The Wishpond Blog

5 Ways to Turn your Facebook Cover Photo into a Call-to-Action that Converts

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:27:00 -0700

This blog first appeared on the Wishpond Blog

The cover photo of your Facebook Page is a great piece of marketing real estate. But how can you use it to drive user actions and conversions?

In light of Facebook’s new policy that allows for cover photos to include calls-to-action (CTAs), I analyzed a few dozen cover photos and came up with 5 sure-fire ways to turn them into great CTAs. These will make it fast and easy for you to create your own and start converting visitors.

You may be thinking…

I already make great CTAs on landing pages and my blog posts, can I do the same on my cover photo?

… to a point, yes! In the article I sprinkled in a bit of knowledge that works for normal CTAs on the web to show what transfers over!

OK let’s get to it. Here are 5 easy ways to turn your cover photo into a CTA that converts:

1. Promote a Facebook Page Tab

Facebook Page Tabs are powerful for driving in-Facebook conversions. Studies have shown that Facebook users like to stay in Facebook when browsing. Ads and wall posts that link to external web pages have much lower conversion rates than ones that link to Tabs.

Tabs can house signup forms for webinars and email newsletters, contests & promotions (like those offered by Wishpond), and content such as articles and infographics.

The easiest way to call attention to a Tab with your cover photo is to include an arrow, like in Wishpond’s example below. You may already be a fan of including arrows to point users in the right direction on your website CTAs, so you’ll be able to use this type of formula very easily:

There are two best practices to follow when using this method, which are seen in the example above. These help to decrease user confusion that occurs because the of gap between the cover photo and Tab, as well as the other visual noise in the area:

1. Use the same colors and style in the cover photo and tab icon to make it obvious they are related.

2. Include text that re-affirms what you’re saying in the cover photo. This assures visitors that what they are clicking on is what you’re describing in the cover photo. If you just show a logo on the tab icon, users may get confused about whether or not it is what they are supposed to click.

Make sure to avoid having the arrow point to one of the elements above the tabs, like in the example below. By pointing to the “Like” button, this Page may be confusing users on what exactly to click:

You can avoid this problem by having your “action” Tab be in the second or third tab spot, like the Wishpond example above.

Put this method into action with a cover photo that includes brief, easy-to-read text on the middle-right-side and an arrow pointing down to the Tab that houses the content or registration form. Make sure to include similar text and design on the cover photo and Tab to make it obvious they’re related.

Here’s a bonus example from Livestrong. They used their cover photo and tab icon image in a pretty cool way to draw attention to the blog Tab below. The black background and bright yellow ribbon make the Blog tab stand out, and the path of the ribbon does a great job of carrying your line of sight down the page. This is something you can try on your own Page if you have a bit more design skill than I do:

2. Promote a Website

Driving traffic to an external website from Facebook is tough, as Facebook users are generally hesitant to leave their social network behind. But if you provide some incentive, it can be done. Cover photos can’t be linked to another web page, so you can’t include any normal CTAs like buttons on it. But what you can do is write out the web address with brief verbiage to visit it. Avoid making the web address looking like a hyperlink. Don’t use blue text. Instead, use text like “Visit our website” or “Check out our exclusive at …” to make it obvious to users that they need to type the URL into the address box to access it. Red Bull Racing did a nice job of making the web address stand out by using red text. They also provided a great incentive, with a time-sensitive kicker, to drive traffic to the site. And keeping the CTA to the right will keep it from getting jumbled in with the profile picture on the left side.

Here are examples of two real estate companies, REMAX and Austin Realty, using their cover photo to drive traffic to their website. They both use great text to tell users to check out their website, although REMAX does use a button style around the web address, which I think will confuse some users:

Put this method into action with a cover photo that includes brief, easy-to-read text on the middle-right-side that gives users an incentive to visit you at your web address. Avoid using any design that looks clickable, like a button or hyperlink. Design it as if you were designing a print ad or billboard.

3. Promote a Local Business

There are two ways to promote a local business using your cover photo:

The first is to simply tell people to visit your location and provide your address. This method is very similar to 2. Promote a Website. It can be done by simply. By including a photo of your location’s storefront and your address. Another way to do this is to create a cover photo that includes a screenshot of you location on Google Maps with a text CTA that includes a bit.ly short link to get directions to your location on Google Maps. The short link can direct users directly to the coordinates of your location on the Google Maps website.

An alternative way to promote a local business using Facebook is to offer printable coupons in one of the Tabs that can be used in your physical location. A survey conducted by market research company Lab42 found that the top way people interact with a Page on Facebook is by printing off coupons that Pages offer.

This second method can be executed by adding an arrow that points down to the Tab where the coupon is housed, just like in method 1. Promote a Facebook Page Tab.

4. Promote Gated External Content (Ebooks, Infographics, etc.)

Gated content requires people to fill out a registration form or take some other action to access it, and is one of the cornerstones of inbound marketing. While it is not easy to fit content like ebooks and infographics inside of a Tab, you can fit the registration form inside, like how we did below:

This allows you to use the same strategy as 1. Promote a Facebook Tab even if your content cannot be displayed in a tab. Having the registration form directly in Facebook will increase conversions, as taking users outside of Facebook leads to much lower conversion rates.

Lawyers.com tried a different method below for promoting a new blog post. I think it’s cool that they showed a preview of the content right in the cover photo, but I think they’ll have a tough time getting people to know to find their blog to check out the rest of the post. For this reason I wouldn’t recommend this method. There are tons of custom apps that allow you to house your blog inside a Tab - such as Networked Blogs - and doing this will allow you to create an easy-to-understand CTA for your blog posts:

5. Get More Likes

Cover photo CTAs are a great way to get people to focus on Liking your Page. But if you just give them a CTA that says “Hey Like My Page Please!!!!!”, visitors won’t show you any love. You need to provide an incentive for them to Like you. The transaction of a person Liking your Page is very similar to signing up for a newsletter - you need to provide some value in return for them taking the desired action.

The best incentive is to provide something of value that is “coming soon”. This requires users to Like you in order to hear about the incentive when you post it in the future. This works best when you include text that the incentive is a “Facebook Fan exclusive” - so Liking you is the ONLY way to get in on it.

So what can you use as an incentive??

In descending order, these are the three best types of incentives that I have seen work for our customers to get people to Like their Facebook Pages:

1. Contests: Giving people a chance to win a big prize is the best incentive. It creates excitement within people, and also gives them something awesome to share with friends - especially if the prize is something exclusive, like an unreleased product or tickets to a sold-out event.

2. Coupons: Even though they’re not very sexy, coupons are always great. People love to feel like they’re getting a deal and will easily pay the transaction fee of Liking your Page to get it, even if they’re not sure they will use it. It’s also a great way to get “deal mavens” sharing your Page with their friends. “Deal mavens” are people, generally mothers, who love to be able to tell their friends about great deals, especially when they’re the first to know. They are easily acquired by the promise of “exclusive deals” that they can share with their friends directly on Facebook.

3. Exclusive Content: This needs to VERY exclusive content - the best being the first images and videos from a live event. For example, many fashion retailers incentivize new fans by making Facebook the first place they post images and video of their fashion shows - even going so far as to post behind-the-scenes exclusives only on Facebook, that they don’t post on their website or make available to the press.

Put this method into action with a cover photo that includes brief, easy-to-read text on the right-side and an arrow pointing down to the Like button. Make sure to include a timeline for when and how often the incentive will be available.

