We’re helping the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) run a fun, regional summer contest right now. COTA helps move central Ohio residents, workers and visitors throughout Central Ohio and in return the people move them. So they recently launched the “What Moves You” Photo Contest to engage with their customers and get insights into what moves them.
The contest is only open to residents of the Greater Columbus, Ohio metropolitan area. They are invited to post a photo of “What Moves You” that includes inspiring experiences and sites around the city of Columbus. They can post their photo to either their Twitter or Instagram account and include the promotion hashtags, #WhatMovesYou and #Contest. They must also follow COTA on Instagram @COTABus, if that is their method of entry, or Twitter @COTABus, if that is their method of entry.
Submissions will be accepted up until August 31 and then a panel of judges will use the following judging criteria to select the two grand prize winners: Connection to theme (50%), Photo Quality (25%), Originality and Creativity (25%).
Each winner will then receive a prize package that includes unique experiences from some of the Columbus area’s favorite venues, shops, sports teams, and attractions such as PromoWest (tickets to Passion Pit and Alabama Shakes), Wolf’s Ridge Brewing, The Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, Franklin Park Conservatory, Homage, The Blowout Bar and more.
Here’s a 30 second video that COTA created to the What Moves You campaign.
I just returned from a trip to Europe where my husband and I did most of all of travels using local transportation. We road on the local and high speed trains as well as the metros, subways, buses and trams and really enjoyed getting a taste of how the local residents move. It’s much more common in European cities to use mass transit then in the majority of cities here in the U.S.
So I applaud COTA for encouraging people to use mass transit in a very creative way. Looks like they are getting a great response so far.
Experience Kissimmee is getting ready to hit the one million mark. At the time of this post they currently have 947,903 fans who have liked their Facebook page. So in anticipation of this memorable event they will be running their “Thanks a Million” Sweepstakes on their Facebook page.
Starting next week and running through the rest of the summer till September 4, Experience Kissimmee will invite fans to visit their page to see a weekly promotional post. These weekly posts by the Sponsor will ask fans to comment on the promotional post by sharing a photo along with a personal thank you note. By doing so the person will be entered into the sweepstakes.
At the end of each week Experience Kissimmee will select two of these thank you notes to feature on their Facebook page. Those two people will be the weekly winners who will each receive a Kissimmee “Thanks A Million” Vacation Essentials set that includes an Apple iPod Nano, a tote bag, sunglasses, sunscreen, Chapstick, a pool towel, a Bluetooth speaker, a drink koozie and a 16″ beach ball. They will also receive an entry into the grand prize drawing to be held at the end of the sweepstakes, right around the time Experience Kissimmee expects to hit it’s one millionth fan!
That grand prize winner will of course win a Kissimmee getaway package for them and up to 3 guests. The package includes round trip airfare and a week’s vacation rental provided by Jeeve’s Holiday Homes. Also included are lots of passes to area attractions including Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando. The grand prize package is valued at $11,154 which makes it the highest value prize that Experience Kissimmee has offered in our history of working with them.
Now we all know that building a fanbase isn’t easy. It takes time to get people to like you on your Facebook page. So we have to congratulate the team at Experience Kissimmee for all their hard work that they have put into this page. It now is hopefully starting to pay off for them. However, they still need to work hard though in order to keep these fans.
Running these types of sweepstakes promotions are great ways to engage with fans. This promotion in particular is asking fans to share both a photo and a message. In doing so, two people a week will have their posts featured for all to see. While most of the sweepstakes that we administer on Facebook are done through a 3rd party app on a tab page, this one is a great example of running it on the page itself. While the Sponsor will not be collecting person data on the participants (email addresses, full names, etc), they will instead gain many valuable insights into their brand from the posts people will share. That will hopefully be worth the huge investment that they have made.
Congratulations again to Experience Kissimmee. We’ll be checking your Facebook page throughout the period to read some of the posts.
The annual MLB All-Star Game which was held last night is a clear sign that we are in the middle of the summer. This is when the MLB is on a break for a few days as it prepares for it’s second half of the season.
The game was held in Cincinnati this year and the American League won again, 6-3. Mike Trout from the LA Angels started off the game with a home run and he became the first man in history to win back-to-back All-Star MVP awards. The next team that faces the Angels is of course the Boston Red Sox who have not had a very good first half!
