Four Facebook Promotions that Boost Engagement

Do you use Facebook for social media marketing? Do you want to increase the number of people you engage with?

There are so many methods for increasing engagement such as creating highly sharable content, posting photos and videos, and posting at the perfect hour. The most powerful of methods is to run promotions! Promotions draw in visitors to your Facebook page. When you use them correctly, they are also a very valuable for engaging. But how do you select the right type of promotion for your business?

The type of promotions you use for your page will vary. Certain promotions are for different reasons and some work better than others for most businesses. These 4 Facebook promotions are displayed so you can see all the details about them to help you decide which promotions are best for your company.

• Sweepstakes. These promotions are simple to set up and allow your contestants to enter easily. They can enter by completing a simple form and then winners are drawn randomly. You can choose to require your contestants to Like your page in order to access the entry form in order to bring more attention to your efforts.

PROS	CONS
Low barrier to entry (simple form)	If too little is required for entry, you may get contestants outside target audience
Works for many different industries	Users can enter more than once if different information is used (multiple email addresses)
Can gather information needed for further marketing (email, location, interests)	There is limited engagement once a visitor has entered.

Make sure to keep your entry form simple. While there are some pros to a lengthy form, people just won’t get involved if there is too much work to do.  The prize you give away needs to also be relevant to your company. If you give away an iPad, it may not have anything to do with your lanyard store.

• Deals and Offers. This promotion has a low barrier to enter. This often is presented to the user to do something, and when the task is completed, they are granted access to a deal. You can ask your visitors to like your page and get 40% off their next purchase. Other ideas include sharing a post on your Facebook timeline to get a BOGO deal or liking your status for 10% off. Deals are great because users respond well when the task is easy to complete. It’s a simple task for instant gratification.

PROS	CONS
Low barrier to enter (simple task)	Low barrier entry can access those who are not your target audience
Expands reach to different audiences	Users can enter more than once with different information
Pages get something in return, such as further exposure, a like, or an email address	Limited engagement once the visitor has entered

 

Make your deal valuable. If it’s something that your users can pass on, then they won’t even bother to proceed.  Outline the steps clearly and keep the process simple!

• Contest. This promotion is a little different than the sweepstakes or deal offer. This requires more from the user and usually requires some type of skill. Instead of a random drawing to determine the winner, contests typically involve some sort of skill or creation to enter. For instance, you may ask your contestants to submit a photo of the funniest things their dogs do. Then you will hold a voting or judging to choose a winner. Contests are the most commonly used promotion, but there are options within such as video entry, essay or caption.

PROS	CONS
More opportunity for engagement	Barrier can be too high, so people will not as likely enter
Entrants are motivated to share with friends. If they want votes, they will get their friends in on it	Attempts can be made to manipulate fan voting (spamming votes)
Better qualifying of entrants	When your fans vote, the best entry doesn’t always win

 

When promoting a Facebook contest, be very clear about what the entrant needs to submit to meet the criteria. Keep the contest short and sweet so that you’re not dragging out your fans’ attention span. And allow voting to take place once a day. This encourages your fans to come back each day and have something to look forward to.

• Multi-network social promotion. This is an additional promotion that involves Facebook and another social network. You can use Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram or others in cahoots with your Facebook page. The difference from other promotions is that this asks users to perform a task on a different social platform, then reports back to Facebook to receive their prize.

PROS	CONS
Extends brand to more social locations	Narrower audience
Image-driven for better engagement	Not as easy of a task for fans
Works well for a wide variety of businesses	Limitations of the other social network

 

Promotions for Facebook offer the power to draw fans in, help others engage in your business and put you closer to your marketing goals.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us the 1440 Group. To view this full article, click on the link below.

4 Ways to Boost Your Facebook Engagement with Promotions