Best Practices for all Cover Photo CTAs

Don’t use elements that look like buttons or anything clickable: I know that when you click the cover photo, you’re taken to the image lightbox that includes the photo description, which can include a link to an external website, but I just haven’t seen those links get many clicks. People don’t think to interact with the cover photo with that conversion path in mind. So you must include all of the necessary information on the cover photo itself.

Use landing pages within Facebook: Studies have shown that Facebook users don’t like to be taken outside of Facebook. So whenever possible, make the landing page of your CTA a Tab on your Facebook Page. Tabs can house any manner of web content, including contests, coupons, registration forms and infographics. A static HTML app for Facebook Pages like Static HTML Plus gives you full control over the HTML that appears within a Tab, just like any web page. Apps like Wishpond make it easy to run contests and promotions in a Facebook Page Tab without any technical skills.

Don’t have content hidden behind the profile image: It is possible to include a link in the description of a cover photo, but I don’t recommend this! The cover photo is not something people are used to clicking, so hiding anything behind it will not be seen by many.

Keep it simple and avoid the Profile Picture: Use a solid background with a simple CTA on the middle or right-side of the cover photo. There is already a ton of visual noise on your Page, so isolating the CTA on a contrasting color block will help it to stand out. And keeping it to the middle and right-side of the cover photo will keep it from blending in or hiding behind the Profile Picture.

** BONUS ANALYSIS - Sponsored Stories

In March, Facebook rolled out a new look for Sponsored Stories of Facebook Pages your friends have “Liked” which include the profile image and cover photo:

These stories show only the bottom-third of the cover photo. If you’re planning to run a Sponsored Story for your Page, keep this in mind and keep the CTA of your cover photo within the visible area.

Wishpond social campaign apps make it easy to get more fans, email and customers. Get started with vote contests, photo contests, video contests and more on Twitter, Facebook and websites.

Increase Engagement: 7 Reasons Why You Need Facebook Contests

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:55:00 -0700

“Increase Engagement”

How many times have you seen that on your social media to-do list?

Photos and videos are great for sustaining interest in your brand on Facebook, but to incentivize people to share about and engage with your Page, a contest is what you need. Let me show you why…

I did some digging on the subject of why people “Like” and “Engage” with brands on Facebook, and found a great study by market research company Lab42.

The top reasons people “Like” a brand on Facebook are promotions/discounts (34% of respondents) and free giveaways (21% of respondents), respectively. And the top reason people said they interacted with a brand on Facebook is to print off coupons.

I’ve put these stats to the test with our customers, and see the real results that a contest can bring to a Facebook Page.

In this post I’ll discuss the top 7 returns on investment (ROIs) I have seen our customers achieve by running contests that make them their secret weapon for engagement on Facebook.

1. Increase Fan Base

When you run a great contest that is attractive to your target market, be sure to like-gate it.

What is like-gating, you ask?

Like-gating is when a potential entrant must ‘like’ your Facebook page in order to take part in the contest you are running.

This is a common practice for many businesses who use contests. I can hear many of you protesting this, and saying “but by asking contestants to ‘like’ my page, aren’t I deterring them from entering?”

The answer I would say is “no”. Why?

If your contest resonates well with your market, a simple ‘like’ to your page will not lead them away. In fact, if the contest really connects, your potential entrant would be more than willing to take the extra step in liking your page. The contestant may even feel a closer emotional bond with your brand by your ask.

A contest that connects is good marketing.

2. Boost Traffic

Contests are a great way to boost traffic to your Facebook Page.

Why?

Contests are a marketer’s dream in some ways. They provide an exciting event, with a limited time frame. A limited time frame creates scarcity. Scarcity is a great way to generate motivation in a consumer. You can also create scarcity by offering a limited number of prizes.

Observing this first hand, it is really quite amazing how excited people can get about a whole myriad of products when limitations are set.

A brilliant example of boosting traffic we have seen at Wishpond is by Diamond Candles.

Diamond Candles used Facebook sweepstakes to gain over 30,000 new fans in less than 6 weeks. Diamond Candles sells candles with real rings in the bottom.

They ran weekly sweepstakes, giving away - candles.

In less than 6 weeks, they exceeded expectations for gaining an enormous Facebook fan base - generating over 30,000 new fans. Not only that, but they created a bit of a social phenom.

Facebook pages have been popping up from excited Diamond Candles fans, and organic growth of videos with excited customers getting to their ring are now abundant.

This is brilliant marketing, using Facebook contests to increase traffic, and drive sales.

Read the Diamond Candles case study.

Go ahead and capitalize on contests, with limited engagement opportunities. It will boost traffic to your Facebook Page.

3. Produce User-Generated Content

Facebook contests, like Photo Contests, Video Contests and Essay contests can produce valuable user-generated content (ugc).

What is ugc?

User-generated content is content that is created and uploaded by your users, or Fans. Let’s take a photo contest, for example.

One of our customers, Relix, hosts photo contests on their Facebook page.

Relix is a top music information source online, and they have a printed magazine too. They run contests to increase engagement with their Facebook fans, and generate excitement about their Page.

Knowing the wants of both their readers and their magazine, they run photo contests.

The magazine wants good, authentic photos of live music. Their readers want to show the cool concerts they were at, and the unique photos they can take.

They create a theme for their photo contest by asking for live music related content. The top ten photos get to be published in their next magazine.

Their ongoing contests have generated a tremendously engaged following. Their Facebook fan base is now over 50,000, and they regularly have over 8,000 fans interacting with their page in one way or another.

Additionally, by collecting this ugc, they are able to share the photos with their Fans and subscribers, creating very real and authentic content. The fans can feel very connected to the Relix brand.

Brilliantly, Relix has given the opportunity for their own fans to be a part of the brand - and be featured in the rock star magazine.

4. Generate Target Market Opinions

Facebook contests such as vote contests engage your target market. You are, after all, asking your market for their views and opinions. I may be off on this one, but in my experience, people generally like to express their views and opinions. What do you think?

If you can make your contest really resonate with your market, your contest will increase interactions on your Facebook page.

In the example, below, a toy store wants to increase engagement on their Facebook page. Additionally, they are cleverly marketing their products and generating excitement for their soon to be shipped LEGO sets.

By targeting this contest to interested customers, the store increases engagement by asking for opinions.

Additionally, because they are using Wishpond vote contests, anyone who votes will automatically post about the contest on their Facebook wall. This increases engagement to friends of friends.

5. Increase Sharing and Virality

An ultimate goal of any great social media marketing plan is get your campaign shared and to go viral.

This is not so different than marketing campaigns of old. The more your marketing campaign is shared - whether through word of mouth or various forms of media - generally, the better your success.

Social media is all about sharing. With interactive Facebook content like contests, sweepstakes and group deals, your brand can get shared - a lot.

Create a contest that is relevant to your brand, has an element of fun or excitement, and gets your community interested. Make it easy and fun to engage. Your consumer will share it.

On third party apps like Wishpond’s, once a contestant enters, a post is automatically sent to their Facebook wall, which spreads your contest to friends of your fans.

Friends of your fans are likely your target market too, as they are friends and share some interests. This makes your contest have the very real potential to go viral.

6. Generate Conversations

Contests create dialogues between your business and your consumers. Contests on Facebook make is easy to get friends talking to friends about your brand.

The expression ‘word of mouth’ rings very true in social media. Facebook is a place where friends go to talk to each other. Create an interactive contest with, make it authentic, make it resonate, and you will be talked about.

All kinds of businesses, from multi-million dollar productions to the local mom-and-pop shop are realizing the benefits of running Facebook contests.

Below is an example of the hit TV show on A&E, “Storage Wars”. They are hosting a photo caption contest (disclosure - not using Wishpond apps, but they could be…) on their popular Facebook page.

