Contest Ideas for Social Media – Ideas for small business to increase engagement

It is common to have good number of followers on your social media page and less engagement. Even if you are doing too many things like posting regularly, using hashtags, using stories etc engagement and buzz can be lacking on your page because your audience is not excited about the content. This post on contest ideas on social media is specially written to help you create that buzz and for better engagement on your page

What is Contest & why your audience will participate on social media

Contest is something where you ask your audience to share inputs or answer the question you ask. It can be a simple answer type question or maybe some experience. Do you remember the trend on social media where people were supposed to guess a song by emojis or famous cadbury contest on Diwali or Rakshabandhan where winner can get a chocolate box for sister or family. These are the ones which famous brands used to conduct. Therefore, now out of fad and to get attention from audience more brands follow this trend

Why will your audience participate?

• Most of the people are always online looking for something exciting
• Contests although common for big brands but not so common in small businesses
• Most importantly even if giveaways are small people love them
• Tagging and feature can be a great point to catch people eye
• People love to showcase their knowledge
• Regular contests will help you initiate two way communication and keep people connected to your page

Hope you find above reasons quite convincing to start with contests on your pages. I included this post “contest ideas for social media” on Ahead with digital because I know contest works and help in better engagement.

What could you offer as a prize?

Prize may excite people but recognition and excitement you show after and during the contests really matters. So few examples which you can consider as a giveaways or prize are

• Tagging winner in your story and adding winner picture as a post
• Giving monetary gift – I am not asking you to give a big amount but something simple as Rs. 250 or Rs. 500 or may be Rs. 1000 gift voucher from Amazon, Flipkart or something related to your brand
• If you are service provider you can offer free one week trial or one month trial. This can be an investment towards word of mouth marketing
• For companies which are selling products, they can share sample as a gift for further promotion
• If you have alliances or collaboration you can sell their products/service as well
• This can be a great way to start with collaboration
• Even a small offering from a brand can be great if contest is executed well and people are convinced with return over time investment

General Contest Ideas

Everybody loves unusual and new things especially now a days because of pandemic life. We all are bored so no time could be better than this time to start with your first contest. If you are looking for social media post ideas for small business, then read this post.

The most important thing to note in this post ” contest post ideas for social media” is we don’t need special days to conduct contests or quizzes but inspiration can be from anything. See below examples

• Very intriguing and captivating contests can be around latest and trending series on Netflix, prime or Hotstar etc
• For example, consider a latest trending series on Netflix that is A suitable boy – A simple question can be a contest like From where this show is inspired, Which act has been talked about in A suitable boy or Describe the theme of A Suitable Boy in funniest way and the funniest prize will win the prize
• Pick the most trending topics and create contest around those. It can be a simple thing like something around IPL matches or books or Bollywood.
• One can create contest around their business category. Something which can really interests people.

A small advice is try to be away form politics and religion related news because we don’t want our brand to be part of controversies. For upcoming festivals, there are few contests ideas for social media. Start with experimentation and see what kind of contests work well for your audience and keep engaging 🙂

Contest Ideas for Diwali

Diwali is a famous festival and having a contest on Diwali can be a great thing. Before sharing contest ideas, we need to realize that we have to be excited and need to appreciate people efforts including participation

Below are some general ideas which can be picked by any business

• What is the best way to celebrate green Diwali? For the best answer we have a Diwali gift
• What is the next unwanted gift you have received after Son Papdi ;)? Share the funniest gift and we have a gift for the best answer
• For you Diwali is —————-? Let’s get emotional. We have a special gift for the most heart touching answer

Below are some ideas specific to industry which can be picked by any business

I thought of sharing contest ideas for social media around Diwali because this can be a great time to create buzz and get attention

• Fashion brand – Share your picture in Diwali outfit and tag us. The most uncommon will win a Diwali hamper from us
• Cooking – The yummiest with a healthy twist – Share your recipe of famous dish which you can cook in a healthy way. The best will be showcased on our page. We also have a goody for you

These are just few examples. We need to create excitement before the contest go live, during the contest and obviously when the winner is announced. Also, remember to be thankful for the efforts and love people shower. One needs to reiterate the thank you message consistently in stories.

Christmas Contest Ideas

Christmas a festival of joy, positivity and obviously childhood memories. Let’s think of contest around the same

• We believed in Santa & Christmas gifts like forever :).Share the memory when you come to know the reality that your parents have been your Santa. We have a prize for the funniest one
• Santa spreads smile and so we can in lives of others. What is your idea of spreading smiles? Share the best answer and get Christmas present

Contest Ideas for New Year Eve

New year eve is about reminiscing the memories and doing planning about the next year. Too many contests can be build around these. Check few examples below

• We all have waited 2020 to be over. Share What you Don’t want 2021 to be ?
• Hope 2020 has done some good. Share the best memory and win a prize
• 2020 has been tough and an year with learning. Participate by sharing your learning and you shall win a voucher

Experiment, experiment & experiment is the success on social media. Experiment with these contest ideas on social media and improve engagement. Looking forward to see amazing contests on your pages 🙂