Running a competition for your fans or customers is a great way of increasing engagement and boosting your marketing campaign.

However, choosing the correct platform can be confusing as there are a number of different elements to consider; entry mechanism, prize, reach… Each platform has it’s pros and cons, so we have created this quick guide to help you choose the best option for your business.  

CUSTOM APP (FACEBOOK) 

• Suitable for photo, video, text, sweepstake, polls and quizzes, entry via promo code, entry to receive promo codes / immediate prizes. 
• Competition can be embedded on Facebook (for maximum reach) on your own site, or operate on a stand alone site with social media sharing options. 
• Highly customisable, including custom artwork and competition layouts. 
  Very broad reach, the competition is embedded in Facebook but can also exist as a micro site that can be shared via the other social media platforms. 
• Easy to administrate, all entries are funnelled into one place where they can be easily judged, sorted and downloaded.
• Entries can be collected and displayed on a purpose built minisite or even on your own site. This helps drive traffic to your own site rather than just your social media accounts. 
• Can be set up so that the admin can approve content in batches before it is displayed on a minisite. 
• Custom building an App allows great control over the competition mechanism, streamlining the entry process and so reducing barriers to entry. 
• Sophisticated sharing options can be set up for each stage of the competition so that it can be broadcast across all of the different social media platforms. 

FACEBOOK 

• Suitable for photo, video, text, sweepstake, polls and quizzes.
• Facebook is the largest social platform (33.6 million users in the UK vs 15 million on Twitter) and therefore is key in maximising competition entrees. However this can be 
  leveraged by using a custom app. 
• Entries are via hash-tagged content or by posting to your wall. 
• Labour intensive to manage and judge as you have to search for tagged entries 
  and also monitor entries for inappropriate content on a regular basis. 

TWITTER 

• Suitable for text, sweepstakes and ‘retweet to win’ entries. 
• Entries are via hash-tagged content or by mentions using twitter handles. 
• Labour intensive to manage and judge as you have to search for tagged entries 
  and also monitor entries for inappropriate content on a regular basis. 

INSTAGRAM

• Only appropriate for photo (and video) competitions (but all images will be square, giving less flexibility to the entrant).
• Entries are via hash-tagged content or by mentions using Instagram handles.
• Restricted reach, not everyone uses Instagram.
• Labour intensive to manage and judge as you have to search for tagged entries 
  and also monitor entries for inappropriate content on a regular basis. 

USEFUL LINKS 

• http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/33352/Everything-You-Need-to-R un-a-Successful-Social-Media-Contest.aspx 
• http://www.matthewbarby.com/running-online-competitions/#competitionplatform 
• http://unbounce.com/social-media/social-media-contests-for-beginners/