Contests can excite and attract your audience, yielding a significant increase in interactions. But the journey doesn't end with the announcement of the winners. The crucial task begins after the contest, leveraging this engagement for long-term benefits.
Today, we will discuss the post-contest strategies and focus on maintaining the energy generated by the contest, retaining participants, and converting them into loyal customers.
Understanding Your Goals
Setting clear goals is pivotal in guiding post-contest strategies. Whether it's to retain engagement, convert followers into customers, or strengthen brand loyalty, having defined objectives will provide direction to your efforts.
Small Business Trends reported that contests have a high conversion rate, which is higher compared to the other forms of content. And so identifying your goal helps to prioritize and tailor your post-contest actions, enhancing their effectiveness.
Analysis of Contest Data
Post-contest, you will have a wealth of data at your fingertips. Analyzing this data helps to understand your audience better, enabling you to devise more effective strategies. For an in-depth look at how companies have successfully utilized these metrics in their social media contests, consider this article on ShortStack, which details 9 examples of brands crushing social media contests in 2021.
Key metrics to consider during this analysis include demographic information, contest reach, engagement rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, bounce rates, new versus returning visitors, referral traffic, and participant feedback. These metrics can indicate the success of your contest in reaching and engaging the intended audience.
Use analytic tools like Google Analytics, Facebook Insights, or Twitter Analytics to review your contest data effectively. These tools can provide a comprehensive understanding of your audience's behavior during the contest and give you insights into these key metrics, which will serve as useful references for future plans.
Post-Contest Communication
One of the keys to retaining participants is clear, consistent communication post-contest. Announcing winners transparently and timely builds trust among participants.
Simultaneously, keeping all participants informed about future contests and company updates keeps your brand on their radar. According to a survey by Sprout Social, 68% of consumers agree that social media enables them to interact with brands and companies.
Keeping a consistent and open line of communication with your audience allows you to retain their interest, turning them into regular followers, or better yet, customers.
Strategies to Retain Contest Participants
To retain contest participants, consider strategies like special offers, community creation, providing value-adding content, and personalizing engagement.
Exclusive discounts or offers to participants can make them feel valued, increasing the likelihood of their continued engagement. A study by OptinMonster revealed that 60% of consumers subscribe to a brand’s email list to receive promotional messages. Creating a community, like social media groups or forums, where participants can interact, share experiences, or access exclusive content also fosters a sense of belonging.
Further, continuously delivering content that adds value—educational, entertaining, or informative—keeps users engaged with your brand. Personalized engagement, like addressing participants by their names in communications, can also increase retention. According to Retail Touch Points, 36% of shoppers wish brands would do more to offer personalized experiences.
Strategies to Convert Contest Participants
Conversion, in this context, refers to turning a participant into a paying customer. It’s essential to create opportunities for this transition, which can be through special offers, new products, or a compelling call to action.
Wishpond reported that contest emails have an 8% average rate and a 3.73% conversion rate, that’s higher compared to other CTAs. A powerful CTA that drives your audience to your product or service can be a game-changer.
Once conversion strategies are in place, tracking and optimizing conversions is vital. Analytic tools can help track the conversion rate and identify areas for improvement.
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Effective Communication
Connect with participants during and after the contest. Thank them for their participation, share the winner's details, and maintain the excitement with follow-up communication. Also, offer participants exclusive content or deals, making them feel special.
Directly Promote Products/Services
If appropriate, use the contest to showcase your products or services. This could be done by making your product or service the contest's prize or incorporating it in some way within the contest.
Use Email Marketing
Collect email addresses as part of the contest entry (if permitted by your local laws). Use this contact list to share relevant marketing content that offers value to participants, such as exclusive deals, product updates, or valuable content.
Offer Incentives
Consider offering a discount or special promotion to all participants. This will make participants feel valued, increasing the likelihood of converting them into customers.
Ask for Feedback
After the contest, ask participants for feedback about your products or services. This makes participants feel valued and could also give you useful information for improvements.
Follow-up with Engaging Content
If participants have opted to follow your social media platforms as part of the contest, ensure to keep them engaged. Share valuable content, run more contests, and make your social media platforms worth following.
Remarketing Strategy
Use the data collected during the contest for remarketing purposes. Tailor your advertisements and content to these participants, as you already know they have some interest in your brand.
Promote a Loyalty Program
If you have a loyalty or rewards program, share the information with participants. If they see the potential for continued rewards, they're more likely to become customers.
Invite User-Generated Content
Encourage contest participants to share their own content related to your brand, like photos, reviews, or testimonies. This builds a sense of community and makes participants feel more connected to your brand.
Personalized Outreach
Use the information gathered during the contest to personalize your communication with the participants. This could be as simple as using their first names in emails, or as targeted as offering products based on their contest entries.
Leveraging User-Generated Content
User-Generated Content (UGC) refers to any content—text, videos, images, reviews—created by users rather than the brand itself. UGC is a valuable asset that can be encouraged post-contest.
UGC boosts brand credibility by providing real-life testimonials of your products or services. According to Taggbox, consumers find UGC 9.8 times more impactful than influencer content when purchasing.
Promote the creation of UGC by incentivizing reviews or creating shareable moments that users will want to post on their own profiles. Then, with users’ permission, share their content on your brand’s platforms.
Long-Term Benefits of Contests
Contests, especially with effective post-contest strategies, can strengthen customer relationships, boost brand visibility, and encourage user participation in future events.
Customer relationships improve through consistent engagement and personalized experiences. Enhanced brand visibility stems from UGC and word-of-mouth publicity. Finally, a well-executed contest paves the way for higher participation in future contests or events.
Case Studies
A perfect example of an effective post-contest strategy is Dove’s Real Beauty campaign. Dove leveraged UGC and built a community of women sharing their definitions of real beauty. They saw an increase of 700% in sales, and Dove saw a 10% increase in revenues. Dove’s brand received 30 times more media exposure than estimated.
Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign focuses on personalization for engagement. Consumers were encouraged to find bottles with their names on them, leading to a 2% increase in the US and a 7% increase in Australia’s youth. But after they made it global, #ShareACoke became the number one trending topic worldwide.
Conclusion
The power of contests lies not just in the flurry of engagement they generate but in the potential they hold for long-term brand growth. Prioritizing post-contest strategies can help maintain participant interest, convert them into customers, and build a loyal community around your brand.
Author
Kate Banaag is the demand generation manager of Tomedes, a company that provides translation services, interpreting and localization solutions. Drawing from her extensive experience in digital marketing and demand generation, she has authored numerous articles focusing on social media tactics and effective engagement strategies.
