When it comes to increasing customer engagement, a fun competition can really get people talking about and interacting with your brand. Customers love getting in on the action, and one of the best ways to help them do that is by hosting a creative contest with the aim of getting more eyes on your brand and product or service.
Coming up with the right kind of contest for your brand to host—one that people will want to participate in and share with others—will take a creative strategy and careful thought. Below, members of Forbes Communications Council share fun ideas for competitions marketing teams can use to boost customer engagement.
Members pictured left to right.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Photo Or Video Contests
A photo or video competition can be easily promoted through social media and other online platforms and can be tailored to fit the theme and brand of the business. The marketing team can offer prizes or incentives to encourage participation and use the submissions as content for social media or other marketing materials. - Jaime Hunt, Old Dominion University
2. Olympics-Style Customer Competitions
We are running an Olympics-style competition in Q1 of 2023. My company develops talent development solutions; we’ll be measuring the success of our customers’ coaching and mentoring programs as it relates to employee personal development and business impact. We will then select gold, silver and bronze medal winners based on rankings. Certificates, LinkedIn badges and social buzz will be created for our winners. - Meira Primes, GrowthSpace
3. ‘I Spy’ Social Gamification
“I spy” gamification on social media brought our brand into context for customers and employees alike. A simple challenge to post and reshare photos of our installed construction solutions promoted our brand pride and a suite of system solutions and showcased customer projects around the globe. - Megan Longenderfer, Victaulic
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4. Branded Sweepstakes
We recently paired a digital-only sweepstake with the launch of a new dental bone product and saw great engagement on social media as well as traffic to the website. The concept was to find the hidden “bones” scattered across our website, encouraging engagement and a fun moment for customers. - Yvethe Tyszka, Zesty Paws
5. UGC Contests
I love user-generated contests where people can submit photos of themselves using a product or service. When you reshare customers’ content, they feel like part of the brand, and they might even share your post with their followers as well. - Roshni Wijayasinha, Prosh Marketing
6. Caption Contests
Create a caption contest on social media using an image that reflects your brand purpose, but not the product, so more of your customers and prospects can engage. Perhaps it’s tied to a national day, such as National Puppy Day. Use a cute picture of puppies and a subtle brand logo, and then encourage people to caption the image in five to seven words. Also, select a prize that’ll appeal to your target audience. - Parna Sarkar-Basu, Brand and Buzz Marketing, LLC.
7. Co-Creation Contests
Great brands create loyal fans. Finding ways to include your fans in the co-creation of a product or the service process ties them even tighter to your brand. A video game company asked its fans to create art that could be used in its game, for example. Then, the company awarded five fans with having their art featured in future releases of the game. Co-creation is a powerful tool to help your fans and customers be there for a lifetime. - Jonathan Shroyer, Arise Gaming
8. Holiday-Themed Photo Contests
Take advantage of fun national holidays that align with your brand and host a contest on social media encouraging customers to share a photo that relates to the day. Not only is it always a good idea to hop on the trends that relate to your company, but giving customers a reason to share content will help encourage them to get involved. The more creative you are, the better! - Victoria Zelefsky, The Menkiti Group
