Unlock the Power of Social Contests: An Insider’s Guide

If you manage social media for a brand or business, contests can be an incredibly powerful tool to engage your audience and promote your products or services. However, running a successful social media contest takes strategic planning and preparation. At TopIT Marketing, we have facilitated many rewarding social media campaigns and contests for clients over our 10+ years as a top social media agency in Los Angeles.

In this blog, we will share some dos and don’ts for running effective contests based on our experience. Whether you want to boost followers, website traffic, leads, or sales, these tips will help you achieve your goals.

Choose the Right Social Platform

The first strategic decision is choosing the right social media platform(s). While the “right” platform depends on your target demographic and campaign objectives, we typically recommend contests for visual platforms like Instagram and Facebook. These lend themselves well to photo contests, user-generated content campaigns, sweepstakes, and more. However, don’t rule out YouTube video contests or Twitter hashtag campaigns if those match your goals.

Set Clear Contest Rules

One of the biggest mistakes brands make is failing to outline official contest rules. Your rules should specify:

• Eligibility requirements
• Start/end dates.
• How to enter
• Judging criteria
• Number and details of prizes
• Terms and conditions

Clear rules set proper participant expectations while protecting your business legally. Prominently display them wherever you promote the contest.

Offer an Appealing Prize

The quality of your prize directly impacts success. Offer something exciting and valuable to your target audience. Popular prizes include your own products/services, gift cards, the latest tech gadgets, all-expense paid trips, and cash prizes. If your budget is small, you can still incentivize participants with discounts, branded merchandise, or small gifts.

Promote, Promote, Promote

Even the most appealing prize will flop without sufficient promotion across your social platforms and email lists. Create fun teasers and launch posts across your channels. Use hashtags related to your contest theme, cross-promote the contest through paid ads, post frequent reminders, and tag relevant brands or influencers.

Social Media marketing agencies in Los Angeles like TopIT Marketing use targeted paid ads to ensure our clients’ contests reach the widest possible relevant audience. We also leverage our social influencer network to expand our reach.

Make Entering Easy

You want as many relevant people participating as possible. So, keep the actual entry process quick and simple. Common methods include asking participants to:

• Like/follow your page
• Tag friends in comments
• Share the contest posts.
• Use a specified hashtag.
• Submit user-generated photo/video entries.
• Fill out a short entry form.
• Measure Success Against Goals

It’s crucial to define what “success” means for each contest. Common metrics include:

• New followers/fans
• Social reach/impressions
• Engagement rate
• Website clicks/traffic
• User-generated content submissions
• Sales of promoted products.
• Email list sign-ups
• Brand awareness lift

Analyze performance data throughout your contest so you can optimize and improve future campaigns.

Key Takeaways

Running rewarding social contests takes strategic planning, clear rules, strong prizes, robust promotion, easy entry options, and performance tracking against goals. Our social media agency in Los Angeles incorporates all these best practices with every contest campaign to maximize results for clients. With over a decade of expertise driving real ROI from social platforms, our team can help your next contest reach its full potential.

visit https://www.topitmarketing.com and let TopIT Marketing strategize your next exciting and effective social media contest campaign today!

The Future of Digital Marketing: Key Trends and Technologies to Watch

The world of digital marketing is constantly evolving with new technologies and strategies. As a top marketing company in Los Angeles, we keep a close eye on the latest innovations to stay ahead of the curve. In this blog, we’ll explore some key trends that will shape the future of digital marketing and the emerging technologies that will transform marketing strategies.

Personalization Powers Up

One major shift is towards ultra-personalized and targeted marketing. With more data and insights into each customer, a boutique digital marketing agency can create highly customized messaging and experiences. More companies are already using AI and machine learning to analyze data and predict trends. The next level is building detailed customer profiles and micro-segmenting audiences to make every message resonate.

As technology improves, expect digital ads and landing pages that change in real-time based on who is viewing. The end goal is 1:1 marketing that feels like an individual conversation.

Immersive Experiences Become the Norm

Digital marketing is moving from 2D screens to immersive 3D environments and experiences. Expect to see more brands using augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and 3D modeling to promote products and services.  A boutique digital marketing agency will leverage these technologies to create interactive apps, virtual stores, and environments that excite and engage customers.

For example, rather than a static banner ad, imagine an AR ad that allows you to visualize a new sofa in your living room. Or explore a virtual auto showroom from your couch. These immersive technologies will enable customers to experience and connect with brands in new dimensional ways, taking digital marketing to the next frontier.

Growth of Connected TV and OTT Ad Spending

Another exciting trend is the rapid rise in Connected TV (CTV) and over-the-top (OTT) video streaming. As cord-cutting accelerates, audiences are shifting to internet-based streaming on smart TVs, media streaming devices like Roku, and ad-supported video on-demand (AVOD) platforms like Hulu.

Top marketing companies in Los Angeles predict massive growth in CTV/OTT advertising as brands reallocate TV ad budgets to follow shifting eyeballs. Programmatic platforms will also make it easier to target and track streaming audiences, especially lucrative niche groups.

As CTV/OTT viewership booms, ad dollars will pour into this channel making it a critical component for digital marketing strategies. Boutique digital agencies that get ahead of this trend will have a leg up on the competition.

The Rise of Chatbots and Voice Search

Two more technologies that smart agencies are adopting now are chatbots and voice search. Chatbots allow customers to get information and solutions through natural conversations. And voice search handles an increasing number of queries as people rely on smart speakers and voice assistants.

Together, these technologies allow brands to be discovered and accessed conversationally. Customers can engage 24/7 through verbal conversations rather than typing and tapping screens. Brands that optimize for chat and voice will be favored by users.

While still maturing, expect chatbots and voice search to become widespread across digital platforms. Agencies that learn to market conversationally will have an advantage in reaching mobile audiences.

The Way Forward

These emerging technologies give a glimpse into the future of digital marketing. Top It Marketing – a top marketing company in Los Angeles stays ahead of key trends to help brands succeed and adapt. If you’re looking for a results-driven digital marketing agency, let’s connect! We’re ready to take your marketing to the next level.

Conclusion:

The future points clearly to more personalized, immersive, and conversational digital experiences. As technologies improve, customers expect ultra-targeted messages and interactive environments when engaging with brands. Top marketing companies in Los Angeles predict explosive growth in areas like connected TV, while also optimizing chatbots and voice search.

By partnering with an innovative boutique agency, brands can ride these accelerating tech trends rather than being disrupted. To discuss how to future-proof your marketing, contact the digital marketing experts at Top It Marketing today!visit www.topitmarketing.com now to connect with our boutique digital agency.