new ebook twitter

wishpond EBOOK

wishpond.com

The DefiniTive GuiDe To TwiTTer ConTesTs & PromoTions

Chapter 1Types of Twitter Contests

Chapter 2How 3rd Party Contest Apps Work on Your Twitter Profile Page

Chapter 3Using Twitter Promoted Tweets to Boost Your Contest

Chapter 4Incorporating your Brand in Creative Ways

Chapter 5Cross-Channel Promotion

Chapter 6Follow-gating Explained

Chapter 7Collecting Contact Info and Social Data with Twitter API

Chapter 8Measuring Contest ROI

Chapter 9Following-up with Contest Entrants

Chapter 10Twitter Contests for Mobile

Chapter 11Guidelines for Contests on Twitter

appendix aPro Tips

Glossary

TaBlE Of COnTEnTs

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why run a twitter Contest?

Twitter Contests have the potential to deliver you tons of new leads and drive traffic to your Twitter profile page in a flash.

Benefits of running a Twitter Contest:

• Boost traffic & followers on your Twitter profile page• Reach to new users, including followers of current followers and users interested in your industry who may not know of

your business• Increase your email list• New sales• Deeper understanding of your customers via data pulled from Twitter API

in this ebook you’ll learn everything you need to create successful contests and maximize their benefit to your business:

• Which types of contests are right for your business• How 3rd party contest apps work on Twitter profile pages• How to follow-up with contest entrants to drive new sales

and much more...

inTrOduCTiOn

TyPes of TwiTTer ConTesTs

ChapTEr 1

wishpond EBOOK

The definitive Guide to Twitter Contests & promotions

There is no shortage of options for creating engaging contests on Twitter. But before you choose one, you need to ask yourself one question:

Which campaign type is right for your business at this moment?

To answer this question, you need to go one step deeper and answer two more questions (Inception!):

1. what is your goal from this campaign?

• If your goal is to simply get new Twitter followers or increase your email list, then a Sweepstakes is best. It’s simple and has a very low barrier to enter. This option will maximize your number of entrants.

• If your goal is to make immediate sales then you can run a group deal, or offer a coupon to push users to buy right away.

If you goal is to build a bank of user-generated content to have users vote on and use in the future, then a Photo, Video or Pinterest Contest is the right choice.

2. how many followers do you currently have on your twitter profile page?

• If the answer is a low number (<1000 followers), that means you don’t have a very large base to begin with. But don’t worry about that! Contests will boost this number quickly!

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• If you are at this point, we recommend running a starter Contest - which include sweepstakes and Vote Contests - which have very low barriers to enter and will entice a higher percentage of entrants than a contest that requires them to submit a photo or video.

• If you have over 1000 followers, then you are in a prime position to run an intermediate or advanced contest which requires users to create something or make a purchase to enter. See a full list of different contest options below:

starter Contests

Starter Contests have the lowest barrier to entry of any contest. Users simply need to enter their contact info and click a button to enter:

Sweepstakes Vote Contest

A Sweepstake is the simplest type of contest - users submit their email address, click ‘Enter Contest’ and they’re entered into a random drawing for a prize. This is the best type of contest to start with if you don’t have many followers on your Twitter profile page.

A Vote Contest is the easiest way to get users to interact with your brand in a personal way. These can be used to vote for which products should appear in your next product line or go on sale next season.

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intermediate Contests

Intermediate Contests require users to submit a piece of user-generated content to enter your contest, but the type of content is easy enough for most users to create:

Photo Contest

Photo Caption Contest Essay Contest

Photo Contests are an easy way to entice users to upload a photo and have the community vote on their favorite to win. With the popularity of camera phones these days, taking a photo is a very easy thing for most users to do. To maximize entries, choose a photo theme that is easy for most users to get a photo of.

Also - photos are the best type of content, as they are eye-catching and are easy to digest, so this is the most recommended type of contest that requires user-generated content.

A Vote Contest is the easiest way to get users to interact with your brand in a personal way. These can be used to vote for which products should appear in your next product line or go on sale next season.

An Essay Contest is a great way to get entrants to submit their thoughts, feedback and stories for a chance to win. You can have entrants write about an experience they had using one of your products or at one of your physical locations. The community can then on their favorite to win.

