Archive for the ‘Brand Promotion’ Category

Best SEO Tools to Boost Your Business

Wednesday, March 15th, 2023

We all are aware that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a crucial part of any business’s digital marketing strategy. It involves optimizing your website and its content to rank higher on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) for relevant keywords and phrases. You can drive more traffic to your website, increase brand awareness and generate more leads for your business. 

But, SEO can be a complex and time-consuming process, especially if you’re doing it manually. However, there are plenty of SEO tools available that can help streamline the process and make it more smooth and efficient. 

Let us guide you through some tools that will make SEO easier for you and help you generate leads through digital marketing. 

Learn about the best SEO tools that will help you boost your business

Best SEO Tools to Help You Generate Leads for Your Business 

Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that offers a wide range of features to help you improve your website’s ranking. It has a powerful backlink analysis tool that allows you to see who is linking to your website, what anchor text they’re using, and the quality of those links. It also provides keyword research tools, site auditing features, and competitor analysis tools. With Ahrefs, you can track your search engine rankings and monitor your website’s health to ensure it’s performing at its best.

SEMrush

SEMrush is another popular SEO tool that offers a wide range of features to help you improve your website’s ranking. It provides a comprehensive suite of tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, site auditing, and more. One of the unique features of SEMrush is its ability to track your website’s position in local search results, which is especially useful for businesses that serve a specific geographic region.

Moz

Moz is a well-known SEO tool that offers a range of features to help you improve your website’s ranking. It provides a site auditing tool that can identify technical issues on your website that may be impacting your search engine ranking. It also offers a keyword research tool, competitor analysis tools, and a link-building tool that can help you earn high-quality backlinks to your website.

Learn about the best SEO tools that will help you boost your business

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a free tool that provides valuable insights into your website’s performance. It can help you track the number of visitors to your website, where they’re coming from, and how they’re interacting with your website. This data can help you identify areas for improvement and optimize your website for better performance. For example, if you notice that a high percentage of your visitors are leaving your website after visiting only one page, you may need to improve your website’s user experience to encourage visitors to stay longer.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is another free tool from Google that provides insights into your website’s performance. It can help you identify technical issues on your website, such as broken links or crawl errors, that may be impacting your search engine ranking. It also provides information on your website’s search engine visibility, including the keywords and phrases that are driving traffic to your website.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is a popular WordPress plugin that can help you optimize your website’s content for search engines. It provides a range of features, including a content analysis tool that can help you ensure your content is optimized for your target keywords. It also provides a meta tag generator that can help you create optimized title tags and meta descriptions for your website’s pages.

Learn about the best SEO tools that will help you boost your business

Screaming Frog

Screaming Frog is a website crawling tool that can help you identify technical issues on your website that may be impacting your search engine ranking. It can crawl your entire website and identify issues such as broken links, duplicate content, and missing meta tags. It also provides data on your website’s structure, including its URL structure and internal linking.

SERPWatcher

SERPWatcher is a keyword-tracking tool that can help you track your website’s search engine ranking for specific keywords and phrases. 

SEO tools reduce your efforts to individually do your keyword research and data analysis. They help you plan and improvise your strategies to grow your business. They give you timely reports on the performance of your website that help you analyse your work progress.

We at Windchimes Communications, promise services par excellence. We are a digital experiential agency committed to keeping you updated with the latest trends in digital trends. We believe in finding a simpler way of doing things. 

Television Commercials or Ads on YouTube-What do you choose?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

Are brands relying more on YouTube for their advertisements than stereotyped television commercials for their branding?

clip_image002[6]When was the last time you watched a television commercial without cursing the show you are watching for making you go through it? Cannot recall? We guessed so. Now, let’s take YouTube. For short videos on YouTube, it is easier to anticipate when exactly an ad is getting over and whether or not it would pop up again. Things like this influence people’s choice of the platform they want to watch your ads at. The platform of broadcasting your video advertisements is important, but a perfect combination of timing and content is the key here.

Sometimes, the ads are better watched on YouTube first when multiple viewers have already watched it, liked it and shared it. You may even watch an advertisement intentionally, thinking it’s an interesting short video. Deepika Padukone’s Mother’s Day special video for Tanishq was a hit on YouTube before it was telecasted on television. Alia-Siddharth’s Coke advertisement gained enough loyal viewers through YouTube before the ad hit the television.

