Q: How can I better promote my contest?
A: Get out there and spread the word!
This of course like all of the BIG Topics of the BB world can be controversial.
Two opposing camps |
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| Anti-Extra Entries | Pro-Extra Entries |
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Where am I in all of this? Well if you’ve entered any of my contests, you’ll know I see nothing wrong with a few Extra Entries. So, I’m approaching this post from that camp. I’ve stated it before, I started this blog as a Marketing experiment – my goal is to be read, increase my SEO and Google presence and to have a LOT OF FUN along the way. I could have started a Social Media blog or a Design blog but what fun is that? I do that all day long in my 9 to 5. So, I’ll market my hobby. On that note lets do some Marketing right? And what are we Marketing? Our blog! The books we LOVE and the Authors that Write those books!
How do we get new blog followers??? HOST A CONTEST!
You see it everyday. Car Dealerships offer iPods if you come in to test drive. Dentist offices offer FREE WHITENING with referals. Cable companies offer FREE HBO if you join up today. Buy 1 Get 1 Free. Like us on Facebook for a chance to win an iPad, Follow Us on twitter for that…
Everyone is doing it – why not join the rat race?
But. And a big BUT. If you have a contest and no one knows about it, how can it make an impact? If a bear craps in the woods and all that right?
My company participated in an exposition. To attract attention to our booth we offer a Free iPad for entrants. But attendees have to fill out a form so we can collect their email addresses so we can contact them later with newsletters and other promotions. The employees that were in the booth though did not engage the crowd, did not even put the sign up, they just placed the box on the booth with a little letter that said iPad giveaway. Ten people entered. Great chances for those ten people right? Why didn’t it work? Because they didn’t promote it. You could be giving away a Ferrari yet if no one knows about the contest – then what good will it do?
I’ll stop blathering and get to the point. How do you promote this contest?
SPREAD THE WORD.
Extra Entries work.
Case Study:
Sally is one of your 100 followers. She sees you are having a contest. You have on your contest that a BLOG POST will get you 10 extra entries and a TWEET will get you 2 extra entries.
Sally really likes your book giveaway selection so she does a blog post.
Sally posts and she has a following of 200 people.
Twenty people read that post. Five people also like your book giveaway selection so they head on over to your blog and enter the contest.
All Five Tweet out your contest. Out of those five people Sookie has a big following so she reaches six people. Vida also has a big following so she reaches three. You now have 14 new followers/contest entrants. Of those new nine followers those people tweet/post and they reach eight more people, those eight reach six more people. Just by adding an Extra Entries area you have picked up almost 30 followers/giveaway entrants.
What kind of Extra Entries should I offer?
Focus those extra entries on promotion of the contest.
• Create a button if you have a PAINT or Photoshop program – get someone to make one for you *hint hint.* Those buttons work, they put them on their sidebar and people see them, it spreads the word.
TIPS:
- Make sure your contest title is catchy and gets the point down.
- Make sure your blog name is on the button.
- Make sure you offer the link back code so when clicking on the button it takes people to your blog.
Here I’ve even made a few for you – you can put the name of your blog at the bottom in the space underneath. Aren’t I nice???
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• Offer extra entries for a blog post
• Offer extra entries for a TWEET
• Offer extra entries for any kind of SPREAD THE WORD – Facebook, MySpace, standing on the corner of a busy highway with a sign!
Social Networking.
How many times do I have to say it. But get on the Social Networking train. Get on twitter. Get on Facebook. Get on the Ning sites that focus on book blogging and say hi to everyone! Just introduce yourself, make friends, gain followers be SOCIABLE. It takes time, but it works.
New ones pop up every day, you can join them all, or you can focus the main ones.
How to beat those Social Networking Streets? Some of these border on spamming, so BE CAREFUL! These are only suggestions because others do it. But, think about it before you go ballistic.
- Go to the Ning Book Blogs site: http://bookblogs.ning.com/ there are set forums/groups for contests, post your contests in those forums. DO NOT SPAM.
- Go on twitter and TWEET your contest. Again…DO NOT SPAM.
- Search for contest posts/blogs etc. These are set posts on blogs that say LINK up your contests, or blogs dedicated to JUST CONTESTs. Email the moderator if they don’t have a set submission area, that you have a contest. I follow Pixie’s Just Contest Stuff: http://pixie13-justconteststuff.blogspot.com/ but I’m sure there are a lot more out there. Seach on Google for those type of sites. Another winged blogger does a contest find post: http://book-faery.blogspot.com
- Send out a Goodreads Event to all your friends on Goodreads {This is iffy – because it borders on SPAM and can turn some people off}
- Invite your close friends by email {This is iffy – because it borders on SPAM and can turn some people off}
- Tweet the author and tell them you are hosting a contest for their book – maybe they will retweet
- Find fan sites of the authors and maybe leave a comment that you are giving away the book – AGAIN…repeat after me DO NOT SPAM
OK am I done here? Do you get the idea??
