The Power of Contests in Internet Marketing

  The contest is an established marketing tactic, in the physical realm as well as in cyber space, and with sound justification-human beings like to try to win things.

  Wildly successful online contests have solidified the position of the contest as a worthy part of an effective Internet marketing strategy.

Didja Ever?

  Carnival Cruise Lines showed off their marketing savvy with the creation of a contest named Didja Ever, which asked entrants to submit a description of something that they'd love to do during their time on this planet, encouraging them to think meaningful and think big.

People responded in huge numbers-Carnival Cruise's Facebook likes now sit at over two million.

AMC Theaters

  Successful contests need not be one-off, large-scale events. They can be a regular part of the way a company communicates with its customer base.

  Consider AMC Theaters, for example. They use the Pinterest platform to regularly offer their movie-going clients' chances to win prizes like signed posters, neat T-shirts and, of course, free tickets. Regular movie goers just have to follow AMC Theaters' Pinterest giveaway board to be constantly in the know as well as in the running.

Four Seasons

  Four Seasons is a fine hotel chain that knows the value of embedding contests into an Internet marketing strategy, asking that entrants send them their photos of a selected city, like Toronto, Canada, for example.

  This kind of contest works well for Four Seasons as travelers are often passionate about photography and the generous prize of a free weekend at a Four Seasons hotel is an obvious drawing card.

Doritos

  If there is a chip that is identified with parties is could be the Dorito, with its crunchiness and intense tastes. Doritos knows who likes to eat their chips and so designed a contest that speaks directly to these youthful snackers wherein re-tweeting a particular Doritos tweet could win them enough Doritos, and other worthy prizes, to party on all night long.

  Doritos' brand gained significant attention for this cool contest, though it should be noted that Twitter does not approve of such antics.

Brush Buddies

  Brush Buddies is a company founded on the simple premise that brushing one's teeth could be fun, and so they have manufactured a line of singing toothbrushes.

  When Brush Buddies decided to launch a Facebook contest designed to boost their global market presence, they turned to a talent search, asking for video submissions of singers who wanted to be the voice of a toothbrush. The Internet responded with flare and Brush Buddies gained attention in eight different countries.

HP

  HP is a well-known company, though their HP Spectre laptop is perhaps not as prolific as they would like it to be.

  HP hosts a contest entry page on Pinterest, offering alluring prizes like the HP Spectre laptop itself, generous Amazon certificates and so on, to entrants who create a Pinboard around a weekly theme presented by HP. The contest is regular and entrants are returning weekly and growing in numbers.
It is indisputable that smart contests run on the right social media platform can bring some oomph to a company's online presence and help to build a significant cyber following.

About the Author

  Dan Wiggs shows you how he is working towards a 6-figure per month income from his laptop. He shares the latest strategies that you can apply to any kind of business and really ramp up your marketing!

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