Can you recall Google’s ‘Help your mother get online’ advertisement that got viral on social media? Given that people have mastered in skipping channels to avoid the television commercials, sharing and circulation of advertisements across social media platforms by them is a revolution in itself.

Blog Image (in the content) (1)It all comes down to the timing and content of the advertisements. Once you have uploaded your advertisement on YouTube, you can sit back and relax to see it getting circulated. It’s all about building a beautiful and strong story, and giving people sufficient time, not too much, not too less, to watch and appreciate it. When you force your advertisements on the viewers, you force them to repel it. Online shopping websites, which bank a lot on social media, are also focusing on online ads. The ad titled as ‘The Visit’, by Myntra gained more than 2 Lakh hits within 10 days.

The media industry is now shifting from the television commercials to online advertisements. The platform is interactive and viewers can have fun with various ad formats. It also gives them the liberty to share their thoughts about the videos. The cost is also quite less as compared to television commercials, as Google Adwords relies on Pay Per Click and Pay per View themes. Technology is taking over the traditional media and hence, video ads have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 1.84%, the highest click-through rate of all digital ad formats.

The ‘Skip Ad’ option could be a minor hiccup in this, but the overall demand for online video is too high, and it has increased the number of video advertisements that are being uploaded on YouTube.

How Can Brands Leverage Snapchat

Thursday, May 15th, 2014

imageMarketers and brand managers are constantly looking out for new ways to connect with their customers & consequently social and digital media have introduced a variety of communication channels that help them do just that. When we talk about digital media, it goes without saying that digital content needs to be relevant and catchy enough to gain viewer’s attention. Constant experimentation is being done to find out the exclusivity that they can provide with their content. Meaningful, short, unique yet relevant and watchable content is the latest trend and brands are optimistic on experimenting with digital only content in the future as well. Digital content is really a way to go!

With tools like Instagram and Snapchat, will the brands be able to offer this exclusivity to their audiences? Moving on, Snapchat is the latest social media phenomenon. The promptly growing mobile app lets users communicate by sending photos that automatically disappear after a few seconds. But then, can brands overcome the creative challenges and turn disappearing content to their advantage?

The worry underneath lies for brands is that viewers have only one chance to view a Snap which is said to take away the excitement. But, there are times when these Snaps can be replayed during a day which could be useful for brands using the app. Snap

Advantages of using Snapchat:
· It allows drawing or writing on photos and videos
· Space is not an issue
· Image is temporary
· User-friendly
· Attention grabbing

Limitations or challenges of using Snapchat:
· Snapchat does not allow marketers to improve the quality of image before they send out as it lacks editing capabilities
· It does not provide space for marketers to add text to their messages as its visually driven
· Fans and audiences won’t be able to find you on Snapchat until they add you as a friend
· Metrics, yes, Snapchat offers zero metrics due to the lack of in-app metrics. this does not allow you to track the credibility of your campaign

Well, depending on your brand’s demographics, it is indeed a great challenge to evolve with Snapchat. And guess what, brands are into it already snapping to glory! Though, brands which are majorly looking to target younger audience are using this app.

Few Examples of Brands in the Snapchat Bandwagon are:

Taco Bell used Snapchat to announce the release of it ‘Beefy Crunch Burrito’. All the users who had added Taco Bell as a friend were sent a ‘Snap’ of Burrito along with the release date of the new product.

Tbell1   Tbell2

Taco Bell also used its presence on other social media platforms effectively to spread the word about its Snapchat profile. Taco Bell was the first brand to use Snapchat’s stories feature through which it released a series of eight photos and videos. With Snapchat Stories feature brands can merge multiple snaps to create a story that remains visible for 24 hours.

See what Mc Donalds is doing on Snapchat

Also, Mashable mentions the top 8 brands rocking Snapchat. Have a look!

