where you have an “Oh Shoot!” moment and forget to make a Facebook post before leaving the office. Having a monthly outline for your social output will allow you and your team to have a determined guide of tasks to complete on a day-to-day basis.

Providing your team with a simple daily routine to follow will allow your everyone to focus on other ways to create consumer retention. Instead of having to devote so much time and effort struggling for content to post across your various active social channels, having a plan in place will help keep people organized so they can focus on other ways to optimize your productivity.

Image Source: Pixabay.com

5. KEEP YOUR CALENDAR FULL

Running out of content is a common problem that businesses can face. Writing content is always great, but sharing posts from other reputable sources can be beneficial as well. What kind of work should you post?

• Content that is relevant to both your industry as well as what you know about your audience’s interests.
• Infographics relating to current business statistics.
• Make your content fun; incorporate national holidays, current trends, etc…

Productivity is defined by how efficient you can make your business processes flow. As Walt Disney said, “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing”. Don’t just say you’re going to post daily updates for your company’s social media platforms. Go out, make a calendar, and get it done.

This article was originally written by Kristina Aumcore for the Heyo blog. 

Getting ready for (and making the most of) the Holiday season can be a daunting task for any brand. There’s so much ‘noise’ out there when it comes to Holiday messaging, and figuring out a way to stand out from the clutter can be overwhelming.

The good news is, one of the easiest and most reliable ways to engage your audience during this busy timeframe is to run an online promotion like a contest or sweepstakes. The even better news is that the team here at Votigo has put together a helpful holiday promotion to help you plan and launch your campaign in no time.

6 STEPS FOR RUNNING A SUCCESSFUL HOLIDAY PROMOTION

1. Determine Your Objective
   • Do you want to grow your email marketing list? Educate your customers on a new product or service offering? Or curate user generated content? Whatever your goal is, our team can help you decide which kind of promotion is the right fit for you.
2. Outline the Details
   • Decide when the campaign should begin and end, whether your winner will be chosen at random or by popular vote, etc. You’ll also want to decide what information you’d like to collect during registration.
3. Choose a Relevant Prize
   • Your prize should make sense for the industry that you are in and be compelling enough to incentivize people to participate in your promotion. Make it worth their while to spend the time doing what you’re asking of them!
4. Promote Your Promotion
   • Once your promotion is live, you’ll need to TELL people about it and drive traffic to the entry page. Make sure that you use all of your typical communication channels to drive awareness of the promotion: Social Media, Email Newsletters, etc…
5. Moderate and Manage
   • While your promotion is running, you’ll need to keep an eye on it to make sure it’s all going smoothly. This will depend a lot on the kind of campaign format you choose but for example: If you’re running a Photo Contest, you’ll want to pre-screen all the entries before they appear in your gallery for viewing and voting. You’ll also want to make sure entries are coming in steadily, and adjust your promotional efforts accordingly to make sure you get the most engagement possible.
6. Use the Results
   • Running a promotion is a great way to get leads and quality user-generated content, so make sure you use your results. Nurture your new leads with an email campaign, or thank your existing audience for participating by rewarding them with an exclusive Holiday discount code. Make sure you capitalize on the momentum created by the campaign and use it to your advantage as you start planning your next promotion!

Even though it feels like the Holidays are right around the corner, it’s not too late to add a Holiday contest or sweepstakes to your Marketing plan. Votigo has all the tools you need to plan, create, launch and manage a successful promotion in no time. If you’re ready to get started, click here to schedule a live demo with an Account Representative.

Facebook is always seeking to be on the forefront of social media outlets, often with great success. One of their more recent efforts to expand their means of communication is Facebook Live. It allows anyone to use Facebook to instantly stream live video to others, so they can share some of the more noteworthy events in their lives with others who can’t be there in person.

It is very much like being able to broadcast live events, and there is something very special about that. Live events, perhaps because of the possibility of failure (or unexpected great success), tend to draw the attention far more readily than scripted or rehearsed events. This applies to your brand as much as to personal events. In fact, with the rollout of Facebook Groups and Facebook Events, you can just as easily go live with only a certain predetermined group, including those invited to a given planned event.