Um…How do I know if I’m SPAMMING???
- SPAM = Spam is flooding internet paths with the same message over and over again. Forcing your message onto people that don’t want to hear it.
- If you are promoting irrelevant content it’s Spam. So, if you are in a forum for a book club and you are posting about a contest. It is Spam.
- If you are leaving comments on someone’s blog and you have no prior relationship with them other than you follow them…it is Spam.
- If you are emailing someone and the only way you know them is that you follow their blog – that is Spam.
- If you are posting your contest over and over again on twitter – Spam.
Get it? You really don’t want to Spam. Spamming does the reverse it will turn people off from your contest. If you keep shoving your contest in people’s faces – well at some point they are not even going to listen to your relevant messages.
Reader Question of the Week:
How can I assign shortcodes to a pic? I assume their is some customization in my CSS stylesheet, but do I need to also update any PHP files?
Thanks a million “- Alyssa
Plugins!!! — I use Review Ratings (shortcodes & buttons) for my ratings & Shortcodes Ultimate for my pictures. I lurve them!
Book Blogging News:
NaNoWriMo is in full swing! Everyone is feeling the writing crazies. Be sure to encourage your fellow bloggers that are participating. There is even some news that publishers like AVON are picking up NaNoWriMo pieces.
Happy Thursday. Talk Less. Read More. Blog with Integrity.
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Great post! In a similar vein, what is the widget that a lot of bloggers use for giveaways, that has extra entries options?
I know a lot of use use rafflecopter for giveaways. http://www.rafflecopter.com
I used to be really anti-extra entries because I could not be bothered to do all the math for the extra entries, but with the development of Rafflecopter, I have changed my mind about this. I always give a free entry for people on Rafflecopter and then if they are inclined to do the extra entries, they are there as an option, but I never force facebook liking or twitter following, etc.
Very timely info for me since I’m running like six giveaways right now, especially the Just Contest Stuff link – I never heard of that one. I join your Giveaway Social almost every week as well and it works. You should plug that in your post!
Buttons are a great way to spread the word about giveaways. If someone sees a button on someone else’s blog it sends them your way. ‘Course I forgot about that for my latest slew of giveaways. Oops. And those grab buttons are awesome for driving traffic. Those are a total must have IMO.
I don’t mind extra entries as long as they’re optional. I am not too keen on things people MUST do. Unless it’s follow an author or perhaps leave a comment as part of an author guest post to invite interaction or let the author know people have stopped by, etc.
I do agree asking for a tweet will really help spread the word but as an extra entry not a forced one.
Though it does drive me crazy when my timeline is all spammed up with people tweeting giveaway posts. That does shrink someone’s reach, ultimately, as that Tweeter might end up getting unfollowed.
But GR giveaway notices… SPAM. I had two GR “friends” who GR messaged their giveaways and posts daily. Sometimes multiple times a day. So I finally had to stop all notifications and now I don’t get any. They spoiled that pool by their overuse.
And I really need to figure out shortcodes. There’s never enough time in a day to learn about this kind of stuff.
I love this older post. And yeah I wish I’d wandered by that booth and won the iPad. I love it when lackluster marketing teams “promote” stuff. The odds are so much better.
Great post as always. I really love these blogging 101 posts. They are really helpful to a newbie like me.
To be honest, it really turns me off when I’m required to tweet or post on my blog in order to enter a giveaway. I’m quick to unfollow people that do nothing but spam other people’s giveaways because they want the extra entries.
I guess it depends on whether you want to risk the followers you have to gain the followers you don’t.
I love the idea of extra entries. I don’t run as many contests as others, but I like giving people the chance to get a couple of extra entries, and I like it when I have the chance on contests that other people run.
The biggest thing I dislike about contests as a way of getting followers is the contests that are only open for followers. Now I can see rewarding those who support a certain blog, but what if I like a few posts and like the contest and even share it around a bit but don’t want to follow the blog on a more permanent basis? And don’t feel like being sneaky and dishonest about it and only following the blog until the contest is over and then dropping it (because that’s just as unfair, in my eyes, only from the other side)? Extra entries for followers, fine. But it always bugs me when I see contests going around that are for followers only, because to me, that’s basically saying, “Want this cool thing that I’m promoting? THEN LOVE ME!”