VOICES HEARD MEDIAThe Leader in User Engagement Applications

Increasing Contest ROI

OUTLINE

• Why Run a Contest?• Projecting a Contest’s ROI• Common Mistakes• Best Practices• Case Studies

WHY RUN A CONTEST

Traditionally companies run contests on their website or Facebook page and are looking to achieve one or more of the following goals:

• Capture Leads• Increase Word of Mouth Marketing• Increase Facebook Likes

PROJECTING ROI

ResearchA recent article came out in the September Harvard Business Review. The article is titled “Better Customer Insights – in Real Time”.

The article analyzed what increased a customers relative likelihood of purchase. The results may surprise you!

ConclusionsBased on this research, the assumption can be made that appearing on a users’ social network falls somewhere in between ‘Word of Mouth’ results and ‘Seeing the Product in Friends Home’ results.

Thus, when a user shares a brand’s content to their social network it directly impacts the bottom line.

Visit to Store

Visit to Website

Seeing Product Friends Home

Word of Mouth

TV Ad

Direct Mail

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Likelihood of Purchase

PROJECTING ROI

Measuring the ROI• Number of New Users to the Website• Number of Email List Registrations• Increase in Search Engine Rankings

Calculating ROI:• Multiplying website new users by average

sale per web user• Multiplying new email registrations by

average sale per email list member• Calculating cost of buying leads and then

multiplying that number times the number of registrations

COMMON MISTAKESMistake Number OneContests on the web are typically simple entry forms with winners chosen by random drawing.

Why is this a Mistake?This type of contest accomplishes the goal of capturing leads. The problem however is that anyone that enters this type of contest is more likely to win when there are less entries.

Participants therefore are rewarded for not telling others about the contest. This is exactly the opposite affect that the business is trying to achieve.

COMMON MISTAKES

Mistake Number TwoLocation, Location, Location! Most companies select to run a contest on either their website or their Facebook tab. Why?

If the goal of the contest is to reach as many people as possible, why should the business self impose limitations? The goal is to be everywhere and reach as many consumers as possible.

When companies run a contest only on Facebook, three problems will occur that limit the ROI of the contest :

• Facebook Tabs cannot be viewed on mobile phones.• You never want to send traffic away from our website if

the user is already there.• There is no way to pull users back to the businesses’

website!• If the links do not direct traffic back to the businesses

website then there will be no SEO benefit

Winners Based on Number of VotesInstead of choosing winners at random, ask the user to enter by adding a photo, creating a video, or (as the example shows) “Tell Us Why You’re Alicia Keys #1 Fan”. The winner was determined by the number of votes.

The participant now has incentive not only to register to win, but to share their entry to their social networks and recruit friends and family to vote for them! This has the following effect:

• Dramatically increases sharing• Increases traffic to the website• Increases return traffic –

• Participants return to

the site to see where they are ranked

BEST PRACTICE – MISTAKE 1

BEST PRACTICE – MISTAKE 2

Be EverywhereBy placing a contest on a Facebook Tab, a website, and on a mobile site or app, a business is able to reach the user wherever they happen to be.

Testing Different Marketing Methods and MessagesDifferent marketing methods and messages can be used to see which location, method, and message provide the maximum results.

Examples:• Facebook Ads for the Facebook tab• Email Blast for the website• QR codes in store for mobile

Modify OptionsThe other option you have is the ability to make slight modifications in how the contest is set up.

Example:Website – only requires entry formFacebook tab – requires the participant to ‘Like’ the page and fill out the entry form

MEASUREProbably the most important item - and least done - is the measuring of results. This data can be used to optimize your next contest and compare results.

• Engagement Rate – How many unique visitors that viewed the page interacted with the application

• Sharing – what social networks and percentages• Return Visitors from Shared Links• Location – Which parts of the country or world were

reached• User Report – Collection of contact information and

agreement to future email newsletter

The Challenge Spark Magic! Moviefone found it could use the Voices Heard Media contest as a promotional tool to create a viral campaign across the web. Among its most successful social events was a contest inviting visitors to submit a video (embedded as a YouTube video) demonstrating why they were the Number 1 Harry Potter fan.

The Results• 30,000 unique visitors on the page in 7 days• 18,000 interactions (votes, comments and submissions)• 300 ‘shares’ on external social media sites (200 via

Facebook)• 37 video submissions

The leading video had 1.3 million YouTube views within 10 days! The winning video was featured on URLesque, Perez Hilton, and by many other sites and bloggers.

AOL Moviefone - Harry Potter Fan Contest

CASE STUDY

The Challenge Create an event to increase website traffic and promote Alicia Keys’ concert in New York.

The Results• 15,000 Shared Links• 40% of website traffic was from shared links• Surpassed Alicia Keys own website in search engine

results for the duration of the contest

Tell Us Why You’re the #1 Fan

CASE STUDY

The Challenge AOL Canada wanted to get users signed up to their newsletter.

They set up a VHM trivia product as a contest, requiring users to sign up for their newsletter in order to play the trivia game and also be entered to win a trip to see the Smashing Pumpkins. They placed the event on their website and Facebook Tab.

The Results• 52.71% of unique visitors entered• 1260 Registrations

Trivia as a Contest

CASE STUDY

To learn more, please contact:

Visit voicesheardmedia.comor email us at sales@voicesheardmedia.com