The Storage Wars Facebook page has over 35,000 fans talking about the page. The more interactive your posts are on Facebook, the more conversations they will garner.

Contests hit the mark on generating interactive content.

7. Grow your Email List

Contests can create engagement long after the excitement has passed.

Collect entrants’ emails, or “email-gate” your sweepstakes.

A good third party contest app, like Wishpond, enables you to easily see and categorize all of the emails you collect. Wishpond’s Contact Database lets you export your customer information too.

Check out a previous article I wrote on How to Get Email Leads with Facebook and Twitter Contests for more tips.

So what will you do the next time your social media to-do list is comprised of “increase engagement”?

Give a Facebook contest campaign a try, and let me know how it goes.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

The future of social is changing how we interact. Are you engaging digitally with your consumers? Wishpond social promotion apps make it easy. Get interacting with vote contests, photo contests, video contests and more on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, mobile and more.

Should You Hire a Ghostwriter for Your Blog?

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:49:00 -0700

You already know about the benefits a blog can bring to your business: more pages for your website, better SEO, and an accessible forum where customers can comment and interact. The tricky part of successful blogging, however, is finding the time and know-how to keep up a conversation. Blogging is a commitment; you need to carve out time to write, come up with ideas for posts, and fit in keywords and other SEO tools, all while running the rest of your business.

Somebody’s gotta do it—but it doesn’t have to be you. To receive all the benefits of blogging without the hassle, consider hiring a ghostwriter. Unsure? This list of benefits makes a solid case for why you should bring another person on board to manage your blog.

Sometimes, Money Can Buy Experience

Writing isn’t an easy task; it can be a challenge to keep providing valuable information to your clientele and to clearly convey your vision and message. Stilted or jargon-heavy blog posts aren’t readable, but sometimes it can be time-consuming—or virtually impossible— to come up with the perfect sentence. When you hire a ghostwriter, you know you’re getting experience in effective communication, SEO skills, and the power of words. You’re paying someone to do what you could technically do yourself, but they can do it faster and better, with less stress on you.

Reach Farther and Wider

A ghostwriter working for your blog is going to work within your parameters. Whether that’s blog post length, topic, or just a general tone, a good ghostwriter follows your lead. That said, he or she isn’t you, and therefore will bring a new perspective to your blogging endeavors. Your blog may become relatable for a new group of people, thanks to the ghostwriter’s insights, or his or her skillset may expand your reach to new markets. Having fresh eyes on your business and one of its main presentations, your blog, can help keep you relevant and on track.

Stay Strong for Success

If you’ve been writing your own blog for any length of time, you’ve probably run up against one of the biggest issues: burnout. No matter how passionate you are about what you do, finding fresh conversations, informative news, and topic ideas for your blog inevitably becomes a tiresome process. Slacking off, however, makes you look unprofessional and less than committed. Again, this is where a ghostwriter can save the day. By creating a steady stream of professional content, you’ll maintain your standing and go farther than you would as the sole blogger.

Quite simply, ghostwriters make you look better. They enhance the prestige of your business by generating a well-written commentary on relevant issues, and they open new marketing doors with their SEO knowledge and social networking ability. It’s time you turned over your blog to the pros, and focused on what you do best—running and growing the business.

(Photo Source)

Megan Totka is the Chief Editor for ChamberofCommerce.com. She specializes on the topic of small business tips and resources. ChamberofCommerce.com helps small businesses grow their business on the web and facilitates connectivity between local businesses and more than 7,000 Chambers of Commerce worldwide.

[Infographic] The Top 7 Tips to Get More Followers on Twitter

Mon, 13 May 2013 13:03:00 -0700

Do you want to know how to get more followers on Twitter? Many businesses are now using this social platform as part of their social media marketing strategy.

I’ve put together seven tips to increase engagement and get more followers for your business tweets.

Click here to see a larger version of this infographic.

Wishpond social campaign apps make it easy to get more fans, emails and customers. Get started with vote contests, photo contests, video contests and more on Twitter, Facebook and websites.

5 Tips: How to Promote a Facebook Contest with a Press Release

Mon, 13 May 2013 07:30:00 -0700

Use a press release to promote your Facebook contest.

In addition to cross-promoting on social media sites, targeted ads, and even in-store marketing, use earned media as part of your business marketing strategy. This tactic is often overlooked, but when written effectively, a press release can be a great boost to your business.

In this article, we will give you essential tips on how to write a press release to gain more interest in your Facebook contest.

5 tips on how to write a press release for your Facebook contest:

Make your Facebook Contest Newsworthy
Keep Your Press Release to the Point
Tone Your Release Objectively
Create a Great Headline
Include Business Contact Information

Make it Newsworthy

Newspaper sites print stories that are of interest to their subscribers. Write an interesting newsworthy angle for your Facebook contest news.

Make it timely and time based. Show how the contest is relevant to the media sites you are targeting, and not just about your Facebook promotion.

For example, let’s say you are a local coffee shop running a Facebook group offer. You might want to give partial proceeds of every group offer sale to a local charity. Write about this in your press release. A local print newspaper may be more likely to run your story.

Or, write a press release with the angle about being the first local business in your community to use Facebook contests.

Keep it to the Point

Good news releases are generally one page in length. Keep your word count in the 300-800 range.

Often, media sites will print your story as is. If it is too long or too short, it may prevent your press release from coverage.

Additionally, make sure your message is clear. State what the press release is about and why it’s newsworthy in your opening summary.

Tone the Press Release Objectively

Use third person in your news releases. Only use first person in quotes from your company representative.

Don’t oversell your contest, and don’t use excited punctuation like exclamation marks. You do not want your release to come across as being overly salesy, or full of hype. This will likely be rejected by a media site.

Keep the tone professional to give your press release credibility.

Create a Great Headline

Your headline is one of the most important aspects of your news release. Write your words to clearly summarize what your story is about. Include your company name too.

A headline may be the only thing people read of your press release. A catchy headline may actually get your story printed - and read.

Check out the article: 5 Awesome Tips: How to Make Killer Blog Headlines for headline making hints.

Include Contact Information

There may be nothing worse in a press release than forgetting to include your contact information.

The media could have a question for you, or need an additional quote regarding your Facebook contest. If you have no contact information, this may lose you the earned media opportunity. Make sure you include a name and contact as your company media liaison.

Your contact information should include an email, as well as your Facebook page (where your contest is). You could include a phone number, and all other social sites your company has.

Try writing a press release for your next Facebook contest. Let us know how you did.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

At Wishpond, we want you to be the best marketer you can be. That’s why we’ve created a whole range of social marketing apps - making your successes a little easier.

5 Business Branding Tips: Facebook Contests

Fri, 10 May 2013 07:01:42 -0700

Branding your business on Facebook is part of any good social media marketing strategy.

By creating branded engagement and interaction on your Facebook page, you can increase brand awareness, rack up marketing touchpoints, and spread your message to friends of friends.

An increasingly popular tactic of brand building is Facebook contests.

We’ve put together a few tips to help with your next Facebook contest campaign.

5 Branding Tips using Facebook Contests:

Make Facebook Contests a Part of Your Social Marketing Strategy
Run Your Facebook Contests Frequently and Consistently
Keep Facebook Sweepstakes Prizes Brand Related
Create Contests to Get Brand Related User-Generated Content
Make a Facebook Vote Contest to Conduct Market Research for Your Brand

1. Make Facebook Contests a Part of Your Social Marketing Strategy

First and foremost: include contests in your social marketing plans.