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adVanCed Contests

Advanced Contests require users to upload a more time-consuming piece of content or actually pay money to get something. This will require a very large audience (over 10,000 followers minimum) to be successful, as only a very small percentage of users will take the time to enter:

Video Contest

Pinterest Contest Group Deal

Entice users to create a video to enter to win a prize. This is bit harder to do than simply taking a photo, but it has the potential to give you great user content for your brand. Just like in Photo Contest, the community votes on their favorite to win.

Pinterest Contests entice users to create a board on Pinterest and submit the link to enter. The community then votes on their favorite to win. This is a great contest option, as it gives your brand reach on both Facebook and Pinterest.

A Group Deal is a great way to get users paying money right now in order to take advantage or a limited-time offer. These deals normally require offering a minimum discount of 40% off a regularly-priced item in order to make them attractive enough for users to purchase right away.

how 3rD PArTy ConTesT APPs work on your TwiTTer ProfiLe PAGe

ChapTEr 2

wishpond EBOOK


twitter proFile paGes don’t haVe tabs like FaCebook paGes, so how do you run a Contest on one?

3rd Party Contest Apps like Wishpond’s connect to business’ Twitter accounts, but have the contests live on hosted web pages that include the look-and-feel of Twitter (they even use the background image from the business’ Twitter profile page).

The contest is hosted on a third-party site with the look and feel of your Twitter profile page.

To add the contest on your Twitter profile page, you simply need to connect your Twitter account with the app during the contest setup process and the hosted page is created automatically. You can then make a post to your fans, followers and email list with a link back to this page to enter your contest.

Users connect to the app using Twitter. A tweet is then automatically sent from their account that includes the same link back to the contest.

usinG TwiTTer PromoTeD TweeTs To BoosT your ConTesT

ChapTEr 3

wishpond EBOOK


What are Promoted Tweets?

Twitter Advertising is a powerful platform to target new users and give your contest a boost! Promoted Tweets are regular tweets bought by businesses who want to reach a larger group of users or to liven engagement from their existing followers.

How do you identify Promoted Tweets?

As you can see, the tweet looks almost exactly like a normal tweet. The only difference is the grey text that says, “Promoted by....” and “Followed by...” Promoted Tweets appear in your home timeline with tweets from your followers, or in a search query when you click on a Promoted Trend.

How does Twitter decide whose timeline to post Promoted Posts on?

The Promoted Tweet will only show up in your timeline once if the tweet is relevant to you as a user. Twitter decides if it will be at least interesting or relevant to the user.Twitter uses many different factors to determine which Promoted Tweets are relevant. This includes what a user follows, how he interacts with a Tweet, what he retweets, and more.

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How do you use Promoted Tweets to boost your contest?

To advertise your contest, use Promoted Tweets to amplify your message with targeting options on Twitter, and across mobile devices to reach the right person, in the right place, at the right time.

Twitter’s Promoted Tweets are a great way for your business to promote your contest. It doesn’t cost much and can go a long way if used correctly. The secret of Promoted Tweets is to make sure you are targeting those people who are actually interested in your offer.

inCorPorATinG your BrAnD in CreATive wAys

ChapTEr 4

wishpond EBOOK


Maximize your contests by relating it to your brand in innovative ways. This will boost the amount of people actually talking about your brand - as opposed to simply talking about the contest itself!

here are some easy ways to incorporate your brand into your contest:

• Let entrants decide on your next product line or marketing campaign via a Vote Contest

• Have entrants caption a photo of one of your products in a Photo Caption Contest

• Have entrants create boards on Pinterest that include their favorite items that you sell

• Have entrants write an essay about how they use your products or why they like them so much

• Have entrants enter a photo of themselves using your products or at your business

• Make sure the title of your contest and the contest image incorporate your brand - as these are the things that will get shared and will be seen the most.

DO NOT - make users do something like tweet “I LOVE BRAND X” on Twitter - it will make your company appear desperate.

