Posts Tagged ‘Facebook Offers’

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.

Facebook Contests, Deals & Events on for Engagement

Monday, September 2nd, 2013

facebook-fan-engagement1One of the best ways to keep the interest of your customers in your Facebook page is through contests, events or deals. We all know that the most common and attractive word that attracts people these days is ‘Free’. Yes, and the more engaged your people are, the more they will keep coming back to you. There are a lot of ways to increase fan engagement for your brand, but where Facebook contests are concerned, these have been a great success provider to every brand which has tried it.

 

So next time you think of engaging with your fan base you can stick to simply tweeting, connecting on Facebook, replying and posting things or you can decide to step up and engage your fans through Facebook contests.

In a nutshell, Facebook contests:

  • – Increase the likes of your page
  • – Lead to higher engagement
  • – Increase the Edgerank of the Facebook page

Once you have planned to go ahead with this idea of adding a silver lining to your presence on Facebook get a clear understanding of your audience first. In order to resonate with them, find out what they are talking about, what they do on Facebook or what they clicked.

Deals on Facebook

facebook-deals-ukWell, guess you already own a brand page and there are customers across who love your brand too. But how do you excite them? What about the deals? Yes of course, the Facebook deals. Obviously brand managers would have tried it on their brand’s Facebook page. But, did you try something extraordinary to grab all the eyeballs to your brand on Facebook? Its simple and yet very effective. What you could offer for the real time engagement is maybe a free download of your eBook, a discount shopping coupon, some audio or video downloads or simply an access to exclusive area or location for only members.

Something interesting like a fan-only reveal code offered by brands is one of the best and most effective deals on Facebook. It involves rewarding fans for ‘liking’ a brand page and where brands can offer something exciting in return. Quick tip for a quick start: To start or set up a Deal, just click ‘edit page’ box in the top right corner of your brand’s Facebook page and then click ‘Deals’ in the list of tabs on the left. Even discount codes or coupons can be used to drive the traffic on Facebook to your brand’s website in order to let them know more about your latest offers and services.

ITC Hotels has frequent offers for its fans on Facebook.

ITC hotels offers ITC hotels offers 2

Facebook Contests

With almost an array of engagement activities happening on Facebook by brands across the globe, another thing which is at peak is Contests.

Executing contests on Facebook is one of the powerful ways to increase & spread brand awareness and create an overall buzz. Not only this, the long term benefit is the customer loyalty that is built through customer recognitions and gratifications. A generic contest by a brand might include trivia questions about the indclip_image010ustry/market, submitting designs or anything related to art, inviting opinions about the product or maybe just posting pictures and asking fans to guess, name or caption it.  However, Facebook does enforce certain rules for the same but contests do hold credibility for the entire brand that goes ahead with it. A contest cannot be made conditional on just posting a comment, photo, a status update or maybe just by liking a wall post. Omron India also held a Facebook contest ‘Inspiring Tomorrow’ to promote the spirit associated with the Bollywood film ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’.

omron contest omron

Facebook Events

It is indeed a great way to grow or increase attendance and reach new audiences. Are you as a brand thinking of planning a life or a sale event? Then its very essential to know that events can be set up in three ways: Open, Closed & Secret.

  • Open events can be seen and RSVP’d by everyone. These Events can be entertainment events, sales or grand openings.
  • Closed events can be seen by everyone, the details also can be viewed by everyone but only the guests who are invited can do RSVP to that particular event. For example, entertainment, fans-only sales, classes etc.
  • Secret Events are only visible to the guests that are invited and are not visible to anybody else. Not even RSVP ones. These events are mostly employee training events or meet-ups.

When brands set up an event, the event gets its own wall. What is important is to turn on the event wall for all as the guests would want to comment on the event, share, express their excitement about the same and even ask questions etc. Gaining fans through events is a great advantage. To increase the brand awareness, closed events can be used more effectively, wherein those invited are allowed to invite their friends too. A lot of fans invite their friends leading to more engagement.

clip_image016

Quick tip for a quick start: To establish an Event, click ‘edit page’ box in the top right corner page & click ‘apps’ in the list of tabs on the left. You will see ‘events’ in the list. Then click ‘go to app’ and create an event.

Here’s an example of a Facebook Event by ITC Classmate that garnered a lot of people to the page and was appreciated by the masses.

Classmate event

Sources: mashable.com, allfacebook.com, socialmediaexaminer.com, pagemodo, socialized.me

Contests, we bet have always been and will be enticing a lot of fans to your page through conversations and feedback. With a simple understanding of what your fans identify with, responding them and gratifying them you will end them waiting to hear from you again. So, are you ready to tap this amazing tool to drive traffic to your page? Share your thoughts.