By integrating contests into your social media marketing strategy, you will be creating more engaging social media for your brand. More engagement means more touchpoints with your customers.

Contests, by their very nature, are interactive content. Interactive content that is branded will reinforce your business image to your Facebook Fans.

3rd party apps, like Wishpond’s, take your contest further. Every time a participant enters your contest, an auto-invite is sent to the participant’s Facebook timeline. This makes your brand reach further to friends of friends.

In many cases, friends of friends are your target market too.

2. Run Your Facebook Contests Frequently and Consistently

To have a larger impact, run Facebook contests frequently and consistently. Run a contest every month, or even more often.

An amazing example is from Qwertee.com. They ran our Facebook sweepstakes every week. Qwertee makes limited edition t-shirts. In their sweepstakes they gave away t-shirts every week.

Their lofty goal was to reach 100,000 Facebook Fans.

They accomplished this ambitious goal.

In fact, they now have an incredible fan base of over 105,000!

Their large Facebook following is deeply active and engaged. By increasing their fan base through fun interactions, Qwertee.com has created a quirky, cool brand image.

Additionally, they continue to interact with these consumers, increasing the number of touchpoints with each of the over 105,000 potential consumers. Their regular brand-related Facebook updates keep showing up in their fans’ feeds.

3. Keep Facebook Sweepstakes Prizes Brand Related

When making prizes for your Facebook contest, keep them relevant to your brand. A gift card, or offer for free services makes a great reward.

The motivation to enter is related to your brand, so you will attract targeted participants who are interested in your wares.

Diamond Candles did a first class job of brand related Facebook sweepstakes. Diamond Candles sells candles with real rings in the bottom. They wanted to increase their reach on Facebook.

They ran weekly sweepstakes, giving away - candles.

In less than 6 weeks, they exceeded expectations for gaining an enormous Facebook fan base - generating over 30,000 new fans. Not only that, but they created a bit of a social phenom.

Facebook pages have been popping up from excited Diamond Candles fans, and organic growth of videos showing excited customers getting to their ring are now abundant.

This is brilliant marketing, using Facebook contests to spread their brand.

Read the Diamond Candles case study.

4. Create Contests to Get Brand Related User-Generated Content

Facebook contests can produce user-generated content. Set up a photo contest, a video contest, or an essay contest.

In a photo contest, for example, ask participants to upload photos related to your brand or product.

As an example, a sunglass retailer could set up a photo contest on their Facebook Page. The photo contest could be to send in pictures of entrants’ favourite brand name sunglasses. The photos will be voted on, and the top ten images will receive a $100 gift card to their sunglass store.

This will get contestants excited about creatively taking photos of these particular branded sunglasses. With a voting element, it will encourage sharing of the photo, and the sunglass retailer brand.

Additionally, in using a 3rd party app like Wishpond, when a contestant enters a contest, an auto-post is sent to their Facebook timeline. This spreads your brand exponentially.

5. Make a Facebook Vote Contest to Conduct Market Research for Your Brand

Vote contests on Facebook are easy ways to engage your consumer. Set up vote contests that include your business, product or brand. Conduct market research with your Facebook Fans by asking your customers what they want.

In this example, a toy store that sells LEGO is deciding what LEGO set to next be shipped. They cleverly put this vote contest question out to their Facebook fans, to conduct a quick and easy bit of market research to find out what their consumers want.

Additionally, because when a entrants votes, an auto-post is sent to their Facebook updates, the store’s contest is spread to friends of friends. The consumer’s friends are likely to be the store’s target market as well.

This brands the store as interactive, and as caterer’s to their customers’ desires.

It is a fun and engaging way to promote the store’s new product too.

You could use vote contests to:

name a new product
choose a new logo
decide on a new product line

Branding on Facebook means being interactive. Contests spread your brand and reach your target exponentially.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

Increase Social Media ROI With Contests & Promotions

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:43:00 -0700

I’ve been told by many peers that social media ROI is a fantasy and cannot be achieved. It may not be the easiest thing to measure, but it is most definitely attainable. The term “social media ROI” is not interpreted the same by everyone. There is a loose definition that (in my opinion) isn’t necessarily basing ROI just on financial return.

Social ROI via contests can help you increase brand awareness„ discover and analyze leads, and connect with your customer via social media marketing. Social contests/promotions on networks such as Facebook and Twitter can make your job of measuring and increasing ROI much easier.

Here are 3 tips for increasing your ROI on Facebook and Twitter with contests:

1. When running a contest or promotion, keep in mind the benefits of email marketing. It still rules in the world of online marketing. If you’re asking for emails for entry to your contests, you will be able to grow an email list of leads.

Learn more about email lead generation through social contests and promotions in “How to Get Email Leads with Facebook and Twitter Contests.”

2. Mobile compatible contests mean fans and followers can access your contest anywhere. Did you know that 75% of Americans bring their phone with them when going to the washroom?

Using a 3rd party contest app (such as Wishpond) with mobile compatibility is essential in this day and age. The use of social networks on mobile is only going to increase.

3. Analytics make your job a whole lot easier when tracking ROI of a contest or promotion.

With analytics, you can discover the exact interests of each demographic, the top demographics of each interest, etc. This collection of detailed social data of your contacts allows you to re-target more effectively.

Of course, analytics vary depending on which 3rd party app you’re using.. With Wishpond’s Analytics, finding out who your leads are is simple. Every lead captured using Wishpond is stored with the following data:

Demographics (Age, Gender & Location)
Interests
Likes

You can even build custom entry forms for your contest to optimize the information you would like to receive from your entrants.

What are your most effective methods for increasing social media ROI?

Written by Cara Tarbaj @ Wishpond

How to Get Email Leads with Facebook and Twitter Contests

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:56:00 -0700

Email lead generation is still one of the most effective ways to gain sales. Using social media marketing to generate these leads is a win-win opportunity to increase your business ROI.

In this article, we will show you how to generate email leads by using Facebook and Twitter contests.

Social contests - done right - make email capture simple.

5 Tips to Generate Email Leads through Facebook and Twitter:

use a 3rd party contest app
email-gate your social contests
make your contests enticing to enter
collect Facebook open-graph data
export emails and follow-up

1. Use a 3rd Party Contest App

If your goal is to generate email leads, using a 3rd party app makes your job a whole lot easier.

Contest apps, like Wishpond’s, enable you to collect entrants’ emails, easily sort them, and even export them to your CRM of choice.

This is in addition to the fact that, to be legal, Facebook contests must be run through a 3rd party app.

2. Email-Gate Your Social Contests

To get emails, you need to ask for them. By creating an email-gated contest, entrants must submit their email in order to take part.

In the example, below, Lookout Blizzard set up a Sweepstakes on Facebook, and email-gated it. In order to enter, to win an iPad Mini, contestants must simply enter their email.

Lookout Blizzard can then use the collected email for future lead generation.

3. Make your Contests Enticing to Enter

Contests and sweepstakes are in themselves a good motivator to entice future consumers to give you their email.

To gain more success in generating email leads, create contests that are interesting and engaging for your target market.

In this hugely successful Twitter contest example from Diamond Candles, over 8,000 contestants entered to win their giveaway of popular candles.

Ok, the team at Diamond Candles are marketing geniuses, and have created a frenzy with their candle giveaways….but their email collection in the process has been second to none. Create contests that fit with your consumer mindset, and your email leads will grow.

4. Collect Facebook Open-Graph Data

3rd Party contest apps, like Wishpond’s app, are integrated directly with all the rich customer data from Facebook’s Open Graph.

In addition collecting entrants emails, you are able to collect more targeted information. Entering through Facebook, the contestant is asked to allow our app to gain access to their Facebook profile information.