Cross-ChAnneL PromoTionChapTEr 5

wishpond EBOOK


Maximize the reach of your contest by including some (or all) of these promotion ideas:

• Post to Facebook and Google+ daily

• Send an email to your email list

• Add a banner to the home page of your website for the duration of your contest (have it click-through to your contest on your Twitter profile page in a new browser tab)

• Promote in-store and on the street using posters that include QR codes, NFC chips and short links for users to enter on their mobile phones

foLLow-GATinG exPLAineDChapTEr 6

wishpond EBOOK


like-gating is a big part of Facebook Contests.

How is “Follow-Gating” done in Twitter Contests?

It is very simple: All entrants must follow a brand’s’ Twitter account to enter contests on their Twitter profile pages. It is a simple permission we ask for. The follow is automatically made upon entry via Twitter Connect.

It is easier than Like-Gating on Facebook. A Like-Gate is an image with text telling users who don’t Like your Facebook Page that they need to like it to access the current contest. On Twitter, this step is unnecessary and will significantly reduce the drop-off rate of your contests. Sticking to just Follow-Gating for Twitter Contests is strongly recommended.

CoLLeCTinG ConTACT info AnD soCiAL DATA wiTh TwiTTer APi

ChapTEr 7

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Wishpond’s Twitter Contests allow you to collect entrants’ email addresses upon entry in order to contact them. Twitter’s API collects them automatically, but having entrants opt-in by entering their email address manually is the best way to go to avoid being marked as spam.

What is the Twitter API?

The API is Twitter’s database of user data that includes every Twitter user’s personal information from their age, to who their followers are over to who they follow. It is also the platform that 3rd party apps connect to in order to pull valuable user data to help businesses target their customers more effectively.

How do 3rd party Contest apps use the Twitter API?

When a user enters a contest, they will be asked to connect with the contest app in a pop-up window that appears.

the pop-up will:

• Describe the app• Detail that the data will be transferred through the app to the business running the contest• Include what permission the business has with the users’ account

these are the two permissions that wishpond apps (and most other contest apps) ask for in this transaction:

1. Basic information: Includes age, gender, location and followers of a user. This information allows you to analyze who your users are - and send targeted emails by segmenting users based on these data points - directly within your Wishpond account.

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2. Ability to Tweet on the user’s behalf (optional): This allows our application to publish a Tweet on the user’s Twitter account that invites each of their followers to enter your contest.

3. Ability to ask the permission for the user to follow the merchant’s twitter account before being able to enter the contest (Follow-Gating).

What is the typical drop-off rate that occurs due to this transaction?

Businesses normally see a ~10% drop-off due to some users not wanting to complete this transaction. This is definitely worth the drop-off - not only do you get to see in-depth analytics about your users, but you also get reach to each entrant’s entire Twitter network through the invitation that they Tweet on their feed. The reach is much more effective than that of an ad.

meAsurinG ConTesT roi

ChapTEr 8

wishpond EBOOK


How do I know if my contest was successful? What ROI should I expect?

Every contest will get different results depending on many factors, but this is a list of returns you can expect from running a contest:

• More traffic/followers for your Twitter profile page

• New emails for your email list

• New sales

• This occurs for both group deals and other contests. You will find out how to follow-up with entrants to convert them into customers in Ch. 9 Following-up with Contest entrants

How do I measure my Contests’ ROI?

• In Wishpond’s Merchant Admin you can view participation statistics in real-time to see how effective the promotion is for each contest entrant

• You can use Wishpond’s Analytics to see exactly which demographics are entering your campaigns, in order to see if your contest attracted the desired types of customers

• You can use Google Analytics to track conversions from the follow-up emails sent to contest entrants to see how many purchase post-campaign

foLLowinG-uP wiTh ConTesT enTrAnTs

ChapTEr 9

wishpond EBOOK


In terms of turning contest entrants into customers, this is the most important step. Follow these 3 easy steps for following up with entrants to maximize your contests PR and sales potential:

1. post the winner’s name on each of your social channels

a) This will make users happy because they associate a real person with winning the prize. Furthermore, that person will share about the contest and your brand even more with their followers on Twitter.

b)This will also alleviate any concerns/grievances that some entrants may have - such as no one actually being awarded the prize stated in the contest (these concerns arise much more often that you think!)

2. email the winner and ask them to send a picture of themselves with the prize when they receive it (this image is biG for your company’s pr!)

