Contests and sweepstakes have been around for a long time and used with great success, but the addition of social media has given contests and sweepstakes an unprecedented power to exponentially expand the reach of a brand.

Are you thinking about running a sweepstakes or contest?  A well planned sweepstakes or contest can earn you exposure that  simply cannot be bought.  On the other hand, a poorly planned sweepstakes or contest can be disastrous.  What can a sweepstakes or contest can do for your brand?

1. Build your fan base.  It does not matter if your goal is to build Facebook Likes or newsletter subscribers, a contest or sweepstakes is the simplest way to build your fan base
2. Engage your audience.   Spectators and entrants will continually interact with your brand to stay informed.  Reward continued involvement with affirmative replies or posts.
3. Collect Data.  Spectators and entrants will share personal information throughout the contest.   Encourage feedback and listen to what is shared.  You may gain new customer insights or develop a new target market.
4. Create Brand Advocates.  Spectators and entrants will promote a good contest or sweepstakes across multiple channels via social media.   If voting is a part of your contest, entrants will urge their social graphs to participate.  Anyone that shares their personal content or other user-generated content (UGC) will be invested in your brand.

Wow!  All of that sounds great right? Those are all goals that businesses engaged in social media want to achieve.  The hard part is planning and executing a successful sweepstakes or contest.   Here is what you need to know:

1. What is your goal?  Are you looking to build your Facebook Likes, drive traffic to your website, generate sales leads or target a new audience?  Coordinate your contest or sweepstakes with your marketing campaign to maximize ROI.
2. What kind of promotion?  Most people use sweepstakes and contests interchangeably, but they are actually very different types of promotions.  Generally, a sweepstakes refers to a promotion in which prizes are awarded based on chance, whereas a contest awards prizes based on skill.
3. Execution? Concept and design are important, but the success of a promotion is based on its execution!   Make participating in the promotion as easy as possible.  Simple sweepstakes are the most common promotion because they are the easiest to manage and they are effective.   Contests involving user generated content (UGC) have a better possibility of going viral, but are much more difficult to manage and have greater pitfalls.
4. What are the Rules?  There two sets of rules that need to be acknowledged:
   • State Laws.  State laws must be obeyed or you may be in violation of criminal law. Promotional Laws vary from state to state.  In general, you cannot require a purchase or payment in order to enter a sweepstakes. The rules for skills contests are a bit more flexible, but states define skills differently.
   • Most states require companies to make certain disclosures about their promotions.   This is an area that you want to enlist the assistance of a professional as some states may also have additional requirements.
   • Platform Rules.  Facebook, Google+, and Twitter may be free but if you want to run your promotion on their platform, your need to follow their rules.  Here are links to the Facebook Promotions Guidelines,  Google+ Pages Contest and Promotion Policies, an Twitter Contest Guidelines
5. What are the risks?   Most failed promotions have failed because companies failed to recognize the risks of social media.  Before launching a promotion, think about potential setbacks and have an action plan in place to handle PR emergencies.  Here are some potential promotion stoppers:
   • Public Voting Cheats,
   • Slander or Libel of  individuals or competitors,
   • Unauthorized use of copyrighted or rights protected content.

Although you want to make entering the promotion as easy as possible, you simply cannot afford users to have complete control.  Ignoring these dangers can destroy your promotion or land you in litigation!

Contests can be extremely effective tool in your social media strategy.  Just be sure to do your research on local and state laws, and platform regulations, in order to avoid kind of attention that you do not want!