Wishpond apps lets you collect this information, such as contestants’ birthday, likes and location. You are then able to integrate this into your email database system. Yes, using good 3rd party apps lets you have access to all of this customer information.

5. Export Emails and Follow-up

Not all contest apps are created equally. Some of the better apps, like Wishpond’s (ok, I’m biased), make exporting all your email data easy. After your contest is complete, it’s a few simple steps to export your email list, with the contestant data. Wishpond’s Contact Database is compatible with most CRM systems, including Excel.

Generating email leads through social media contests is a smart new way to increase your sales potential. Let us know your marketing success stories.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

8 Tips for Acquiring Quality Facebook Fans

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:08:00 -0700

It’s not just about getting more Facebook fans - it’s about getting quality fans that will engage with your Facebook Page time and time again. We all know that quality content keeps users returning to your page, but how do you attract new ones?

8 tips for enticing new Facebook fans to like your page:

Analyze the effectiveness of your content with Facebook Insights.
Syndicate your Facebook Page link throughout the internet.
Consider timing.
Suggest to friends.
Embed widgets on your website and/or blog.
Run Contests.
Create Facebook Ads.
Add your Facebook Page’s link to your email signature.

1. Analyze the effectiveness of your content with Facebook Insights.

Facebook has made some recent changes to their Facebook Page layouts and now include a preview of Facebook Insights right when you click on your Page. It’s a great reminder to delve further into your Insights and figure out which content is most effective with your audience.

Page Insights are available on your Facebook Page’s Admin Panel.

The most important metric to track is Virality. Virality refers to the percentage of users who have created a story (liked, commented on or shared) from your post out of the total number of unique users who have seen it. As a rule, I consider a post engaging enough to promote (or continue a promotion) if it’s getting 4% – 5% Virality.

To learn more about analyzing Facebook Insights, read “Facebook Insights to Analyze Your Facebook Content Marketing.”

2. Syndicate your Facebook Page link throughout the internet.

Spread the word of your Facebook Page. Put your Facebook Page link in your Twitter description, add it to your Pinterest profile, and more. Any social networks you’re on, find a place in your bio to add a link to your Facebook business page.

Even add the link to your personal Facebook timeline and link to it on personal blog in articles (if you have one).

3. Consider timing

Timing is an important aspect of anything - don’t post too frequently in a short period of time.It’s honestly a waste of your time. Wait an hour (or more) to avoid annoying your Facebook fans and hurting your success with Facebook’s EdgeRank.

Edgerank will single your Page out if you’re posting too much in a certain period of time. It will decide that your post doesn’t need to be seen in as many News Feeds, therefore limiting your reach.

4. Suggest to friends

It’s not recommended to suggest your page to all of your friends on Facebook, unless of course they’re all your close friends and family. Consider your friends that would legitimately be interested in liking your page. If you are constantly asking people to like your Page, they will become annoyed.

5. Embed widgets on your website and blog

Embedding widgets on your blog will make your Facebook Page easy to like through your blog and/or website. Visitors will not have to flock to Facebook to like your Page, it’s right there on the site for them. Convenience!

The like button widget will help you gain more Facebook likes. Here’s a how-to video to add it to your website: http://bit.ly/XweeIT

If you have a blog, make sure to get sharing widgets for your posts. It’s another convenient way for fans to easily share your content on Facebook.

6. Run Contests.

Running contests and promotions on your Facebook Page can engage viewers and attract new fans. Contests can be really easy to set up and generally don’t require technical skills. It doesn’t matter how many fans you currently have, contests can always increase your number of fans and level of engagement.

Wishpond provides easy Facebook contests. Check out some of our customer case studies to see how well running contests has worked for them.

7. Create Facebook Ads.

Facebook Advertising is a powerful platform to target new users and to give your campaign a boost! Are you trying to reach your audience, but no one seems to know your Facebook Page exists?

Facebook Ads are great for providing reach to new Facebook users, that Ads can convert into fans for you. Promote helpful content as opposed to promotional product/service content so they know you provide value.

8. Add your Facebook Page link to your email signature.

Think about how many emails you send out per day. Having the link to your Facebook Page in your email signature makes it easily accessible for people to check out your business.

If you have employees, get them to do so as well.

Written by: Cara Tarbaj @ Wishpond

7 Tips: How to Run a Successful Pinterest Contest

Wed, 08 May 2013 08:01:00 -0700

Creating engaging Pinterest Contests are an amazing way to reach your market on the world’s fourth largest social media network.

Contests create interactions, mentions and referrals about your brand. Referrals, interactions and mentions on Pinterest result in sales.

We wanted to give you a few tips on how to run a successful Pinterest contest.

7 Tips for How to Run a Successful Pinterest Contest:

Make the Pinterest contest easy to enter
Make the contest visually appealing
Make your sweepstakes prize appealing
Ask for a repin
Ask for contestants to create boards
Make your Pinterest contest mobile friendly
Cross-promote your contest through Facebook, Twitter and your website

1. Make the Pinterest contest easy to enter

It sounds simple, but if your contest or sweepstakes is easy to enter, more people will enter.

Create a pinterest sweepstakes that just requires an email to take part. Or, make it as simple as asking for a comment on the Pin.

Check out how Gilt Home has used this to Pinterest contest success:

A significant benefit of your contest is to gain more emails for future follow-up and CRM leads. It is also a great way to create brand awareness for your business. The more people who enter, the more your contest pin will be repinned.

Make your contest simple, and you will have more success.

2. Make the contest visually appealing

Pinterest boards are very visual. Keep your contest pins on Pinterest visual.

Check out how brands like Sephora make successful visual Pinterest contest pins:

By using seasonal colours, and showing samples of their Spring collection, Sephora creates visual appeal. They are also very savvy in both creating engagement, and promotion of their latest products.

3. Make your sweepstakes prize appealing

Keep your target market in mind when you are developing the prize for your contest. The more appealing it is to your customer, the more entrants you will get.

You might give away a gift card, a guest blog post, a book, or even an experience. If your prize connects with your audience, you can create a referral frenzy. On Pinterest, referrals result in higher spending.

Check out how Etsy uses Pinterest contests to giveaway a branded gift card, and a book appealing to their market:

4. Ask for a repin

84% of Pinterest users time is spent repinning. Cater to this desire!

In your contest, ask entrants to repin it to win it. This not only gives what your audience what they want, it also gives you what you want: to spread your contest to their Friends.

5. Ask for contestants to create boards

If your contest prize is appealing, and you can invoke motivation in your contestants, ask your dedicated Followers to create their own Pinterest boards to enter.

Carnival Cruise Lines is brilliant in their Pinterest contest interactions. In their “Create a Winning Pin Board Contest”, they ask entrants to make four boards with pictures of their dream destinations.

Not only does this spread their brand, through friends of friends on Pinterest, it gets contestants to actively think about their dream vacations, and share it with their friends. Carnival Cruise Lines becomes associated with these destinations.

6. Make your Pinterest contest mobile friendly

Mobile is quickly becoming the most common method to access social media. Make sure your Pinterest contests are optimized for mobile devices like phones and tablets.

An easy way to do this is to use a third party contest app, like Wishpond. Not only do we make your social contests easy to set up, are ready for mobile, we give you simple to use analytics and exportable CRM lists.

7. Cross-promote your contest through Facebook, Twitter and your website

When you run a contest on Pinterest, make sure you promote it to all of your social media networks. Post it to your Facebook page, tweet it through Twitter, and post a blog about it.