Ways brands can use Snapchat

imageThough there are not many a brands doing much on Snapchat but, a selected few are taking this app by storm and using it in their digital strategy to reach the masses. A couple of things that they are doing through Snapchat are:

  • · Introducing new products
  • · Asking immediate action or reaction
  • · Hosting Games/Contests
  • · Inviting fans to participate
  • · Share candid or behind the scene moments
  • · Show something rare like, limited edition offers, coupons & discounts
  • · Get creative with targeted videos (share a unique story by linking two-three videos in succession)
  • · Use celebs
  • · Incorporate other channels
  • · Use the Snapchat features like draw, type, time, temperature etc. and also add filters
  • · Share Snapchat stories
  • · Give a sneak peek into exclusive brand content
  • · Use it do some fun
  • · Introducing new team member or employee

ROI: Brands need to be prepared to measure the brand lift with the use of Snapchat. What needs to be kept track of is impressions, awareness and demographics. Snapchat like most of the social media platforms is based on relationship building.

See how Snapchat has added a few new features and how brands can capitalize on the same. Even thenextweb.com also mentions this news from Snapchat.

While Snapchat is still trying to add more features and monetize this platform, brands have an immense opportunity to establish themselves as ‘ahead of the game’ and reach their demographics. In order to do a Snapchat campaign brands just need a creative strategy as it is both cost effective and easy to implement. One has to be creative on Snapchat, always and persistently and push the limits of creativity. Getting results though is not going to be a one day affair as relationships take time. One has to plan, measure and then work towards lifting their brand through Snapchat. What do you think? Can brands pull off Snapchatting Successfully? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

How Brands Are Using Vine

Friday, February 28th, 2014

imageNot much of a time since Vine has been introduced and it has already exploded to millions of users followed by brands which have started to take notice too. Researchers also say that a branded Vine is four times more likely to be seen than a branded video. With every five tweets a second containing a Vine video link it is undoubtedly becoming popular day by day, but then how can marketers and brand managers explore the platform? Have you employed Vine in your brand’s video strategy yet? If not, then here’s an Infographic that depicts how there is a lot more to Vine than you think!

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You can also have a look at:

The 33 Best Vine Videos of 2013
Brands that are using Vine to enhance their social media output
Brands creating skillful, creative Vine videos that make a statement

Vine is constantly revolutionizing the way brands connect with their audiences, allowing them to talk directly to their fans and consumers. It will be interesting to watch the creativity with which brands come up with in this space in the near future. So, are you set to spice up your Brand’s next marketing push with VINE? What are your thoughts on this?

Social Media & Storytelling: A Great Mix!

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

brand-storytelling-social-mediaThe ultimate reason that defines how a marketer knows what to do in the right way is his understanding of the consumer psychology, where he actually stood a decade or two ago and where he would be few years later. Marketers, yes they do get stuck sometimes with their ideas. They spend millions on direct mail, billboards, print, radio, TV etc. But why? Many of these mediums are already breaking up in terms of getting a genuine attention of the users. Well, if you can tell us the last time you were really excited to open an email, or stopped by to look at a billboard or outdoor media or you didn’t forward that commercial then you can surely email it to us.

The value proposition is not the same as it used to be. There used to be a day when consumes were excited to buy a particular item on online stores or ecommerce sites at half the original price, but now you do not show any interest to such offers and actually mark it as spam before it even hits your inbox because you have been already bombarded with lots of them since years now. The solution? What would one do when the ROI of billboards, Television and emails deteriorates in comparison to what it was in the early 90s?

It comes down to a fact that every single marketer is a storyteller, it becomes their job to tell their value proposition, give value and ask for business, what their story is to the customers along the lines of purchase. Period.

And therefore, to be a good storyteller one needs to get the attention of the customer to get that chance. And to be very precise, their attention is shifting, shifting at a very fast pace. Time and attention have now become like commodities which are the most valuable in the game. Now, when you talk about social media, many marketers just treat it like a distribution channel and another medium or way to shower the consumers with the same messages.They are missing the fact that social media networks are the platforms or mediums with actually a two way conversation.

For instance, if one looks at twitter, it is nothing less than a cocktail party of the internet. And what makes one a great cocktail party guest is not talking about oneself all the time. Infact, to be clear more percentage of tweets should engage with other users which in turn brings value to your brand. The truth, rather the ultimate truth is in order to succeed and provide a great value, learn to storytell in each platform (Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Instagram to name a few). The most important thing is to respect and understand the psychology of what makes the Facebook user different from a Pinterest user and more from an Instagram user.

