SEEN Hashtag Magement Platform Archives

June is the time to celebrate dads and grads

Yesterday was the first of June which officially kicks of the month of grads, dads and weddings, at least that’s what most marketers what us to think. However during the month of May I was honored to attend my daughter’s graduation ceremony which was held at the University of Miami (see photo of her and I). She graduated from Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine which is actually located in St. Kitts. Miami was a little easier for many of us in the U.S. to get to. Congratulations to Alex and to all the college grads of the class of 2017. Now we move on to the high school seniors.

Father’s day is also in June, Sunday the 18th this year. We are currently working on several sweepstakes promotions with a company called Infinium Spirits who has many different alcohol beverage brands. They are promoting their Templeton Rye Whiskey brand with their first sweepstakes which is celebrating Father’s Day. The Templeton Rye Whiskey Dad Sweepstakes recently launched and runs till June 30 offering four people a chance to each win a Templeton Rye Gift pack valued at $250.

People are invited to submit a photo of themselves with their dad, or the father figure in their life, by posting it to either Twitter or Instagram and including the promotional hashtag #TRWHISKEYDADSWEEPSTAKES. We are again utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform since this type of promotion just uses a hashtag as a means of entry. This ease of entry is one of the biggest benefits of using a hashtag only entry, plus it provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtag and allows for those posts to be shown in the gallery page as you see here. It allows you to moderate the posts so that you may approve or disapprove them before they are posted to the gallery.

One additional benefit of using this hashtag management tool is that it provides a place to post the official rules that are needed for any sweepstakes or contest. The team at Infinium is promoting the sweepstakes at point-of-sale at various retail locations that carry the brand as well as on their social media sites. It appears that they’re off to a good start with participation on the page since I’ve approved a few posts that are now visible in the gallery. I even posted one of myself with my dad that was taken a few years ago the week of his birthday.

Hope all you dads have a very happy Father’s Day. Make sure to give your dad a big hug and kiss, or a phone call if you can’t be with him, and at the very least, give him a toast. I lost my dad this past March so I will just have to settle for a toast this year.

Grillin’ with Dad Sweepstakes helps celebrate Father’s Day

The calendar says it’s June 1 today and the summer season is officially here. It’s a month known in the marketing world as “Dads, Grads and Brides” when we will be celebrating Father’s Day, school graduations, weddings and also the flag. It’s the month where our backyards really come to life again. All the flowers and plants are in full bloom and we have our outdoor living space back again, at least those of us in the northern part of the country.

The month of June provides great opportunities for small businesses to reach out to customers with an incentive to visit their stores, restaurants or websites. According to a National Retail Federation survey, the average person will spend $117 on a gift for Dad which amounts to $12.7 billion in total spending. Wives, moms, children are all starting to think about gift giving and doing something special on June 19 for the fathers in their lives.

Taking dad out for lunch or dinner is a very popular way to celebrate. We’re working with this restaurant chain from Texas to assist them with their “Grillin’ with Dad” Sweepstakes. The Cotton Patch Cafe is inviting people from now till Father’s Day to visit one of their restaurants, located across Texas and in Oklahoma and New Mexico, with the father figure in their life. Once there, they need to take a photo of themselves with their dad and post it on Instagram or Twitter or upload to the CottonPatch Cafe Facebook page and use the hashtags #CottonPatch and #Grill4DadSweepstakes. They also have the option of including a comment explaining their dad’s/father figure’s best grilling tip.

One Grand Prize winner will receive a Weber Performer® 22” Grill valued at $400 and four First Prize winners will each receive a grilling essentials kit. We are again utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform for this sweepstakes since it has a hashtag only as a means of entry on Instagram and Twitter. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtags and allows for those posts to be shown in the gallery page as you see here. This platform allows the sponsor the option to moderate the posts so that they may approve or disapprove them before they are posted to the gallery. Since the sweepstakes just started, we don’t see any posts on the gallery page as of yet. This ease of entry method is one of the biggest benefits of using a hashtag only entry and it also provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion.

This is just a good example of how a business can tie in their marketing to the current season with a promotion and social media as well. If you would like to share any promotions that you are doing related to the summer, I would be glad to feature them here as well.

So enjoy the summer and happy Father’s Day to all you dads.

Here’s a few sweepstakes for guitar lovers

Guitar players will really appreciate these three sweepstakes that are currently running from a company that calls themselves, Two Old Hippies. Our sister company, Alliance Sweepstakes Services, is the administrator on all these promotions. The Take The Bedell Challenge just recently launched on April 1st where they’re giving away a Bedell Wildfire Guitar.

They are inviting people to visit any Bedell dealer now through July 31st and snap a photo or take a video of themselves with a Bedell Guitar. Then they need to upload it to Twitter or Instagram and include the hashtag #BedellChallengeEntry. One grand prize winner will be drawn at the end of the sweepstakes who will win a Bedell Wildfire which retails for $3,990!

We are again utilizing the SEEN hashtag campaign management platform for this of promotion since it just uses a hashtag as a means of entry. I wrote about this platform in last week’s post about the Yes You Cran Sweepstakes. Ease of entry is the biggest benefit of using a hashtag only entry, plus it provides additional social sharing that can help increase the reach of the promotion. The platform pulls in all the posts from Twitter and Instagram that use the promotion-specific hashtag and shows these posts in the gallery page as you see here.

The Weber Custom Sweepstakes is giving people a chance to design and win a custom instrument. Participants are invited to fill out a brief survey that would describe the custom instrument that they would dream of. One lucky musician will be selected to receive up to a $5,000 credit towards their dream acoustic instrument.

“I have always been inspired by players of all styles and experience levels,” explains Bruce Weber Jr. “We love building one-of-a-kind, heirloom instruments, that let the player show off their individuality!”

The Exotic King Koa Giveaway Sweepstakes is offering the chance for one winner to receive an Exotic King Koa Guitar that is valued at $8,000. Participants automatically receive one entry into the Sweepstakes when they purchase a Pursuit Concert Koa Guitar and complete and submit the warranty registration form to Breedlove Stringed Instruments. A mail-in option without purchase is also included.

Both of these last two sweepstakes run till May 31. So any guitar lovers out there, here are three different and unique chances to win.