Using our social contest apps, you can even run a Pinterest contest through your Facebook, Twitter, website, blog, or a Wishpond hosted landing page.

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

How to Properly Run a Photo Contest on Facebook

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:15:00 -0700

Running Photo Contests on Facebook can allow you to capture new leads, understand your customers better, and increase fans and engagement on your Facebook Page.

Unfortunately, one contest isn’t going to do the trick - there are many steps involved in maintaining a successful reputation as a contest holder. Below are steps you must take before your contest, during your contest, and after your contest.

The top 7 tips to running an awesome photo contest:

1. Give away your product, service or gift card.

2. Put a reasonable time limit on your photo contest.

3. Attract new leads with syndication.

4. Grow your email list.

5. Offer a consolation prize to non-winners.

6. Make sure your Photo Contest is optimized for mobile.

7. Run contests consistently.

1. Give away your product, service or gift card.

At first it may seem like a great idea to give away an iPad. Everyone wants one of those, right? Sure, you may get a booming number of entrants, but the likelihood of them actually being interested in your business is very low. Entrants will generally be interested in the iPad and not your business. Unless you conveniently sell iPads, it’s not wise to give away something unrelated to your industry.

Giving away a gift card for your products/services is smart because you will get people who are most definitely interested in your business, and it lets them choose their prize. Offering a product/service works effectively as well.

2. Put a reasonable time limit on your photo contest.

I can’t count how many times I’ve seen a business run a photo contest on Facebook for over a month. By stretching your contest out this long will mean people will lose interest and likely forget they have even entered.

Give it a logical time limit relative to the type of photo contest you’re holding. A week is a good general time limit for most photo contests. Try to keep them shorter than a month so people don’t forget about your contest.

3. Attract new leads with syndication.

Not only should you promote your Facebook photo contest on your other various social networks (such as Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc.), you should promote your contest on websites that host social contests.

Did you know that there are a bunch of websites that host contests just like yours? They’re a great way to further promote your contest and broaden its reach to new leads.

These websites attract thousands of users per day who love to enter and share contests with their friends and family. They promote these contests on their various social networks, such as Facebook. These users can bring you tons of entrants from different places. This is great for businesses with low engagement on their Facebook Page.

Read our article covering the top 19 websites to host a contest.

4. Grow your email list.

People will often hold “DIY contests” where they require you to share or comment on a photo in order to enter their Facebook contest. There are no long-term benefits from this method. This impersonal attempt at engagement will not not convert those potential leads into customers.

It’s best to use a third party app that can supply you with the right kind of contest that collects the right kind of data that you can use long term.

Email is still king in online marketing and should be treated as such. It is personal and direct, and it’s what going to give you the best ability to convert your new leads. A contest that collects email addresses is key.

5. Offer a consolation prize to non-winners.

Since you’ve followed the above suggestions, you will have a list of email addresses. Now you can show your appreciation for their involvement in your Facebook photo contest.

If you’ve followed the rules above about giving away something that you actually offer (such as a gift card) everyone who entered should be interested in your products/services. So why not offer them a minor discount as a consolation prize? Send out an email with a 20% off coupon. This way, they’ll feel better about the loss - and the odds are they’ll either pay you or your website a visit.

6. Make sure your photo contest is optimized for mobile.

It’s predicted that by 2014, mobile internet usage will surpass desktop internet usage. Isn’t that enough to convince you that your social contest needs to be optimized for mobile?

7. Run contests consistently.

If you run a contests consistently, your fans will develop anticipation for the upcoming ones. This keeps them engaged and bringing them back to your Facebook Page constantly. It’s perfect if you’re able to run a contest 1-2 times per month.

Check out the other types of Facebook contests your business can run.

Written by Cara Tarbaj @ Wishpond

Now you’re equipped with some handy tips to make the most out of your Facebook photo contests. Try one out and let us know what you think.

At Wishpond, we want you to be the best marketer you can be. That’s why we’ve created a whole range of social promotion apps - making your successes a little easier.

[Infographic] Mother's Day Spending & Purchase Intent

Tue, 07 May 2013 09:30:30 -0700

More people send cards for Mother’s Day more than any other day of the year. Second to Christmas, consumers buy more gifts for Mother’s Day than any other holiday.

This infographic highlights the extreme spending that goes on each year for Mother’s Day.

Key takeaways:

The average person will spend $152 on Mother’s Day
1/4 will purchase a gift for Mom on their tablet
14.6 billion will be spent on Mother’s Day
24% of holiday purchases take place on Mother’s Day

Written by Cara Tarbaj @ Wishpond

3 Social Marketing Tips: Art Supplies Store

Tue, 07 May 2013 07:45:00 -0700

In social media marketing, art supply stores, like any retail business, face the particular challenge of framing their products within the wider scope of their customers needs and interests. Social media provides incredibly creative and engaging new ways to reach your market.

Social Media Marketing campaigns, such as those provided by Wishpond, can be used to bolster your existing sales promotions, facilitate new and creative promotional campaigns as well as to boost your social influence and credibility and to ultimately achieve a greater online presence.

What can you expect in terms of ROI

increase awareness of sales promotions
reach new customers with the right appeals to their needs and interests
increase brand awareness and loyalty
Gain insight into your audience with Wishpond analytics
Drive traffic and sales

Leverage the Natural Creativity of your Customers

Hosting social media contests is a great way of cultivating community engagement by piggybacking on the existing social and cultural investment of your customers.

Wishpond offers a wide variety of different campaign options. For the purposes of this article however we will be focusing on just three options:

Sweepstakes

Sweepstakes function as a contest in which participants enter a draw to win a prize. Wishpond allows you to set the parameters of the contest, including the prize, time frame, associated contest photo and more. We often recommend sweepstakes as a first campaign for new users of Wishpond. Sweepstakes contain very low barriers to entry; unlike video or essay contests, participants are not required to go to the trouble of producing content. For best results, Sweepstakes should be run on a regular basis, 2 times a month for example.

Participants will be required to submit their emails (plus any other required information you choose specify). Email addresses and other contact information that you collect will be useful for future campaigns. It is also possible to apply a like gate to your contest, making it mandatory for viewers to like your page on Facebook before being allowed to enter the contest. Additionally, users who enter your contest will automatically share the contest on their Facebook profiles.

To get the most out of a sweepstakes campaign, be sure to always offer one of your own products as the prize. Optimize your selection of prizes by considering the demand of the products in question relative to the timing of the contest. During back to school season for instance, basic supplies such as pencils, pens and paper may be most in demand (you know better than I do I’m sure). On the other hand, during the holiday season Gift Cards, wrapping paper and framing services may be more popular.

Photo Contests

Photo contests provide the opportunity to create a two way exchange with your potential customers and to pursue the valuable task of touching on points of interest, achieved in this case by allowing your users to have a direct say in what those points of interest are. Photo contests are a natural fit for Art supply stores given the visual nature of the business (not to mention the fact that visual content is generally very dominant in the social media universe). The campaign works by having users submit images which are then either voted on by other users or chosen directly by you to win a prize of your choosing.

Contest themes can center on the sharing of common interests. Some examples may include:

share a personal photograph of an example of architecture that inspires you
share a personal photograph of an example of nature that inspires you
submit a picture of your favorite subject to draw or paint

The possibilities here really are endless. Another approach is to set up an art or design competition. Examples may include:

t-shirt design competition
poster design competition
logo design competition
fine art competition in which the winner’s art will be displayed and sold in your store

Vote Contests

With a market base as culturally inclined as the one in question, there is surely no shortage of fervent opinions to exploit in the effort to generate discussion and interest. Upon submitting their email addresses and entering, participants will then be granted the opportunity to vote for any number of options of your choosing. Vote contests offer yet another opportunity to touch on points of interest within your market base. But that’s not all; depending on your topic you can also uncover useful and illuminating instances of public consensus for your audience.

