To win back contacts, there’s nothing better than contests. Indeed, many consumers appreciate this type of event, and don’t hesitate at this time to give out their personal information or provide you with free advertising.
This type of practice has also spread rapidly on the
social networks
. The reason: A competition is engaging content that delights users and makes it easy to expand your contact database.
In the age of RGPD, being able to obtain the consent of many users potentially interested in your brand shouldn’t be overlooked.
What is a competition?
We’ve all taken part in a competition before. A few years ago, you had to fill in a reply coupon and return it to the sender in the hope of winning a gift. Thanks to the Internet, this practice has been modernized and now reaches a particularly wide audience. Clearly, social networks have a lot to do with this, and contests are particularly common on Facebook, for example.
Competitions can take many forms. Some offer the chance to win a prize. To do this, either answer questions of varying difficulty or share the publication with your contacts. Others are creative contests that ask users to share their finest creations. The winners will also receive a gift.
In all cases, the principle is the same the quiz requires users to perform a specific action in exchange for a gift. This gift can be a physical object, a discount voucher on a product or free access to a service for a certain period of time (on LinkedIn, for example, some competitions offer the chance to win a white paper or access to professional training). Typically, there’s one main prize, 2/3 secondary prizes and then a number of smaller prizes (the more you put in, the more likely you are to attract a crowd).
Please note the law does not recognize the existence of contests. Legally, a competition can be :
- A non-random contest (answering questions, sharing a photo or video) that can be linked to a purchase;
- A free, no-obligation game with random draw.
Competitions and affiliation
We’ve already mentioned social networks, but l’
affiliation
is also an interesting solution for sharing your competitions (one doesn’t preclude the other).
As a reminder, affiliation is the meeting point between, on the one hand, an advertiser who wants to share a commercial ad and, on the other, an affiliate who is responsible for distributing it to its audience.
In the early days, affiliation was mainly in the form of banners placed in strategic positions on sites. Over time, this solution has been diversified and modernized to adapt to the needs of advertisers and the browsing habits of Internet users alike.
From simple banners, we have moved on to advertising to advertorials, influencers and even dedicated websites (contests, but also
cashback
or couponing). This widens the field of possibilities for an advertiser wishing to set up a competition as part of its affiliation campaign.
Please note: a competition can also be used to improve to improve visibility, gather leads
collect leads
or boost sales.
A few tips for organizing a successful competition
First and foremost, you need to know your users’ behavior and desires. First of all, to give them a gift that makes them want to participate. But also to find out what interests them or, on the contrary, what might hold them back.
As a general rule, we recommend set up accessible contests. This means that, to achieve maximum participation, you must allow everyone to play. That’s why it’s so important for a quiz to ask simple questions that require little research.
That said, it may also be worthwhile toorganize a more sophisticated competition if you’re aiming to win a substantial prize.. In fact, while an accessible quiz will enable you to generate a maximum number of visits, a more complex quiz prioritizes lead quality over quantity. So don’t hesitate to use these two types of competitions alternately to target different audiences.
In addition to visitor behavior, you also need to consider the objective of your competition. If you want to increase traffic to your site, offer a simple competition. On the other hand, if you’re looking for qualified leads, don’t hesitate to make things a little more complicated.
For content, you can
create a dedicated page
. In this case, opt for a minimalist design that focuses on the essentials The form for your competition. Internet users need to know, at a glance, where to click and how to enter your competition. For this, we recommend placing your form above the waterline and the gift description below. In fact, if the surfer has clicked on your ad, he knows what he has to gain.
Finally, on a technical level, we advise you toavoid flash which is not displayed correctly on all devices. GIF images are the reference formats for contests. What’s more, if you’re on a budget, prioritize the quality of your gifts over the quality of your ad (or your landing page). Internet users aren’t there for your site, they’re there to win something.
One last thing: protect yourself legally. Because there are so many people on the Internet looking for the best way to cheat, you need to be able to anticipate and prevent this kind of behavior. This is one of the reasons why statements such as “only one lot per household” exist.
Affiliation makes it easy to promote your competition to a wider or narrower audience. If you are interested, we invite you to test our affiliation platform (dedicated to the home and fashion worlds). As affiliation specialists, we can help you set up and optimize your campaigns with a ROI approach.
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