As is typical of Facebook offerings, Facebook Live also gives those viewing your material the opportunity to respond, this time in the form of Live Reactions. It’s not possible to hear cheers or expressions of amazement over the internet, which is why Facebook has created the ability for viewers to express themselves. The viewer’s profile pic will appear with a starburst, and then their reaction – Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, or Angry – will appear in a brief animation. Once you end the video, it is posted directly to your timeline, reactions intact.

What Does This Mean for My Brand?

According to Facebook’s own statistics, Facebook Live streams receive 10 times more comments than usual videos. This gives you an opportunity to show people a side of your brand they would never see otherwise. Not only that, but you can also see what aspects get the most audience response. You’ll know instantly the parts they really like, and what needs a little work, because their reactions are visible to you in real time.

There’s a reason why sites like YouTube are popular – people love to watch videos. Combining this with the ability to react to it as it happens is an almost irresistible draw. And all you need for this great marketing tool is a Facebook account, a camera, and an internet connection.

How Is It Done?

There’s no one way to use Facebook Live. Your brand is a unique thing, which requires your unique spin on how things are done. Still, there are some general steps you can take to shine a light on what makes your brand stand out from the pack.

Go Live

One of the most obvious things you can do is stream any events or conferences you might be involved in, as they happen. When conventions or similar events are being held, most of the people who want to attend are not able to, for a variety of reasons. With Facebook Live, they can not only have a window into what’s happening as it happens, but cheer you on, laugh at your jokes, or express their amazement, just as if they were right there.

Naturally, there will still be those who will be unable to watch the livestream. Fortunately for them, it will be posted to your timeline, complete with all the audience reactions.

A Peek Behind the Curtain

When people love or enjoy something, they have an interest on its inner workings, on how that product they enjoy comes into being. You can give them that with a livestream of whatever process you undergo to bring your product to your customers – minus any trade secrets you don’t want to give to competitors, of course. Yet, even any secret parts can be made fun, with a little forethought and a sense of humor.

Keep Them in the Loop

Running a business can be a very ‘interesting’ experience at times. With Facebook Live, you can share that experience with your customers. The popularity of a reality shows can be yours, if you’re willing to stream a live video on a daily or weekly basis on how things are going in the day-to-day life of your brand. A more measured version if this is to share any insights about your brand that you or your partners or employees might have about some aspect of your work at the moment. This combines well with giving your customers the occasional peek behind the scenes.

Make Your Event an Event

If you’re going to start a livestream, whether a regular occurrence or a major one-off, you have to let your fans know in advance. You can’t hope for them to stumble upon it because they’re compulsively checking Facebook. Instead, make anything you plan to stream a big deal. Announce it on your Facebook page, more than once. If this is a new thing, or something rare, you could even announce it in countdown style until the big moment you go live.

Putting Life into Live

Though you can’t control any unexpected happenings during a livestream, you are still in control as much as possible, so take advantage of it. Give your video a great title and description, something that not only attracts attention, but tells everyone who tunes in what they’re about to see.

If you feel up to it, you can even shape the course of the video as it goes on. You’ll be able to see how many people are watching, and how they feel about it, and can respond accordingly. After a few of these, you’ll feel more and more comfortable about going “off script”.

Don’t forget to invite viewers to subscribe, so they will be informed automatically of future videos you choose to stream. Subscribed viewers will automatically be informed whenever you stream, which is good for those times you want to go live spontaneously.

Imagine having your own television station – that’s a little like the power of what Facebook Live can do for your brand, if you’re prepared to build up your audience and use it to its fullest potential.

This article was originally written by Shariq Toor for the Heyo blog.

Facebook promotions are a great way to grow your fan base and engage them in the conversation of your brand. With millions of people logging in each and every day, a Facebook contest or sweepstakes is a great way to capture people’s attention and get them to engage with your brand page on a repeated basis.

And the great news is, you don’t have to be a big-budget brand in order to run a successful promotion on Facebook! Votigo has all the tools you need in order to go live with a promotion in no time, no matter what size your business is!

The sky is really the limit when it comes to the variety of ways you can run a promotion on Facebook, so we thought it could be helpful to share a few examples with you to help you brainstorm.

Conair #DiamondBrilliance Facebook Sweepstakes 

Simple enter-to-win Facebook Sweepstakes like the one Conair is running are great ways to generate leads and create brand buzz. Since people only have to fill out a simple registration form in order to enter, the barrier to entry is low, which means registration numbers are likely to be high. The brand also added in a few custom questions to their registration flow in order to get a bit more marketing insights from their audience. The sweepstakes was built using Votigo’s self-serve platform and features mobile responsive design and email database opt-in functionality.