To illustrate this, here are some possible contest ideas:

Choose your favorite painting medium - oil, acrylic or tempera
what is the more effective strategy for learning how to paint or draw - by copying the master’s techniques or by drawing from observation?

These are of course, very subjective choices, but that does not stop your target market from having strong opinions on the matter and being curious about the beliefs and attitudes of their peers. You will do best by taking advantage of your target market’s overriding curiosity.

Wishpond Analytics

Tracking the effectiveness of your campaign with Wishpond is incredibly straightforward. All of the important data points are automatically condensed into one intuitive dashboard. The dashboard allows you to easily segment your leads by age, gender, location and interests. Apart from helping to better understand your audience, these tools also allow you to export a complete email list to create targeted email campaigns.

How to Run a Successful Social Vote Contest

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:36:00 -0700

The key to success with social media marketing is creating engaging, interactive content.

A simple way to boost interaction on your website, facebook, twitter or pinterest sites is through online voting contests. Regardless if you are a large company, or a small business, social vote contests are easy to make, and can be used by all.

Online vote contests are also some of the simplest contests for an interested consumer to enter.

In this article, we will give you tips on how to run a vote contest, and how to make it successful.

9 tips for vote contest success:

set goals for your online vote contest
get creative with your content
follow the rules for a social vote contest
post vote contests frequently, and consistently
give a brand related prize
give no prize
cross-promote your social vote contest
create long-term customer connections
measure results of your online vote contest

1. Set Goals For Your Online Vote Contest

As in any good marketing strategy, setting goals is the first part of any successful social media marketing campaign.

Determining what outcomes you need will help to determine the type of contest campaign you will run. It will also show the successes you have achieved, once you have completed your social vote contest.

Your goals might include increasing followers on Twitter, collecting emails, or increasing engagement on Facebook.

With a vote contest, you might also want to achieve simple market research from your consumer, or even input into product development.

2. Get Creative With Your Content

To increase engagement, make sure your content is connecting with your consumer. Don’t just talk about your company or products.

Make vote contests that:

relate to consumer lifestyles or interests
relate to your product, but are not solely about your product
are fun, and conducive to share

For example:

This photo studio wanted to promote their new online photo products. They set up a vote contest to ask followers their favourite:

3. Follow the Rules for a Social Vote Contest

As in any contest you run, be sure that you are following the rules for each social site.

For example, on Facebook, you must use a 3rd party app to run contests. I am biased, but Wishpond makes great, easy to use 3rd party apps for your Facebook contests.

Additionally, be clear about the rules you have for your vote contest. If, for example, your contest is targeting an international market, and you will be mailing out a prize - be sure to include any needed information about shipping costs, currency values, or other details which might be relevant for your entrant.

4. Post Vote Contests Frequently, and Consistently

Like most social media marketing campaigns, the more interactive opportunities your provide your market, the more likely they will engage with you.

If you were a marketer before the age of social, think of vote contest frequency as touchpoints. the more touchpoints a consumer has with your brand, the more likely they will purchase from you.

You can post vote contests as often as every day, to every month. Keep it consistent to keep your followers coming back.

5. Give a Brand Related Prize

Prizes are often great motivators to entice entrants. If you are giving out prizes for vote contest participants, make it related to your brand.

A gift card is a great prize. This not only promotes your business with the contest, it also ensures a more targeted list of entrants - as they are likely entering to get your gift card.

For example:

In this example, a kids toy shop is getting in a new shipment of Lego. To promote the new gear, and to encourage engagement, they put on a vote contest, asking their customers which Lego set they would most like. The prize is a Lego set of their choice.

Or, for example, If you are in the floral business, you might run a vote contest to ask Facebook Fans what their favourite flower is. You could, for example, randomly choose 3 winners, with the prize being a weekly bouquet of those flowers for a year.

6. Give No Prize

On the other hand, in a vote contest, you don’t have to give away a prize. Add a vote contest as a regular part of your Facebook updates, or your Tweets.

Make the contest engaging to your market, and post them frequently. This can boost your interaction on its own.

This tactic is particularly true for niche markets, with a tight group of followers. Or, if you are a very small business owner who is just getting started.

7. Cross-Promote your Social Vote Contest

To make your vote contest reach further, cross-promote it. If one of your goals is to increase Facebook fans, host the vote contest on your Facebook page.

Market it to your followers on Twitter, with links back to your Facebook page.

Write a blog post about it on your website. Create a link from your website to your Facebook page, to develop more traffic.

Email your customers to tell them about your Facebook contest.

If you have a physical store, promote your Facebook contest with a QR code.

8. Create Long-Term Customer Connections

Through social vote contests, you can create longer-term customer relationships.

Collect customer emails when they enter, and keep in touch through direct, personalized follow-up letters.

Like-gate or follow-gate your vote contest. “Like-gating” is when you set up your contest on Facebook. To enter your vote, contestants must Like your Page.

“Follow-gating” is when you set up your contest on Twitter. To enter your vote, contestants must Follow you on Twitter.

Like-gating and follow-gating are great ways to continue relationships with your customers, as they will continue to receive your Facebook updates, or Twitter feed long after the contest is over.

9. Measure Results of your Online Vote Contest

For any social media marketing campaign, you need to measure your results.

An online vote contest is no different. Measure your results based on the goals you set.

If your objective was to reach a certain number of new Likes on your Facebook page, measure this.

If you are using a 3rd party app, like Wishpond, use our comprehensive data and analytics in our easy-to-use dashboard.

Vote contests are a simple way to engage your market. Try one out, and let us know about your success!

Written by Krista Bunskoek @ Wishpond

3 Tips for Online Promotions and Campaigns During Mother's Day

Sun, 05 May 2013 07:01:21 -0700

Create online promotions to get fans involved. Take advantage of Mother’s Day and use contests to acquire more followers, likes, engagement, or whatever your goal may be. Tying the buzz of Mother’s Day to your business through a contest is simple.

Many are looking for ideas for gifts for Mom, places to go and activities to get involved in. By running a contest or promotion online, your business can help them find (or win) what they’re looking for to solve their Mother’s Day needs.

Below are a few tips for your online campaign:

1. Make sure your campaign/promotion is mobile compatible.

Why?

There are over 1.2 Billion people accessing the web from their mobiles
32% of people ages 18-24 use social networking in the bathroom. Yeah…
38% of smartphone owners use their device in front of the TV every day

2. Create your own hashtags to be used on either Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.

Creating a unique hashtag that other businesses have not used is a great way to create a circle of virality around your business.

You can also utilize generic hashtags applicable to your campaign such as #giveaway, #contest, or #sweepstakes.

Whichever platform you decide to create your contest or promotion on, make sure to cross-promote it on your social networks to maximize your contest’s reach. To ensure it goes viral, it is important to share the contest on all of your social networks (and not just once).

3. Promote your contest on a variety of social networks.

Post to Twitter once per day (Tweets get lost extremely quickly, so you very rarely need to worry about spamming your Twitter followers as only a small percentage will see each tweet due to the site’s constantly updating nature).
Post on Google+ once every three days.
Send one email to your email list (getting multiple emails about the same thing will get you an unpleasant number of unsubscribes).
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 Facebook 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.

Written by: Cara @Wishpond

The future of social is changing how we interact. Are you engaging digitally with your consumers? Wishpond social promotion apps make it easy. Get interacting with vote contests, photo contests, video contests and more on Twitter or Facebook.