Storytelling is something more than just telling the story about your brand. When it is about social media storytelling, it is way more than just promoting the brands on social media platforms. Authentic brand stories not only symbolize the brand, but are unique and in turn motivate the people to engage with your brand, talk about it, share and ultimately purchase it or entice profits. Storytelling is- knowing in reality what your audiences want. It is very importantly about relationship building. Determining the core story of the brand first will help you know who the audience is, how their interaction with the brand is, what & how many people are talking about the brand, how your brand differs from that of competitors, your social response parameter & time etc.

Tell-Them-Your-StoryPeople find value in platforms and those who cannot tell their stories on today’s social media platforms are the ones that will go out of business sooner or later. Storytelling on social media and marketing have now blended together and play on the fans’ emotions. With these stories, brands connect with atheir readers on a more human level. Future not just holds churning out content but also crafting compelling stories. So are you ready to strike a chord by making your brand voice resonate with the consumers on social media? We all love stories, right? Whether it is around a campfire, or in a room with friends or on a phone call with an old friend, we love it all the time.

If so, then what about leveraging this most basic aspect (of storytelling) of human nature to your advantage on social media?

In order to go ahead with digital storytelling on your social media platforms you need to keep in mind a few things.

Your brand needs to tell a story

In order to stay connected with your audience or customers you need to show your brand’s human or personal side, your brand needs to tell a story. The brand personality should ideally resonate with your fans on social media. While doing so, make sure you don’t make the brand voice too personal and also ensure that whatever you are sharing, you are comfortable with the whole world knowing what you are sharing.

Your brand’s story – Share it!

It’s a normal consumer behaviour that they they usually don’t just buy brands they largely consider the story behind brands too. Highlight your brand’s message, the story & the attributes like you do on your website and blog on social media also. When you post content keeping this in mind, then your communication builds a strong credibility for your brand and makes your content relevant and relatable with the audience.

The best way of storytelling is to actually do that!

Yes, you can do this on Facebook by converting your updates into small blog posts or narrations. And on Twitter also with a limitation of 140 characters too you can be amazing in telling your story encouraging more creativity. Using Instagram is another great way to tell a story. Wonder how? Just post an image with interesting captions.

Consecutive post can be another way

Sharing the posts or tweets in parts makes sharing the story a way more captivating. Consecutive post after post or a tweet-after-tweet fashion works great on social media as it builds positive anticipation for what’s going to happen next.

The next generation audience and even the audience of this generation is acquiring a great level of control over the information they see, talk about and share. Brands, therefore should know the art of creating compelling stories to reach them.

Shifting from messaging to storytelling ensures successful brand stories, just as in the case of Dove’s Real Beauty Sketches which invited around 150m YouTube views in just a few months, in turn leveraging the brand’s awareness and loyalty across the platforms and within the audience.

What Dove did was, it used myth components that matched with the women that have the same thinking.

Here’s a brief description of their storytelling:

  • · The explanation was that the society makes women believe that they are less beautiful than they are.
  • · The meaning was: ‘You are more beautiful than you think”.
  • · The story: Dove showed this through people with whom their audience could relate to.
  • · The result was that Dove’s story was shared across the globe compared to the competitors or other shampoo advertisements.

When brands cast their fans or audience as the hero, their story works best. For example, Apple’s “Think Different” or Nike’s “Just Do It” or for that matter Obama’s “Yes We Can” didn’t have brands talking about themselves but their people and how great they can be. Isn’t it? And this is what excites and attracts the masses these days and inspires them to share your brand content. And will keep doing in the times to come too.

grow_your_social_media_relationships_with_storytelling

Storytelling therefore, is not a matter of a day; it requires great thinking and committed time & effort to be crafted. How strongly do you know your brand’ story? Do you plan to understand your brand’s core story and audience and then create a content strategy keeping in mind the brand’s core? Storytelling on social media holds a great future only if you understand the heart of your brand and tell it in a way that people appreciate it and further share. Do share your thoughts on the same and how have you made efforts to discover it!

Are You Doing Social Media Right?