T-Mobile was the presenting sponsor of Fox’s broadcast of the The All-Star Game. This sponsorship also included stadium presence as well as “FanFest” activities scheduled in the game’s host city. T-Mobile used this major platform to promote its latest initiative, “Mobile Without Borders,” which allows customers to call, text and use data in the U.S., Canada and Mexico on one rate plan.
T-Mobile also ran a promotion inviting fans to predict which player (if any) would hit a three-run homer. They asked fans to post the player’s name on Twitter using the hashtag #3for1HomeRun and #sweepstakes. If any player hit one during the game, T-Mobile would then randomly select 10,000 of those Tweet predictions who would win a $500 voucher to be used toward travel to Canada or Mexico. T-Mobile was promoting the sweepstakes through all of its social channels, as well as digital and on-air broadcast advertising and in-stadium signage.
Unfortunately there was not a #3for1HomeRun.
If there was that would have meant a $5 million payout. T-Mobile secured prize insurance for a much smaller fee from our friends at SCA Promotions who took on the risk for this program. In the event a player hit a three-run homer the insurance company would have had to pay for the prizes.
So if this type of promotion with big prizes interests you let’s discuss how it may fit into your marketing program. It worked well for T-Mobile in this case and helped them get the most out of their sponsorship dollars.
Hope everyone had a great 4th of July Holiday. We realize that many people have taken this week as vacation to add on to the holiday and may be at the beach or the lake. So here is another summer getaway promotion that we’re administering that I thought I’d share that is a great example of how to promote your destination or brand. And, it just may give you ideas on where to vacation next.
The sweepstakes is offering a chance to win one of 4 monthly “Amped Up” vacation packages which started on June 1 and runs till the end of September. Each package is slightly different, but they all include round-trip airfare, 5 nights hotel accommodations and a St. Pete/Clearwater swag bag. Here are some of the prize packages:
Amped Up Adrenaline Package – This is the only package that is for up to 4 people (all others are for 2 people) and includes the “Best Out There Experiences” Visit St. Pete/Clearwater has to offer: Parasailing, Sky Surfing, JetLev, and Speed Boat Adventures. Accommodations at the TradeWinds Island Resorts on St. Pete Beach in their 2 Bedroom Gulf Front Suite and a $500 resort dining credit.
Amped Up Art & Shopping Package – An “Art and Shopping” escape that includes tickets to The Dali Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, and Chihuly Collection including VIP access/tours and a $1,000 gift card to pick up a piece of local art. A $500 gift certificate to Sundial St. Pete along with suite accommodations at the Renaissance Vinoy and a $500 resort dining credit.
Amped Up Sea & Food Package – The “Best Gulf Charter Boats and Seafood Grub” Visit St. Pete/Clearwater has to offer: a dolphin watching cruise from Dolphin Landings, St. Pete Beach, a dinner cruise on StarLite Cruises and scrumptious grub at Frenchy’s Rockaway Grill. Suite accommodations at the Hyatt Regency Clearwater Beach Resort & Spa and a $500 resort dining credit.
Amped Up Sunsets & Suds Package – The “Best Rooftop Sunset Bars & Breweries” Visit St. Pete/Clearwater has to offer. Nightly limo transportation to suds and sunset for four days to various bars and restaurants along with accommodations at The Birchwood Inn in a Premium King- Park View with Balcony room and a $250 gift card.
St. Pete/Clearwater list 13 different white sand beaches in their 35 mile area, a different beach to fit any mood. It is the only destination in America with two beaches in the Top 10 of TripAdvisor’s 2015 Traveler’s Choice Awards of the Top U.S. Beaches, which is based on millions of traveler reviews. There’s laid-back St. Pete Beach, which landed at No. 2 on the list, and bustling Clearwater Beach, which checked in at No. 8.
The first monthly winner for June has already been drawn and contacted. So we have one very happy winner so far with three more to come. Participants can enter each month for a chance to win since each monthly entry period starts over. Check out the website now. I hope you can take the time to find your beach this summer.
Here’s a photo of the Grand Strand, which I recently took during a brief getaway to visit family down in the Myrtle Beach, SC area. The weather was extremely hot there right before I arrived, but cooled off a little resulting in some beautiful beach days.