Mother's Day: Build Online Relationships With Customers & Clients

Sat, 04 May 2013 06:01:00 -0700

One of the important aspects of social media is communication between your business and your customers/clients. With a push in the right direction, people will feel more inclined to share their opinions and thoughts with your business in social communities.

Give fans a reason to interact with your business.

What aspect(s) of your business do your fans love the most? What are their hobbies? Do your customers love low prices? What about quality customer service?

Introduce your staff and show their passion for your business. 1-800-Flowers shows their fans on Facebook some of the staff and their favorite flowers. It’s comforting for consumers to know that the people that work for the company are passionate about what they do.

Martha Stewart knows her followers are big fans of her craft ideas. She shares helpful ideas with them and asks fans to share their Mother’s day memories with her to encourage engagement.

Just ask.

1-800-Flowers wants to know which arrangement is your favorite. This will give them a better idea of their customers’ needs, which will in turn help them make decisions in the future. You can’t lose anything from asking nicely, and chances are someone’s going to want to tell you something.

Interacting with customers such as this on a regular basis can build relationships.

Kalio Commerce is attempting to engage with online retailers to see what steps they are making in order to promote themselves on Mother’s Day. It would be wise to follow-up afterward with the clients that responded to see if they need any help.

Written by: Cara @Wishpond

Wishpond Surpasses 30,000 Signups Worldwide

Fri, 03 May 2013 09:58:00 -0700

Wishpond remains a solid leader in social campaign apps – nearly doubling its social marketing suite client base, and gaining more than a 2,000% increase in revenues, year-to-date.

More businesses around the world are recognizing the incredible ROI attainable through social campaigns.
- Ali Tajsekandar, CEO & Founder, Wishpond

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) May 03, 2013

Wishpond today surpassed a milestone achievement of 30,000 customers. In less than five months, Wishpond has seen revenues increase by more than 2,000%.

This astronomical growth distinguishes Wishpond as a leading provider in the rapidly flourishing social campaign space.

“We are very excited to see such accelerated growth. Our perpetual development of innovative online marketing products keeps us on target for massive expansion,” said Ali Tajsekandar, CEO of Wishpond. “More businesses around the world are recognizing the incredible ROI attainable through social campaigns.”

Wishpond’s strong growth is in part attributed to its impressive international expansion. Available in over 100 countries and 34 languages. Wishpond’s Social Marketing Suite is one of the first truly worldwide platforms that works seamlessly across all channels - social, mobile, online and local.

2013 YTD has been a breakout year for Wishpond:

● Acquiring 11,500 new subscriptions year to date – surpassing a 30,000 customer base.

● Growing international business to become 46% of the company’s revenue. Latin America, Europe, and emerging Asian countries lead the charge.

● Seeing customers creating 100’s of thousands of campaigns to date.

● Excelling in mobile optimization - 35% of participants currently engaging through mobile devices.

● Seeing Twitter campaigns outperforming those on Facebook by 32%.

● Serving customers of all types - from the local one-shop retailer, non-profits, start-ups, to multinational chains.

Wishpond’s Social Marketing Suite

Wishpond offers more than a dozen online marketing apps that cover everything from social marketing tools to customer engagement and analytics. Wishpond’s Social Marketing Suite works across all channels including mobile, online, local and currently includes: Pinterest Contest, Vote Contest, Sweepstakes, Photo Contest, Photo Caption Contest, Video Contest, Essay Contest, Group Deal, Pinterest Tab, and easy to create Social Stores.

About Wishpond

At Wishpond, we believe there is a way to make online marketing easy – for every language, every business size, and every channel.

Wishpond is a privately held company. Since its inception in 2009 Wishpond has grown to help more than 30,000 customers in North America and globally to effectively drive customer growth and engagement through online marketing channels.

Pricing
Single User Access to Wishpond’s entire Social Marketing Suite from $19/month. See http://www.wishpond.com for product details and full pricing.

Additional coverage: TechVibes

Press release also available at: PRWeb

Aid Your Market in Making Purchase Decisions for Mother’s Day

Fri, 03 May 2013 06:01:16 -0700

Your audience is going to listen to your business if it’s going to help them. Providing Mother’s Day ideas not only helps them, but helps your business create trust with consumers.

Mother’s Day related promotional posts with a solution don’t seem as pushy as the regular ones without a purpose. It’s more about suggesting as opposed to telling. The buyer will come to a natural “yes” and feel confident about purchasing the product.

Walmart creates an album of items you may want to purchase for your Mom on Mother’s Day. They are merely suggesting - not being pushy in the slightest.

Cafe Tu Tu Tango knows exactly where you should go for Mother’s Day brunch, and are even making a special brunch menu for the occasion.

Being specific about who the products/services are for grab the attention of your target market. People that are genuinely interested in your product are likely to click through and make a purchase.

If you don’t feel any of your products/services are relatable to Mother’s Day, dig a little deeper. Businesses of all sorts find creative ways to market during all seasons. Think about making a ‘limited edition’ product/service for Mother’s Day.

Chan Luu has made a special collection of jewelry for the holiday and provides a call to action in the text.

Written by: Cara @ Wishpond

Instagram Introduces 'Photos of You' Feature

Thu, 02 May 2013 12:51:00 -0700

Instagram has made a great update to their social network.

Today Instagram has introduced a new feature called ‘Photos of You’ where you can add share who’s with you in a photo (similar to tagging someone in a photo on Facebook).

A tab on your profile will appear when you download the new version on your phone. It’s a great new way for consumers to interact with brands and retailers, and vice versa.

Below, I’ll show an example of using the ‘Photos of You’ feature with Redbull.

The new option when uploading a photo is ‘Add People.’

Simple tap ‘Add People’ and it will bring you to the below page. Tap the photo as instructed, and you will be able to search for any user to tag, even if you’re not following them.

Once you’ve tagged as many people as you want, tap ‘Done.’

Once you publish the image just as before, you can tap it and the tag will pop up. Simple!

What do you think, could this feature be beneficial for brands wanting to engage their customers more?

Written by: Cara @ Wishpond

At Wishpond, we want you to be the best marketer you can be. That’s why we’ve created a whole range of social promotion apps - making your successes a little easier.

Mother’s Day: Capturing Emotions With Content Marketing

Thu, 02 May 2013 07:45:00 -0700

Provide heartfelt content that triggers readers to feel emotional engagement between themselves, your business, and Mother’s Day. This is an easy holiday to evoke emotions from, the harder part is to tie those sentimental feelings to your business.

Many marketers believe that evoking emotion through content marketing is essential in making posts viral. It could be a picture of a mother hugging her baby, or a story of a daughter studying abroad and her tales of how much she missed her mother.

Asking deeper questions that aren’t intrusive yet still pull on the heartstrings are perfect. You will get genuine, sometimes lengthy answers that truly come from the heart of your fans and followers.

Hallmark Channel USA has a great post asking, “Is your Mom a heart healer? Like and share in the comments a heartfelt message about your Mom!”

In a study regarding the shareability of articles at the New York Times, it was discovered that:

Awe was the second most viral type of content to be shared
Conversational posts receive twice as many comments on average
Posts filled with emotion are typically shared more

source: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1528077

According to a study conducted by the University of Indiana, there are 6 primary emotions that humans have that you can tap into with your content.

Surprise
Joy
Sadness
Fear
Anger
Disgust

For Mother’s Day, it is easier to stick to the first two; Surprise and Joy. Anything unexpected or positive in an inspirational or humorous manner will lead people to share your content.

Written By: Cara @ Wishpond