Friday, November 15th, 2013

imageWhere there are people, there needs to be marketing, and not just marketing, but the right kind of marketing, in a right way. This is when brands explored the opportunities lying under the broad umbrella of social media to build strong relationships with their consumers. Brand marketers saw social media as the best medium for showcasing their marketing objectives and deliver a long term promise to their consumers. But, have you ever wondered that where are those promises made by brands now? Well, it’s evident that most of the brand marketers are still not doing social media the right way!

If looked into deeply, social media for brands has been around for long internet years, and it will remain. But have the brands explored its potential enough? Think again! If you as brand managers are still wondering what this means the answer to that is a lot more can happen.

There are a lot of reasons why brand managers are still doing social the wrong way. There is still an air of confusion existing amidst the social media strategies implemented by brands. Let’s see what are those reasons or confusions, what brands are doing wrongly and what brands should actually do.

imageThe meaningful brand message: Most of the brands and their brand managers think that their brand consumers consider and care for their brand as much as they do. But surprisingly this is not the case as they actually spend a large percentage of lesser time thinking about your brand in reality. Maybe they do not want a relationship that you want to build with their mindset and behaviour. Maybe they are just looking at your message and not grasping it with interest. Infact, brands should think about evolving with content that turns out to be meaningful for its consumers even at the time when they are not thinking about it.

Are we talking too much about ourselves? On social media, it undoubtedly becomes impossible for us to talk about anything but ourselves. As brand managers, have you ever wondered what leads to zero or little engagement on social media? Well, talking only about ourselves is one reason. The idea of marketing a brand combines positioning it and promoting its unique selling point across the social platform. Brand specialists are good at this as they know the in and out of a brand; what consumers need etc. But, when you ask a marketer to do something like this and talk about their consumer’s requirements and what they actually want, it is not easy for them. So, ideally brand managers have the power to do it right. Are you doing it right?

Too many cooks spoil the broth! Indeed it’s true in case of social media content that goes out these days too. The amount of approvals a piece of content has to go through, by the time a post actually goes out it looks completely different than how it was designed. There are brand managers who make an effort to post content that relates to the consumers, their behaviour and their mindset; but at the same time there comes someone who takes a decision to keep it on the lines of selling (not forgetting the legal, ethical & leadership standards). This is where the post takes a form of something that does not stand relevant to the consumers but only to few. Therefore, it is very important for brands managers to get everyone & everything related to the brand message associated with the social strategy.

imageDo you follow the ‘proper planning prevents poor performance’ strategy? Think again!
If you step into social media without a plan then the above mentioned reasons are most likely to occur. Entering the social media world with no plan is like doing everything in a traditional way; just talk about the brand, let people look at it, put a stamp of proof which later invites low engagement and then let everybody consider social media of no use. Yes, you got it right! Social media does not work without a plan. You need to clearly understand what your consumers need from you and also what identity you want your brand to create on this media. Design a content strategy that defines your vision and supports your consumer’s needs.
(Image courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net/Design: TheWordPro.com)

In a nutshell, the things brands might be doing it all wrong on social can be because of:

  • · Lack of strategy
  • · Great expectations without consistency & effort
  • · Non realistic goals
  • · Considering social media as a low priority
  • · Thinking that anyone can do it is completely wrong. Will you ever hand over you car keys to somebody who doesn’t know how to drive? No, right? Then why do you do this with social media?
  • · Posting stuff in large intervals, maybe in weeks etc. to mention a few.
  • So when you sit and analyze these above mentioned reasons, do make sure your social media marketing efforts drive traffic to your page; expand your fan base and initiate conversations. So make sure you do not mistaken social media as a sales tool and use it to its full potential in the right way. Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Facebook Timeline versus App Contests

Tuesday, October 15th, 2013

imageWith timeline contests brands could ask users to enter with a like, comment or posting a message on the page. A ‘Like’ here can be termed as a sort of voting mechanism. Though it appears small, but here the barrier to entry is very small as fans can enter with a single click. And if brand managers wish to engage with their existing brand fans then this is a great way to do that. Where contests through apps encourage collection of email addresses, new likes and all such details, wall or timeline contests don’t do that. But if there is a well planned social media strategy, app contests turn out be great!