Blue Buffalo CoverPet Facebook Photo Contest

In this campaign, Blue Buffalo is inviting their fans to submit photos of their pets for a chance to be featured on the brand’s Facebook cover photo. The brand knows that people always seem to have pictures of their pets on hand, so they’re capitalizing on that low barrier to entry and collecting a ton of great brand-relevant content while they’re at it! This promotion was also built using Votigo’s self-serve platform and features direct upload, photo submission moderation and mobile responsive design.

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.

It’s worth your time to develop a strategy for winning the business of millennials (18 to 34-year-olds) because they bring big bucks to the table — an estimated $200 billion annually. Catch their attention, win their trust, and your business stands to gain — big time.

The added value of finding ways to appeal to this generation and gain their trust is that they have an unprecedented level of engagement with their peers. Win them over and they’ll tell all their friends. It’s definitely worth your time to understand and engage with millennials.

But, your marketing messaging needs just the right touch to be successful. Millennials resist traditional advertising. You’ll need a game plan.

Millennials live in a digital world, which means your website and other aspects of your online marketing need to be in tune with them. It also means you can learn about them through digital engagement. Understanding customers and prospects is of critical importance to your marketing plan. Fortunately, if you pay attention, millennials will teach you to appeal to them!

So, let’s get started with five strategies guaranteed to head you in the right direction.

Elevate Mobile

Take a look around and you can easily see that millennials are practically hard-wired to their smartphones. Your marketing strategy needs to keep this in mind.

Do you use landing pages? If they’re not already, you need to optimize them for mobile. They need to load quickly and your call-to-action (CTA) needs to be bold and mobile-friendly.

Beyond that, you need to elevate your mobile engagement. Look for ways to be involved in their digital lives. As an example, a “mobile rewards network” called Kiip gives you a way to connect with millennials while they’re playing online games. Games reward players when they achieve a new level, for instance, and Kiip allows brands to sponsor the in-game reward.

It’s an example of a way to connect with millennials while they’re doing something they like to do, but it’s subtle and a better way to approach them than bombarding them with web ads that intrude on their activity.

Connect With The Connected

With a world of options for information and entertainment literally at their fingertips, millennials have learned to tune out traditional advertising. They’re online to meet their own needs and they don’t want interruptions.

Understand this and you will gain a great marketing opportunity.

Forget old-style outreach advertising. Instead, discover the people with online influence who millennials have come to trust. This will include YouTube personalities, podcasters, Instagrammers and bloggers. Most likely they are also millennials who have jumped onto the digital wave to amuse their peers or share their thoughts.

Given their huge audience, can you imagine how many millennials you can reach with just one mention of your product or service in these venues?

As affirmed in a recent study, and as no surprise to anyone, younger consumers are very much influenced by the opinions of their peers. Find ways to connect with those who have the attention of millennials and can get the buzz going about your business very quickly.

Social Sincerity

It’s not too difficult for a business to develop a social presence. But to reach millennials it’s important to properly engage. Remember, they’re a savvy bunch and resistant to being sold to. This is why it’s critical that they perceive your social involvement to be in their interest.

Make sure your YouTube, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook channels make those who engage with you there feel special. It could be said that millennials are the “me” generation, but really it’s basic psychology; no matter their age, you’re always going to do better if you can find ways to have your customers believe they’re special.

Here are some ideas that have been proven to work:

• Contests
• Loyalty programs
• Featuring content from users
• Sincere engagement with comments

As an example, many businesses have had great success with Instagram campaigns featuring photos taken by followers. An example is Apt2B, a Los Angeles-based furniture retailer. Their customers are encouraged to take pictures of the sofas and accessories they’ve purchased in their own apartment. Customers like it because they get to see how the product will look in an actual apartment instead of the showroom. And the customers who provide photos feel valued by the company that is sharing their contribution.

Be Authentic

Millennials may have tuned out traditional advertising, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want information. They value any information they deem to be authentic. Remember, they’re very tuned-in and don’t want to be conned.

Don’t bother trying for a hard sell, it won’t work. Instead, develop believable content. Be trustworthy. They’re actively looking for information that will entertain or inform them.