While I was gone there was much happening in the news and on social media. Seems to always be the case when I’m offline for a few days. The Supreme Court came out with their final rulings for the year and #SCOTUS was everywhere! As most of you are totally aware, one of their rulings legalized gay marriage in all 50 states and the reaction on social media was huge. According to Facebook 26 million users changed their Facebook profile photo to show a rainbow flag to celebrate the historic decision. Some brands also got in on the big moment with social media posts in support of the ruling.
I promised to continue sharing some summer promotions, so here is a new contest launching soon offering a chance to win a great getaway. The Divina All-In Photo Contest from MSC Cruises is also awarding a 7-night Caribbean cruise, this one on their ship, the MSC Divina, for one winner and their guest.
Participates will be invited to submit a photo that they feel depicts how they would go “ALL IN” on a MSC Caribbean cruise. They can enter the Contest by visiting the MSC Cruises Facebook page or MSC Cruises’ website. Porthole Cruise Magazine is also a partner offering a free subscription to the winner along with featuring them in one of their future issue. They are hosting the contest on their Facebook page as well.
Once the submission period ends then the judges will use the following judging criteria to select 5 Finalists: Connection to theme (50%), Photo Quality (25%), Originality and Creativity (25%). These 5 Finalists will then move on the Voting Phase and the Finalist with the most votes will be determined as the Grand Prize Winner.
I realize that many people are taking this week off since most companies are giving Friday off to employees with Saturday being the 4th of July this year. I hope you all enjoy the 4th of July Holiday weekend. Tune in next week for more summer promotional updates.
Say hello to summer with Frozen Yogurt! To help celebrate the first full week of summer here’s a new sweepstakes from Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt that we helped launch. Their “Sweet Summer Giveaway” sweepstakes offers the chance to win a 7-day Caribbean cruise for up to four people courtesy of Princess Cruises.
From now up till July 31 Menchie’s customers will automatically receive one entry into the Sweepstakes when they use their registered Menchie’s loyalty card at any Menchie’s Frozen Yogurt store. Those that don’t have a card are invited to stop in any location and register for their My Smileage club. Participants can also enter online at a promotional micro-site and off the the Menchie’s Facebook page.
Menchie’s has locations in 37 states in the U.S.. as well as D.C., and many in Canada as well. Last summer Menchie’s partnered with Hershey on the Hershey’s Experience Sweepstakes to help promote their new Chocolate Glazed Toffee Bar flavor. The prize last year was a family vacation to Hershey’s Chocolate World and Hershey Park Attractions. This year instead they are partnering with Princess Cruises and providing them with some added exposure.
The sweepstakes is being promoted within Menchie’s locations with posters and other point-of-sale and on their social media sites. We set up the Sweepstakes entry pages for Menchie’s and again are using the Shortstack Application. Shortstack first started out as a Facebook application, but last year they broaden the capabilities of their platform and you can now not only install the app on a Facebook tab page, but you can also embed the entry form on any webpage or host online as a separate promotional micro-site which we are doing here. Both entry forms are utilizing the same graphics and all entries go into one database. Therefore this allows for only one entry per day, per person’s email address regardless of what method they entered from.
All entry pages are mobile friendly from the start with Shortstack’s “One Campaign for any screen” design philosophy. If you would like more details on how to set up a promotion utilizing the Shortstack platform, please feel free to contact me. It’s a great tool and it also includes a great team of support people.
Enjoy the summer and come back here to read about some more popular summertime promotions. Don’t forget to enjoy some frozen yogurt and ice cream. My favorite flavor has always been pistachio!
I included a summary of the promotional guidelines from the various social media platforms that I had presented in my recent session at the BlogPaws Conference in Nashville in last week’s blog post. So in keeping with some of this presentation content I thought I would share here the question that we get asked quite often….what is the difference between a sweepstakes (giveaway) and a contest and why chose one over the other? So here goes.
Why Run a Sweepstakes? First of, sweepstakes are a game of chance, a random drawing, and are also referred to quite often as giveaways. Sweepstakes can help create awareness and excitement around your brand, company or organization. They can help to reach your desired objectives by just running on their own or acting as an overlay to your overall marketing program.They are a great way to easily build or grow your database via email or mobile text messaging by collecting user data.