Well, if you are thinking as to what should you opt for; a Timeline contest or contest hosted on a tab on your Facebook Page? And when, then here’s a summation of the facts that will help you get through your brand contests on Facebook, whether you want to do a timeline or an app contest.

Both of these types have the pros and cons linked to each. The essence is in understanding the overall brand strategy and goals that have to be achieved through the same. And therefore, which one should be used or both should be used in collaboration. In other words, Timeline contests are more of an appetizer while contests on tabs turn out to be full course meals.

Timeline contest is great when:

  • · One wants to launch a contest right away
  • · High engagement is the requirement
  • · Low budget

It sure gives an engagement boost for the Facebook page of brands.
If at any point you want a promoted post on your timeline contest, it cannot be illustrated by an image containing more than 20% text.

On the other hand,

Contest hosted on the Facebook page tab work best when:

  • · One wants to grow the Facebook page likes (includes a Like Gate page that prompts the users to first like the page to enter the contest)
  • · You want to foster Lead generation, email adresses for future marketing of your brand
  • · Design control and advanced features is a part of your overall contest strategy

Therefore, a Facebook contest on tab gives you great control, customization and long term value of your lead generation.

This is how a Timeline contest works:

Future Generali came up with a Timeline contest during Navaratri. Check it out:

FG1 

HDFC Bank’s Timeline contest Auto to Automobile is another good example.

hdfc2

HDFC1

And here is an example for an app contest:

Check out how Lotus Herbals, India’s leading natural cosmetics company with formulations inspired by Ayurveda is running an app contest Pure Colors of Joy!

Lotus Herbals1

Will these changes affect the Facebook marketing strategy of your brand?

Timeline contests are simple, i.e., fans are just required to like, comment, post their response or message on the Facebook page of the brand, out of which the winner is manually chosen. Timeline contests are free to run if you do not advertise and are mobile friendly too.

So, then, what are the limitations to running a contest on the timeline?

  • Reduced virality as fans cannot share the page posts. Where sharing is one of the greatest & most viral features of Facebook, not being used to its potential means limiting it just to the existing fans (unless of course you run ads).
  • Managing entries becomes a problem at one point as more the number of fans, more the engagement, more the likes, comments and entries etc; it becomes a great challenge to manage the entries as the numbers become high.
  • Terms & Conditions cannot be displayed when running a contest on the Facebook timeline. Every contest comes with certain rules linked to it. But, there may be cases when fans directly take part in your contest by just liking the post etc. which can later result into dissatisfaction from fans.
  • There is no lead generation when a timeline contest is run as there is no registration for the same neither are details like name, email addresses accumulated.

The reach is very limited as the contest run on a timeline can only be promoted using posts that talk about the contest unlike the app contests wherein multiple updates with a link to the app can be done.

So, does that mean Facebook Contest apps are anytime better?

Well, app contests do come with certain benefits like:

Allowing Social Sharing by fans on all social media platforms

Social Stories: when a fan interacts with an app, a newsfeed story is generated that is visible to friends of fans gaining more traffic to the contest

Offering customized fan experience by using custom brand videos, graphics, design etc. that in the end creates more brand recall.

Therefore, in this social battle of contests hosted on timeline and those on an app, apps stand as the winner!

However, you can also think of combining them both for a double advantage where you can:

  • · Manage your contest entries
  • · Analyze them under parameters of most likes, comments & responses.
  • · You can display contest rules & let your fans submit all details etc.
  • · Use it as a mobile-friendly app as it helps incorporate all the features mentioned

Pros final

Source: antavo.com, https://www.facebook.com/page_guidelines.php, https://www.facebook.com/faceboofforbusiness/news/page-promotions-terms

In a nutshell, if you wish to engage with your Facebook brand fans then run a timeline contest but if you wish to garner more likes and data to reach fans out of Facebook then apps are best. Brands can also try using both these methods in collaboration. The ‘TAT’ (talking about this) number of the pages can be raised with a timeline contest so that more posts are visible to the fans and then you can run an app contest to get more likes etc.

So are you all set to let your fans experience the best of both worlds? What would you, as brand managers try? Timeline contests or contests through apps? Do share in your thoughts with us.