Corrupt, sneaky, unfair and bloody hard work… no, I’m not talking about refereeing a professional football match here, I’m talking about running an online social media competition.

To make it in the social media space these days, you have to give something back to the consumer.

Be that incredible content you just can’t get enough of, an addictive game people can’t stop tapping away on… or some incredibly exclusive prizes that are part of a competition.

Most brands have to opt for the latter, this is of course the age of austerity and getting the most bang for your buck is the way forward for most companies. Before you wade into the competition space, here are a few things you need to consider.

1.       Prizes are important

You want to build you brand out, but you don’t want to build it by coercing the wrong people to you social space. 10,000 people who have no interest in what you do is worthless. This is why we’d always recommend targeting your prizes to your vertical. If you’re a fishing brand, why is your prize and iPad? Wise up, give away a top of the range fishing rod, lure people in with the prizes then blow them away with your content and turn them into a brand advocates.

2.       Competitions are a profession:

I kid you not, people of all ages and backgrounds are obsessed with competitions and the opportunity to win prizes. Why? Well most brand competitions don’t gather many entrants. I was recently speaking to a digital marketing person who worked for a big chocolate brand who gave away an extortionate prize (5 figure value) only to earn 53 entrants. Your chances of winning these competitions are actually quite good.

3.       People play dirty:

When you have a covetable prize, people will use the anonymity of social media to game your competition.  You won’t be able to spot the duplicate entrants, but you can generally tell those who are going against the rules by socially proofing them. If they have very few followers or friends, the chances are it’s an account that is used solely for competitions (I’m so sorry if you’re just incredibly unpopular in the social space). That should set alarm bells ringing.

4.       The community knows…

You won’t know who the duplicate entrants are, but you can bet your house on the fact the community will. No sooner have you announced the winner of a competition, you’ve got 40 people tweeting your brand telling you that you’re rewarding a cheat and if you don’t do something about it, ‘there’s no way we’re going to buy your long lasting fence paint’. How they all know is beyond me, but they know… so you need to make sure that when you’re drawing a winner, you’re confident the person entering is totally legit.

5.       T&Cs

If people don’t like the result of the competition, they will invariably threaten your brand with a law suit. The chances of this happening are slim, but you MUST, MUST, MUST make sure you have water tight T&Cs in place just in case your competition rules are tested in a court of law. This is especially important if you’re working with brands in the financial sector.

So to conclude, invest in preparation. Competitions are relatively cheap to set up, but the cost of being ill-prepared could land you with a large legal bill or irreparable community trust implications for your brand.

Any questions? Speak to us @STEAKLondon