3. email non-winners with a small consolation prize

Losing is not a nice feeling - even when it’s in a contest. Make every entrant feel like a winner by sending them an exclusive prize - such as a 25% off coupon to your business - and telling them to stay tuned to your Facebook Page for your next contest.

TwiTTer ConTesTs for moBiLe

ChapTEr 10

wishpond EBOOK


nearly 60% oF twitter users aCCess the site on their mobile phones.

If your contest is not optimized for mobile then you are missing out on the massive group of users.

Why?

Currently Twitter does not support 3rd party applications in any of its mobile environments - including their mobile apps and mobile website.

So how do you optimize your contest so mobile users can access it?

Wishpond has the answer!

All of our apps come with a unique redirect link that can be used when promoting your contest.When you send out a contest promo, include the redirect link as the contest call-to-action. When a user clicks on it, our system checks to see if they are on a mobile/tablet device or a desktop computer:

• If the user is on a desktop they will be directed to the contest on your Twitter profile page

• If the user is on a mobile/tablet device they will directed to a mobile web page (hosted by Wishpond) where users can enter and engage with your contest, just as if they were on Twitter

Quick Tip: need to get this redirect link quickly? simply go to your contest entry page and click the Tweet button at the bottom of the entry panel. A Twitter pop-up will appear with a default tweet that includes this link. you can simply copy the link and paste it into your next promo.

GuiDeLines for ConTesTs on TwiTTer

ChapTEr 11

wishpond EBOOK


Although it may seem overwhelming, Twitters Guidelines for Contests are pretty simple.

Here is a brief rundown of the most relevant points:

discourage the creation of multiple accounts

If users make lots of accounts in order to enter a contest more than once, they’re liable to get all of their accounts suspended. Please be sure to include a rule stating that anyone found using multiple accounts to enter will be ineligible.

discourage posting the same tweet repeatedly

Posting duplicate, or near duplicate, updates or links is a violation of the Twitter Rules and jeopardizes search quality. Please don’t set rules to encourage lots of duplicate updates (like saying, “whoever retweets this the most wins”). Your contest or sweepstakes could cause users to be automatically filtered out of Twitter’s search. Plus, instead of their followers seeing your cool contest or sweepstakes, their followers might start getting annoyed by your contest. You might want to set a clear contest rule stating that multiple entries in a single day will not be accepted.

encourage the use of topics relevant to the contest

You might decide to have users include relevant hashtag topics along with the updates (like #contest or #yourcompanyname). Keep in mind that hashtag topics need to be relevant to the update; encouraging users to add your hashtag to totally unrelated updates might cause them to violate the Twitter Rules.

Pro TiPsappEndix a

wishpond EBOOK


pro tips For maximizinG your Contest

1. Post about your contest frequently

2. Run contests for 1-2 weeks at a time

3. Run contests frequently (1-2 per month) - this will keep users engaged with your Page, which will boost your Page’s EdgeRank and in turn create more and more engagement with your Twitter profile page (yes, just like a snowball!)

4. Unless you’re Apple or an electronics retailer, never give away an iPad as a prize. People who enter our contest are people who are interested in iPads, not your brand.

a) Converting those people into customers will be next to impossible. For this reason, always make the prize a gift card to your store, or an item you sell.

5. Post your contests on popular contesting websites. These website attract thousands of users per day who love to enter and share contests and can bring you tons of entrants like Facebook, especially if you don’t currently have many followers.

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GlOssary

Contest: Any Promotion, Contest, Giveaway, etc. that a user can participate in to win a prize, get a coupon, etc.

Follower: A Twitter user who has followed your account on Twitter.

“Follow”: To follow someone on Twitter is to subscribe to their tweets or updates on the site.

“Unfollow”: To cease following another Twitter user. Their tweets no longer show up in your home timeline.

Hashtag: The # symbol is used to mark keywords or topics in a tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users.

Retweet: A tweet by another user, forwarded to you by someone you follow. Often used to spread news or share valuable findings on Twitter.

Third Party Application: A product created by a company other than Twitter and used to access tweets and other Twitter data.

Tweet: A message posted via Twitter containing 140 characters or fewer.

We would love to give you the advantage of our learnings.

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Written by:

Nick Steeves

Director of marketing

wishpond

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