Sweepstakes are highly measurable and can be very effective when integrated with the right incentive. Therefore, an effective sweepstakes will not only offer participants the chance to win great prizes, but can help you reach some of the following objectives:
– Build and expand your database: entries capture user information
– Drive traffic to your website, social media channels or to your physical locations
– Keep your prize budget manageable, you set the prize package up front
– Reinforce the features and benefits of your brand/service/company through themed sweepstakes and prize tie-ins
– Entice consumers with hard-to-get prizes: leveraging existing partnerships and sponsorships and your own products
Here’s an example of a sweepstakes that is running now for Joffrey’s Coffee that we are administering. It’s a simple random draw that will award one lucky grand prize winner a Disney World vacation by just filling out and submitting the online entry form. Joffrey’s is the official coffee of Walt Disney World so this is a great example of how they are utilizing their partnership with Disney to promote their brand.
Why Run a Contest?
Like sweepstakes, contests also generate buzz and awareness and are a great fit for offering a chance to win a great prize. Unlike sweepstakes, contests are defined as a game of skill, not chance. A contest must be judged based on a degree of skill or uniqueness, and this judging criteria must be stated in the official rules. In a contest you are asking people to do some work to enter, therefore you may receive fewer entries for a contest then from just a random-draw sweepstakes, however they will be more likely to be higher quality.
The most common types of contests today include user-generated content such as photo, video, essay, recipe and design contests. Submissions are then judged or evaluated based on the contest theme and judging criteria and in some cases open for public voting. If you run a contest that invites participants to submit a photo or video you increase the chances that they will share their submission on social media.
So if your marketing goals are as follows, here is why contests are the better tactic:
– Reinforce your brand attributes: customers’ photos, videos and essays highlighting your strengths speak volumes
– Elicit user-generated content that can then be used in your future promotions
– Your engaged followers will help spread the word for you, especially through social channels
Pictured above is an example of an ongoing photo contest we’ve been assisting the team at Rail Europe with. They have been running this monthly on their Facebook page as a way to engage with their followers and build a nice database of photos of iconic Europe scenery.
Sweepstakes and contests must both follow the lottery laws which state that any purchase or payment is not allowed in order to enter. If so, then an alternate means of entry without purchase must be included. Contests however can include a purchase if it’s required to create the submission that will be judged. If you’re interested in discussing your needs and what may be the best tactic for your marketing efforts, please feel free to contact me.
Last week at the 7th annual BlogPaws Conference in Nashville I presented a session titled Key Legal Developments in Sweepstakes, Contests and Social Media. So I thought I’d share here a recap of the section that covers the broad array of the guidelines for promotions from the various social media platforms.
Facebook
Back on August 7, 2014, Facebook announced on it’s Developer’s Page that it no longer would allow Like Gating. They gave developers and page administers a 3 month window to make any adjustments to their apps which went into effect in November. Here’s what they stated:
“You must not incentivize people to use social plugins or to like a Page. This includes offering rewards, or gating apps or app content based on whether or not a person has liked a Page. It remains acceptable to incentivize people to login to your app, checkin at a place or enter a promotion on your app’s Page. To ensure quality connections and help businesses reach the people who matter to them, we want people to like Pages because they want to connect and hear from the business, not because of artificial incentives. We believe this update will benefit people and advertisers alike.”
So you certainly can still ask fans to like your page, “Don’t forget to Like our page”. You just can’t make it mandatory in order to enter a sweepstakes or contest.
Then about a month after this announcement Facebook then changed their Promotional Guidelines again and stated that you no longer have to use an 3rd-party app and can run Sweepstakes and Contest promotions right on your Page’s Timeline by simply asking fans to Comment on or Like a post as a way to enter. We’ve seen some promotions run this way since the change, but the majority still appear to be using an app. The issue with running a promotion right on your page is that you are not collecting data on the participants and therefore it’s hard to contact the winner(s). So it all depends on what your objectives are in choosing which method to follow.
Twitter Twitter’s Guidelines are pretty simple and overall they want to avoid “spammy” posts filling up their platform. When running contests or sweepstakes they ask businesses to ensure that participants follow their overall guidelines which include:
– Discourage posting the same Tweet repeatedly. This means do not create a sweepstakes where the most retweets win.
