Paper from Elon Media Analytics Students describes how small businesses can use contests and games to boost customer engagement and ultimately sales.

1. Small Business
Marketing:
Contests & Games To Increase
Engagement and Sales
Lily Mandell
P.J. Collins

2. Executive Summary
Businesses have taken advantage of
social media for marketing purposes
since its creation. Advertising has
shifted completely from print to digital;
from billboards to tweets. With time and
practice, many companies have figured
out methods to garner strong social
media presences. Although these
accounts have been able to gain
followings, they often lose followers and
eventually consumers, because they
lack engaging content. In order to
maintain their online audiences,
plateauing businesses can benefit from
tricks that have been used for years on
radio shows and on personal media
accounts: contests and games geared
toward audience engagement.
✦​Retail companies can gain
loyalty from consumers that will
translate to business by holding
contests, games and giveaways
through their social media
outlets.​✦
Companies With Strong Social Media Presences
Two companies that excel in using social media to broaden their consumer bases are
Red Bull and Oreo. These two businesses have strong senses of how to target specific
sectors of the population, and how to market through vehicles like Facebook, Twitter
and Instagram. Although these companies succeed in their presences, they could go a
step further by utilizing contests and games.
Red Bull
● Social media posts reflect an
energetic lifestyle.
● In 2012 the company sponsored
the world record for the highest
skydive, done by Felix
Baumgartner - was livestreamed
on Red Bull’s Facebook,
YouTube and website (Red Bull
Stratos)
Oreo
● Took advantage of the Super
Bowl blackout in 2013 during the
third quarter with an ad on
Twitter. *will add screengrab
once we do design elements
● Ad campaign for legalization of
same-sex marriage.
● Dynamic ad campaigns and pop
culture knowledge.

3. Sometimes Just a Presence is Not Enough
The brand image is necessary for a
business to succeed on social media,
however, what matters is how the
company uses its presence to keep its
followers interested and continuing to
buy its products. The company’s
presence has to be dynamic; it has to
keep followers coming back and paying
attention. The introduction of games,
contests and giveaways through the
social media accounts is an exciting
addition to a normally consistent profile,
one that will engage followers better
than prior.
Examples of Games and Contests
Larger companies that are successful on social media already use several engagement
tactics to keep their audiences coming back for more. These tactics are presented in the
form of games and contests, and range anywhere from trivia, to scavenger hunts, to
artistic contests, to users getting prizes for liking/commenting on photos. Two giant
corporations that already do this well are Comcast and Wal-Mart.
Comcast
When Comcast introduced Fancast, its own rival to Hulu, the company started
#TriviaTuesday on Twitter. This contest involved 20 trivia questions per day, and the
winners at the end of the day would win movie tickets, t-shirts and other memorabilia.
The contest required all day audience engagement and with the introduction of it,
Fancast referrals from Twitter increased by 400 percent (Spark, 2009).
Wal-Mart
For awhile, Wal-Mart had a “Fan Photo of the Week” on its Facebook page. Fans would
take a photo using a Wal-Mart product and submit it through the Facebook page. Fans
could then vote on the Facebook page, causing a great deal of traffic through the page,
and then eventually the site.

4. Benefits
Companies who use these tactics know the benefits of having more followers. On a
large scale, the benefits are easily measured, how many followers or support on a post
versus how much of a product is then sold. On a local scale, the benefits can be scaled
down further, and a small business can gain much more than just money. Utilizing
contests and games through social media:
Brings People Together
On a local level, a
strong business can
help build up a
community. Once the
brand is established,
and people are engaged
and interested with
contests and games, a
community following and
support will be
established. Customers
value feeling personally
connected to a business
rather than just a person
who gives them money.
Gaining Consumer
Insights
The data is the
engagement, itself. If a
post that offers a certain
product as a prize does
not receive much
engagement, it tells the
company that not many
people are interested in
that product. Social
media offers a free,
quick way to gain insight
into the minds and
buying habits of
consumers.
Helps Make Business
Decisions
Once the insight is
gained, the company
uses that data to move
forward. Using these
methods are essentially
“polling” the audience to
find out what the
company should invest
its time and money into.
Without coming right out
and asking, the social
media accounts are
using trial and error, with
little to no expense, to
see how a new product,
program or campaign is
going to run.
Best Practices for Small Business Marketing - Contests and Games
● First “like” on a photo guarantees
15 percent off of a product
● Photo scavenger hunt uploaded
to Facebook throughout a small
town
● Trivia questions on Twitter about
the company for discounts
● Documentary contest through
YouTube to be featured on a
company’s website
● Having users re-post photos on
Instagram to market new
products, first 20 to do so win
discounts

5. How Smaller Businesses Can Succeed
Within sectors of small businesses, there are many ways that games and contests can
directly increase sales and engagement; below are some specific methods that can be
put into action.
Online Marketplace
For a company that
operates solely online,
social media
engagement is
necessary to survive. A
platform that can be
used for contests and
games is Instagram.
Examining a company
like Redbubble, an
online shop for artists to
sell their designs on
things like stickers and
posters, a “How It’s
Made” video with
contests to win the
designs made in the
video would succeed in
getting new customers
engaged, and putting
substance behind a final
product.
The College-Town
Vendor
Brick and mortar
businesses must
strategize differently, as
advertisements must
attract customers to
physically go to the
store rather than simply
view an advertisement.
Evaluating the location
and audience of Elon
University's Oak House
coffee shop, tactics like
open mic nights and
surplus food giveaways,
and contests “Design a
Sandwich Board” and
“Create a Drink” will
succeed for this local
coffeehouse.
The “Trendy”
Establishment
For a business that
already has a following
on and off of social
media and is becoming
more and more popular,
engagement is vital on
social media platforms.
For a company like a
Juice Bar, being healthy
is very trendy in the
media right now. Taking
advantage of that
through auctioning off
tickets to workshops,
gym memberships,
lifestyle speakers etc.
through social media will
attract new people to the
business that want to
become apart of the
trend.

6. For More Information
Red Bull Stratos. "World Record Jump." ​Home. Red Bull, 2012. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.
Spark, David. "10 Creative Contests Powered by Social Media." ​Mashable. N.p., 11
Aug. 2009. Web. 29 Sept. 2016.