How to Create, Manage, and Measure Twitter Contests

14 Jun How to Create, Manage, and Measure Twitter Contests

By Sarah Dawley

Perhaps one of the greatest achievements of my life was being the ninth caller through to my local radio station and winning a copy of the Titanic soundtrack.

At the time, this felt like a miraculous event. Without social media, there weren’t many ways to win things that didn’t involve frantically and repeatedly calling a phone number, or filling out an entry form from a magazine, mailing it in, and waiting with bated breath for a congratulatory call that would never come.

Now, businesses can use social media to run contests that have a low barrier to entry but still create positive brand experiences. One of the easiest platforms to do this on is Twitter. This post will cover everything you need to know about running a contest on Twitter, from setting a goal and choosing a format, to managing the action as it happens and measuring success.

Set a goal for your Twitter contest

Twitter contests are a great way to do something nice for your followers, but with a strategic goal in mind they can also benefit your social media presence and your business.

Your contest can revolve around a Twitter-specific goal, a business goal, or both. Here are some examples:

Twitter goals:

• Gaining new followers
• Increasing engagement

Business goals:

• Increasing sales
• Raising awareness for a campaign or product launch
• Driving web traffic

The next step is choosing the type of Twitter contest that can best help you achieve these goals.

5 Twitter contest ideas

1. “RT and follow to win” contest

This is the most popular type of contest on Twitter because of how easy it is for people to enter. You simply have to craft a Tweet that more or less follows this structure:

Want to win [description of prize]? RT and follow us to enter!

Other things you may want to include in your contest Tweet are:

• A shortened link to your rules and regulations (we’ll cover this in more detail below).
• A deadline for entering the contest to create a sense of urgency, i.e. “Enter before noon on Monday!”
• A photo of the prize, which will make it more enticing and help the Tweet stand out in people’s feeds.

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