With a soft sell, you’re looking for opportunities to get your message to them in the context of experiences they already value and appreciate.

In today’s digital world, and especially when targeting millennials, you need to adapt your game to reach them where they are, through content they trust. If they perceive that your business understands and respects their core values, you’ll have them hooked.

Chipotle’s “Farmed and Dangerous” online video series did a great job with this.  An entertaining satire, the series featured a millennial sustainable farmer fighting a battle with big corporations.  Other than including the company’s mission statement, “food with integrity,” there was hardly any reference to the restaurant chain in the videos. Instead, Chipotle counted on consumers seeing the company as a healthy dining choice. Did millennials share the video through their social channels? You bet!

Involve Them

Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” campaign is a great example of reaching millennials’ by involving them in the creation of products you want to sell to them.

Since 2012 in the U.S., annual campaigns have offered a $1 million prize and encouraged the public to suggest new flavors for potato chips. Outreach through various channels including Facebook and Twitter resulted in millions of submissions, each representing engagement with Frito-Lay.

Most companies can’t manage a promotion on that scale, but the take-away is that it helps to have a direct relationship with your audience and make business decisions based on input.

The Wrap-Up

What does it take to market to millennials? It’s pretty simple, really — the human touch. Authentic engagement will score high here. Engage with them to learn more about their wants, needs and desires  — then keep these in mind when developing your products or services and you’ll be ahead in today’s new marketing game.

This article was originally written by Therese Moten for the Heyo blog.

We know you love to see live examples of campaigns that are using Votigo’s technology, since they are the easiest way to understand how our platform works. They’re also great for inspiration as you start planning YOUR next campaign! So without further ado, here are some new campaigns from Live Nation, Gore-Tex and Fujifilm that are using Votigo’s platform technology.

Live Nation’s House of Blues Ticket Giveaway Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes are a great way to grow your marketing database and drive awareness for your brand. Since they usually only require users to complete a quick registration form in order to enter, their barrier to entry is low, which means your chances of engagement are high. In this campaign, Live Nation is promoting the Grand Opening of a new House of Blues property by inviting people to enter for a chance to win 2 VIP tickets to the event. By promoting it across a variety of social channels, they’re driving campaign awareness while collecting email addresses at the same time! This sweepstakes was built on Votigo’s Self-Serve Platform and features mobile responsive design and social sharing.

Gore-Tex’s “Bad Weather, Good Day” #Hashtag Photo Contest 

We’re seeing a lot of campaigns making use of #hashtag entry methods these days. They’re a great way to engage fans that are hanging out on Instagram or Twitter, and with Votigo’s Platform, you can build a campaign hub to serve as a home for all the content that is submitted for entry. In this promotion, Gore-Tex is inviting their fans to share photos using the hashtag #goretexday in order to be entered to win some Gore-Tex gear. No matter which way someone enters, their entry will appear in the gallery that lives on the brand’s Facebook page. Also built using Votigo’s Self-Serve Platform, this campaign features both direct and hashtag entry, mobile responsive design, and photo content moderation.

Fujifilm’s “Greatest American Roadtrip” Essay Contest

Essay contests are a great way to gather valuable insights from your audience that you can use in future marketing efforts. They’re also a great way to bring your fans into the conversation for your brand.  In this campaign, Fujifilm is inviting their fans to share what they love about our country’s National Parks, for a chance to win a brand new camera! The entries give Fujifilm great information about their audience, which is always useful from a marketing standpoint. This campaign was also built using Votigo’s Self-Serve Platform and features mobile responsive design, essay content moderation and viral referral functionality.

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.

Save your spot today for our latest (free) webinar on October 13th!

Social media contests and sweepstakes are a great way to grow your email list and social followers while engaging and activating the followers you already have. They’re easy to launch and with the right call-to-action, are a super easy way to get your audience to participate in your brand’s conversation.

That’s why Votigo & Sprout Social have teamed up to present this webinar, to help you plan your next Social Media Contest or Sweepstakes. You’ll learn:

• How contests and sweepstakes benefit both your brand and your consumer
• Which kinds of promotions are best for different campaign objectives (ex: drive leads or curate content)
• How to launch a new social media campaign
• Best practices for promoting your contest or sweepstakes

We’re looking forward to ‘seeing’ you there!

-The Votigo Team