Facebook Sends a Message on the Importance of Promotions

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Yesterday Facebook announced that it has removed some restrictions about how businesses can run promotions (Contests and Sweepstakes) on Facebook.  Previously, the Facebook Promotion Guidelines prohibited any promotion from using any native Facebook functionality like “posting on the Brand Page wall”, “commenting on posts”, “liking posts”, etc.  And they required that businesses use a third party application provider like Votigo.

With the change promotions can now be administered on Page Timelines. For example, entries may be collected by posting to a page or commenting or liking a Page post.

By making these changes Facebook is affirming what we’ve always known. Promotions are an extremely important component of marketing for businesses of all sizes.  Promotions offer a business the best way to acquire and engage new and existing customers.  Facebook also recognized that a lot of small brands were ignoring their earlier guidelines anyway and hosting quick and dirty promotions on their Page Timelines anyway.  Instead of having all of these pages be in violation of the earlier policy, which must have created an administrative nightmare for Facebook, they’ve acquiesced.   However, businesses should still be aware of legal regulations from state to state and country to country.

We believe Facebook’s change to their policy will be good for those previously violating the Facebook Promotion Guidelines. They can sleep better at night, but the change will not replace promotion applications and the benefits they deliver.  

What a Facebook Promotion Application can provide that running a promotion on your Page Timeline can’t:

– Like-gate (users must Like your page before they can enter)

– Branded solution

– Collection of custom user data and email address

– Easier to select and contact winners

– Email newsletter opt-in

– Multiple contest and sweepstakes formats:  Photo contests, Video contests, Referral / Viral sweepstakes, Trivia sweepstakes and more.

– Exportable user data and voter reports

– Moderation and pre-screening entries

– Campaign Analytics

Let us know what you think about the new policy and/or if you have any questions about it.

We’re here to help!

– Team Votigo

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Get More Customers, More Engagement, More Likes!

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We’ve often asked how a brand can acquire more customers, engage those customers and yes,”get more Facebook likes” and grow their social media audience. It’s a great question and one that will get a wide variety of responses depending on who you ask. We’ve compiled a list of 10 ways that you can get more Facebooklikes. Luckily, these tips will also help you build a community of engaged fans – so you’ll be getting way more than just “likes”. Ready to get started?
download-the-guide

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BREAKING: Wildfire Interactive Turns Off DIY Promotions

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Today, Wildfire Interactive Promotions by Google has announced that they are shutting down their DIY Basic, Standard, and Premium promotions primarily targeted to Small and Medium Sized Businesses (SMBs).

Here is a link to their blog post http://blog.wildfireapp.com/2013/04/16/a-new-turn-for-wildfire-promotions/ with details on their decision.  We at Votigo understand how that negatively impacts all of their customers that will now have to find a new solution.  Thankfully we have a great offering that will do just that.

Votigo is pleased to announce that we are here for those tens of thousand of customers that need a new home.  Our Standard DIY Promotions for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Web, and Mobile https://www.votigo.com/products/DIY-contest-app.php are available as low as $30/week or $250/mo for unlimited promotions.  https://www.votigo.com/solutions/pricing-and-plans.php#

During this transition period we are going to offer a 20% discount on our $250 Subscription Plan to anyone who calls us and let’s us know they are coming over from Wildfire Promotions.  Simply visit http://www.votigo.com/register and enter the coupon code “wildfire” to enter.  1.800.519.1850 

And as always, please contact us or call us if you would like to discuss our Premium / Custom Promotions and our Complete Social Marketing Suite.

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Votigo Integrates Vine

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Vine is Twitter’s newest app, allowing fans to record and share six-second long videos to Facebook, Twitter, and Vine.  The time limit encourages users to be creative and to tell a story in only six seconds.  Vine’s looping format can enhance emotion or amplify your message as viewers see the video clip on repeat.

The new video app is a creative way to gather user-generated content.  Vine describes these new video posts as “little windows into the people, settings, ideas and objects that make up your life.” These short video clips are a great opportunity for you to find out more about your fans and how they engage with your brand.

Vine recently released a feature that allows users to embed other users’ Vine videos on their own websites and Twitter pages, allowing the videos to be shared with multiple audiences.  This sharing feature is a great way for a company’s marketing message to reach a larger audience.  Vine is an innovative way for fans to become engaged and involved on social media and Votigo sees its amazing potential.