– Discourage the creation of multiple accounts in order to gain extra entries.
– A good practice is to always ask users to include an @ reply to ensure you can view all entries.
– Encourage the use of posts that are relevant to the contest. Don’t use a hashtag that is not related to the topic.
Instagram Instagram’s Promotional Guidelines are somewhat similar to the other social media platforms which they encourage having a set of official rules that are legally compliant with the applicable rules and regulations for running a sweepstakes or contest. They also want the rules to state that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Instagram (as you should do with any social media platform that you are including as a method of entry.
The only additional guideline is do not inaccurately tag content or encourage users to inaccurately tag content (ex: don’t encourage people to tag themselves in photos if they aren’t in the photo).
Pinterest
Pinterest came out with some updates to their Brand Guidelines to include best practices for sweepstakes and contests. Here are some of the dont’s they suggest :
– Don’t suggest that Pinterest sponsors or endorses you or your promotion.
– Don’t require people to Pin from a selection – let them pin what they like,
– Don’t make people pin or repin your contest rules.
– Don’t run a sweepstakes where each pin, repin, board, like or follow represents an entry.
– Don’t encourage spammy behavior, such as asking participants to comment.
– Don’t ask people to vote with pins, repins, boards, or likes.
– Don’t overdo it: contests can get old fast.
– Don’t require a minimum number of pins. One is plenty.
Google + – Does still not allow promotions on their platform. You are only able to promote it on this platform.
FTC – Federal Trade Commission
Besides the social media platform guidelines, you should also be aware of updates on the FTC endorsement and testimonial policy. They recently published a list of Q&A’s that you may want to take a look at. When it comes to sweepstakes and contests they state that any incentive, no matter how minimal such as an entry into a contest or sweepstakes for making a post on social media sites, may be an endorsement. Thus it requires a disclosure. The use of the promotion title alone is not adequate, and they are encouraging including #Contest or #Sweepstakes or #Entry or similar designation in a hashtag. The recent updated Q&A’s say that using #sweeps is not enough and instead it should be the whole word in this case.
That’s all the latest that I’m aware of. They change on a regular basis, so it’s tough to stay updated, but hopefully this summary will be of help to all. If you have any further updates you are aware of please share them here.
Just back from Nashville and the 7th BlogPaws Conference which was again another great event. I got to present on Saturday, day 2 of the conference, on Key Legal Developments in Sweepstakes, Contests and Social Media. Even though I was one of the break-out sessions scheduled after lunch, we had a good turn-out with some great questions from the audience (along with a couple of shout-outs from a few dogs!). I will be uploading the presentation to our LinkedIn profile here www.linkedin.com/company/american-sweepstakes-&-promotion-company if interested.
For those that are not familiar, the Blog Paws Conference is catered to pet bloggers to help them grow and learn social media skills. But it is also a great event for anyone interested in building their brand online. It’s the only conference were you’ll find some attendees wearing cat ears along with those that have brought their dogs and cats and this year, ducks, pigs, ferrets and even a rat! So I wanted to share here a few of the highlights and photos of the conference.
One of the speakers I was really looking forward to was Peter Shankman, a PR and social media marketing consultant, speaker, author and founder of Help a Reporter Out, who took the stage as Friday morning’s keynote speaker. He was very engaging and had us all laughing pretty hard. This was the third time I heard him speak and was glad to that he is still saying that one of the key rules today in the world of media and marketing is “Transparency”. I’ve been repeating that rule in many of my own presentations ever since. Peter used the new Periscope app to live tweet part of his presentation on Twitter, so I decided to do it as well. It was one of my first times using this new app. I was able to upload here it to YouTube. So take a look, this excerpt quite funny.
The BlogPaws team is still tallying some of the final numbers they were able to donate to various local shelters, but they stated last night in a Twitter Chat (#BlogPawsChat) that approximately $18k in cash, 27k+ lbs of food and over $5k in product was donated from #BlogPaws 2015! Next year’s conference was announced to be held in Phoenix, June 23-25. You can click on the image to register.
Please enjoy some of the photos I took of a few of this year’s pet attendees! Hope to be back next year!