Yum! Brands worked with Votigo to create a promotion that would incorporate Vine as a way to enter and win. Fans can enter KFC’s Li’l Playground Makeover contest for a chance to win a makeover for their local community playground. Fans can tell Yum! Brands why their playground deserves a makeover by entering a photo or short story on Facebook, a video using Twitter/Vine, or an Instagram photo with #KFCPlaygrounds.  Each choice gives users a creative outlet to share their stories via pictures, videos, and text. Yum! Brands encourages fans to share their entries by enabling users to vote on their favorite submissions.

For more information on how you can incorporate Vine into your promotions contact us today!

 

 

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Great Ways to Customize your Marketing Campaigns

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Customizing your campaigns allows you to connect with your customers on a deeper level. It is a good idea to tailor your campaign to your own company, products, and creativity.  One great way to customize your marketing campaigns and excite your fans is to offer prizes that are targeted to what your fans like, want, and need.  These prizes should also be congruent with your company and your marketing goals.

Another way to customize your marketing campaigns is to leverage social applications to further engage users.  These social apps can include:

  • Galleries for fan photos and videos, which allow users to look through other fan entries and see how other people are using your brand and products and engaging with your company.  This is a great way to create a community among your fans and incorporate user-generated content into your marketing efforts.
  • Signup forms, which allow you to gather contact information from everyone who engages with your campaign.  This is a great way to generate leads and new customers.
  • Surveys, which are a great way to find out more information about your fans and how they interact with your company, brand, or products.
  • Facebook apps, which allows you to customize your Facebook page with Facebook apps that encourage interaction or serve a marketing purpose and speak to your audience.
  • Marketing Pages, which allow you to display marketing messages or promotional graphics in a Facebook app. You can add a hyperlink to the images to direct users to your website.

It is important to customize the conversation you are having with your fans on social media and with the social conversation manager app it is simple to stay connected and to schedule posts and updates to your social media channels.  Scheduled posts are a great way to customize your campaign and create a specific timetable for your content.  You can also tailor your content by targeting your messages to specific locations and managing your global presence with language targeting.

These applications are a great way to individualize your promotions and marketing efforts. For more information on how to customize your campaigns contact us today!

 

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Start Thinking About Summer Themed Promotions

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We know, we know…  Summer is still a few months away but the weather is changing and the anticipation is rising.  Now is a perfect time to begin thinking about summer themed promotions and to introduce your fans to products geared for the summer season.  Tailor your product or service to the summer season and create a fun promotion that encourages them to use your brand.  Take advantage of what is top of mind for your fans and incorporate these ideas into your prizes. This could be a free beach getaway, fun and practical ways to stay cool, summer concerts and barbeques, and summer clothing.

It is a great idea to use the many summer holidays as a theme for your campaign.  There are many different audiences you can target when focusing on specific holidays or events.  One event that has a large target audience is graduation and the end of the school year.  Students anticipate the summer holiday all year and it is a perfect opportunity to capture their attention with a fun contest or sweepstakes.  Father’s Day is another holiday that provides a great opportunity for a promotion.  These promotions can incorporate photo or video contests that capture a father-son or father-daughter moment and can include great gifts and products for Dad to enjoy. The 4th of July is also another holiday that has a huge audience. The 4th of July is a holiday that incorporates events such as fireworks, barbeques, and parades.  These events are great opportunities to focus your promotion on.

Get your audience involved with summer themed photo or video contests that encourage them to document how they are enjoying the sun.  For more information on fun ways to engage fans contact us today!

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The End is Just the Beginning

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Just because your promotion has ended doesn’t mean you can drop the ball; there is still plenty of work to be done.  It is important to follow through with your promotion and continue to connect with your fans.  Your promotion has most likely established new or stronger relationships with your fans and it is important to act on these relationships.

One way to celebrate your fans is to send out an email to all of the participants and offer them a reward for engaging with your brand. This could be in the form of a coupon or a discount code, a preview of an upcoming product, etc.  It is also important to celebrate the winner of your promotion by announcing their win on your social media channels and displaying their entry in a gallery, a blog post, or your personal website.

Your next step should be to follow up and study the results of your promotion.  Measure your success by measuring the Return on Investment (ROI).  This way you will understand the impact of your social media marketing efforts.  Identify any trends to understand how your audience interacts with your business. Find out what resonates well with your audience and what information was disappointing and unexpected.  The research process is equally as important in this stage as it is in the planning stage.  All of these results can help you to optimize your social marketing campaigns in the future.

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March Madness Promotion

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March Madness is here and now is the time to run a march madness promotion that will capitalize on its popularity and on the excitement the tournament brings. When the NCAA tournament begins, brands will be ready to take advantage of the hype in a similar way that they did during Super Bowl season.

The greatest advantage marketers have during the March Madness season is the engagement of the fans.  Most fans include college students and alumni who heavily support their teams.  Millions of Americans enthusiastically fill out tournament brackets and stay up to date on every game.  The big difference between March Madness and the Super Bowl is that the NCAA basketball tournament begins with 64 teams in the run to become champion, verses the two football teams competing for champion in the Super Bowl.  Because the men’s basketball tournament runs for so long, there is a greater period of time for brands to engage fans in fun promotions.

One idea is to engage fans with a photo contest that prompts them to dress up or to decorate their space in honor of their favorite team. It is a good idea to give away prizes that tie in basketball with your company or brand.  Encourage fans to visit your company website to take part in a bracket contest. Give away prizes to those who pick the most games correctly.  Take advantage of the excitement that is generated around March Madness and join the conversation that your fans have already started.

For more information on how to run a contest or sweepstakes contact us today

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Maintaining Momentum for your Campaign

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Interacting with consumers and fans in ongoing dialogue is what social media marketing revolves around.  When launching a campaign this dialogue remains a priority from beginning to end and is essentially what will keep the campaign going.  One of the big challenges when running a campaign on social media is that it is easy to start the conversation and just as easy to stop it.  Running a successful campaign relies on maintaining momentum; but how do you do this successfully?

Here are 5 tips to help your campaign maintain momentum:

  1. Design for participation- Make sure that your promotion is designed to fully engage your fans and to encourage them to actively participate with your brand. Photo and video contests are a great way to ensure creative engagement.
  2. Get Personal- Create personal conversations with fans that enter your contest by tweeting to them, posting to their Facebook page, or by writing about their entry in your blog.  This social media communication shows your fans you notice and appreciate their entry and engagement.
  3. Constantly update your fans- Post updates about the promotion on your social media channels and personal website.  In order for fans to stay engaged they need to have all the facts. This can include sharing key milestones such as finalists being selected, just reached 100 or 10,000 entries, or even fun facts about the brand.  Post quality content about your campaign and your brand on a consistent basis.
  4. Announce daily giveaways and winners- by posting the winners on your social media channels you are encouraging your fans to continue to visit your social media pages and check in with the brand.
  5. Schedule posts- set up posts ahead of time and schedule when you would like them to go live.  This is a great way to ensure that all of the information gets posted and that the posts are spread out.

It is important to keep your fans interested in your promotion and in extension, your brand.  By incorporating these ideas into your marketing strategy you will create a continuous conversation that is rewarding for both you and your fans.

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Building Excitement Before You Launch Your Promotion

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There are many steps to take when creating a promotion.  One important step to highlight is engineering the success of your campaign from the very beginning by getting the word out and building excitement before the promotion launches.  A promotion does not go viral on its own, the strategy goes further than just creating the promotion and letting your fans do all of the work.

In order to generate maximum awareness of your promotion it is a great idea to plan a media strategy.  Planning posts across social media channels is a great place to start.  These posts should be easily shareable so fans can spread the message on their own social media. They should be an exciting announcement of your upcoming promotion offering all of the essential information and should include an incentive for your fans to become involved.   One great idea is to offer extra opportunities to enter the promotion and win prizes that coincide with their sharing activity.  For example, offer an extra entry into the contest if your fans share the promotional message with five friends.  This is a great way to get your fans to spread the message before the promotion begins and to get them engaged and excited.  If your message reaches enough people at the beginning it will eventually begin to spread itself.  The most important thing to remember is to make your announcement post exciting and worth sharing.  Using imagery can be useful in this step.

Another great way to spread the message is to send out an email to all of your fans and customers who have an email subscription.  This email should be similar to your social media posts in that they include the important information on the contest and where to find it when it launches.  This email can also include links to your website announcement and here they can share the message on social media.

A press release is another great way to reach a large audience and get the message out about your upcoming promotion.  It is also a great way to display all of the information about the promotion and talk about how the promotion relates to your brand and products.  Search advertising, display ads, and Facebook ads are all great ways to spread the message about your promotion as well.

After posting about the upcoming promotion on your social media channels and spreading the message via email and a press release, you can go a step further and find bloggers or other brands who will write about your promotion and your story on their own blogs and websites.  If you have made your story and your promotion exciting and shareable than the promotion will be easy to find when the time comes for the official launch.  It is up to you to make the initial efforts to create awareness.  You can reach new fans and followers by utilizing ads and reaching out to influential people in your community who can help spread the word. Remember, any touch point you have with a fan or potential fan is an opportunity to promote your contest or sweepstakes.

 

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