I’m headed down to Nashville, TN, on Thursday of this week to attend the world’s most unique social media conference, BlogPaws. Anyone who’s been following my blog knows that I’m a huge fan on this annual conference. This will be my fifth time attending. I’ve only missed one so far which was last year in Lake Las Vegas. I have been asked to speak again at this year’s conference which I am looking forward to.
This three-day, pet-friendly event is taking place May 28-30 at the Sheraton Music City Hotel. My favorite part of the BlogPaws Pet Blogging and Social Media Conference each year is seeing all the pets, some celebrities with their own blogs and shows. In a recent press release by the BlogPaws team they listed what this year’s pet attendance looks like:
Over 100 dogs
11 cats — plus a variety of service cats and adoptables
2 celebrity mini pet pigs
3 ferrets
1 hamster
1 possible capybara
1 diapered duck
2 rats
3 ducklings — Huey, Dewey, Louie!!!
Two of my good friends and fellow blogging colleagues, Yvonne DiVita and her partner, Tom Collins, were co-founders who introduced BlogPaws in 2009 and held the first conference in Columbus, OH, in 2010. In less than six years, BlogPaws has become the go-to resource for pet bloggers and social media enthusiasts looking to build their online presence to enhance their social networks and support animal shelters and rescues around the world. Brands also consider BlogPaws the go-to resource when looking for social media attention and contacts.
Many pet bloggers, as well as the teams that run the online websites for animal shelters and the brands themselves, regularly run sweepstakes, giveaways and contests. So my conference session titled “Key Legal Developments Affecting Sweepstakes, Contests, Disclosure & Digital/Social Media” will address a broad array of legal regulations and guidelines facing us all today. Being able to effectively engage with customers and key audiences is a top objective today. However, there are many risks that need to be considered when doing this.
I’ll first review what is an “Illegal Lottery” and explain what ‘NO PURCHASE NECESSARY’ really means. I’ll define “consideration”, which here refers to the entrant’s time, effort or money. Besides making a purchase or payment it also means requiring a considerable amount of time, like filling out an in-depth survey, making multiple store visits or requiring too many social media tasks. Is sending a text message “Consideration”? Does posting a photo of a food item that you just took a bite of “Consideration”? Is watching a video to find the answers “Consideration”? It’s a very fine line and some have a higher risk then others.
The conference is capped at 500 attendees and this year they recently announced that it has again sold-out. There will be over 40 different sessions offered including advanced SEO Techniques, WordPress Tips, How to Build your Brand, Creating Engaging Content, Getting Noticed by the Media, Utilizing Video, Facebook and Twitter Tips, Making Money Online, Effective Fundraising and many more. Mary Engle from the FTC will be back to review more details on the FTC Guidelines for bloggers. Friday morning’s keynote speaker that I’m really looking forward to seeing again is Peter Shankman whose talk it titled “Ain’t No Loyalist Like A Zombie Loyalist”. I saw Peter Shankman years ago when I was first starting out in the new world of social media and he said something that I still use today as the #1 guideline we all need to follow…Transparency.
I will be posting my presentation online after the conference, so you’ll be able to find it here on and on our Linked In Company Page as well as my Personal Page . Or, just email us and we can send you a copy. I’m also really looking forward to visiting the city of Nashville for the first time. Hopefully I’ll get to enjoy some live music, taste some good southern cooking and experience what makes this city so special. Any tips please pass along.
We’re helping the Central Ohio Transit Authority (COTA) run a fun, regional summer contest right now. COTA helps move central Ohio residents, workers and visitors throughout Central Ohio and in return the people move them. So they recently launched the “What Moves You” Photo Contest to engage with their customers and get insights into what moves them.
#Contest. They must also follow COTA on Instagram @COTABus, if that is their method of entry, or Twitter @COTABus, if that is their method of entry.
the What Moves You campaign.
The BlogPaws team is still tallying some of the final numbers they were able to donate to various local shelters, but they stated last night in a Twitter Chat (#BlogPawsChat) that approximately $18k in cash, 27k+ lbs of food and over $5k in product was donated from #BlogPaws 2015! Next year’s conference was announced to be held in Phoenix, June 23-25. You can click on the image to register.
