This Marketing for Social Media Promotions Guide is broken out into three sections to cater to the various stages of a promotional campaign. If you’re in the planning stages of your promotion, PART ONE, Planning Tips and Best Practices Guide, is for you. If your promotion is already underway or starting soon, check out PART TWO, Promoting and Managing Your Campaign, for tips on how to promote and manage your campaign. (Coming Soon) If your promotion is ending soon or has recently ended, see PART THREE, Life After Your Campaign Guide, where we go over steps for an effective follow-up. (Coming Soon)

1. ing Tips a
ann nd
Pl
PART ONE
Be
st i de
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tic e s Gu
MARKETING for
SOCIAL MEDIA
PROMOTIONS

2. This Marketing for Social Media Promotions
Guide is broken out into three sections to cater to
the various stages of a promotional campaign.
If you’re in the planning stages of your promotion,
PART ONE is for you. If your promotion is already
underway or starting soon, check out PART TWO
for tips on how to promote and manage your
campaign. If your promotion is ending soon or has
recently ended, see PART THREE where we go over
steps for an effective follow-up.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

3. 1. Your Brand & Social Media Community
ning Tips a
an nd 2. Setting Goals
Pl
3. Choosing Your Promotion Type
PART ONE 4. Online Promotion Planning Checklist
5. Defining Metrics and Your ROI
Be e 6. Best Practices
st d
Prac ui
tic e s G
a. Promotion Length
What you’ll learn in Part One b. Contest Type
c. Choosing Your Channel
d. Voting, Judging and Other Considerations
e. Communication and Timing
f. Benchmarks
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

4. Plan, Prepare and Prepare for the Unplanned
With social media contests you can reap the benefits of viral or word-of-mouth marketing,
but it’s still essential to have a well-thought-out marketing plan to support your campaign.
It may sound obvious but you must drive traffic to your destination. We often remind our
clients not to fall victim to the “Field of Dreams Fallacy”—the idea that “if I build it, they
will come.”
Utilize the channels available to you, be that social media, paid media or promotional
partners. Don’t overlook any opportunities to get the word out. Do you have a regular
email newsletter or a point of sale display?
Participation at the outset will generate the ROI that comes from social sharing activity.
And remember that your existing customers are most likely to engage. By targeting them
first, you can build momentum that will spread through their social networks.
Excerpted from “How to Run a Successful Social Media Contest”
by Ben Pickering, Strutta CEO, in Social Media Examiner:
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

5. 1. Your Brand & Social Media Community
You know your brand and audience best. We’re here to help power up your creative campaigns and connect you with
your community through engaging content, ideas and conversations. Our aim is to provide you with the absolute best
platform for your social promotions.
If you are relatively new to the space or are looking for fresh ideas,
check out some of our favorite resources.
Common Craft has a full library of fantastic videos that help make complex ideas easy to understand.
These three will help get you acquainted with social media:
http://www.commoncraft.com/video/social-media
http://www.commoncraft.com/video/social-media-and-workplace
http://www.commoncraft.com/video/social-networking
Top sites for social media Leading personalities
marketing tips & news: in the space:
• http://mashable.com • http://jeffbullas.com
• http://readwriteweb.com • http://rohitbhargava.com
• http://womma.org • http://www.briansolis.com
• http://socialmediaexaminer.com • http://www.marismith.com
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

6. 2. Setting Goals
Some Things to Consider:
There are many ways to operate an online promotion.
You want to encourage the best kind of participation HIGH
possible, and offer a great experience for all involved
while achieving your goals. To that end, there are a
number of items to be aware of when preparing a
promotional campaign.
T
EN
VIDEO
BA
EM
CONTEST
Campaign Goals
RR
G
GA
I
ER
What are you hoping to achieve with your contest?
EN
TO
Are you looking to crowd source excellent content PHOTO CONTEST
ER
EN
that relates to your brand? Do you hope to expose
UM
TR
your campaign and brand message to as many people
NS
Y
CO
as possible? Are you hoping to attract new website TEXT SUBMISSION
(RECIPE, ESSAY, ETC)
traffic and convert them into subscribers and
customers?
BASIC FORM “SWEEPSTAKES”
Thinking about these goals will help your decision
making when you are planning your campaign. This
infographic gives you a glimpse into what we have
learned about online promotions:
LOW
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

7. 2. Setting Goals
Goal 1: Generate leads and data
Generating qualified leads is often seen as the most important goal for any marketing campaign. Attracting new
customers is essential, so grab your target audience’s attention with a great promotion and use the opportunity to
collect information from entrants and voters. Expanding newsletter subscriptions or contact lists with people who care
about your brand can drive new business. However, gaining an email address or Twitter handle may be irrelevant
without supporting information so be sure to ask the questions to learn more about your (potential) customers.
Goal 2: Engage socially
More brands are looking to tap into social media’s power
to build lasting relationships with their customers.
Conducting engaging campaigns with thoughtful planning,
execution and follow-up is a proven way to reach
customers and keep them loyal. Make brand ambassadors
out of your customers by encouraging them to share your
message through their social networks. Leveraging
multiple channels (e.g., brand site, Facebook, Twitter) is
a great way to amplify the effect of your campaign.
Goal 3: Gain content or consumer insight
Digital technologies make it easy for anyone to become a content producer, and user generated content (UGC) defines
the web as we know it today. A promotion that invites users to contribute their content not only creates a deeper
investment in your brand, but also serves as a means to crowd source content that can be leveraged across multiple
channels and in future marketing campaigns. A contest with public voting can also be utilized to solicit feedback from
customers and gain insights on their preferences.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

8. 3. Choosing Your Promotion Type
Whether you agree with these three
goals or have different ones, consider
how your chosen campaign type can
deliver on your objectives.
First, note the difference between a
contest and a sweepstakes. A contest
rewards skill; winners are determined
based on skill, popularity or judging. A
sweepstakes awards winners at random;
winners are determined based purely on
chance.
A promotion that invites users to
contribute their content not only creates
a deeper investment in your brand, but
also serves as a means to crowd source
content that can be leveraged across
multiple channels and in future
marketing campaigns. A contest with
public voting can also be utilized to
solicit feedback from customers and gain
insights on their preferences.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

9. 4. Online Promotion Planning Checklist
Although interactive contests require a good deal of planning and effort,
the potential ROI and ability to reach multiple goals is tremendous. Using
Strutta’s platform and packages, you can capitalize on social media activity,
gain new leads, and access valuable data and content.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

10. 4. Online Promotion Planning Checklist continued...
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

11. 4. Online Promotion Planning Checklist continued...
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

12. 5. Defining Metrics and Your ROI
Return on investment doesn’t have to mean solely financial return. Bottom-line results clearly matter, but they
can’t be the sole objective for any social media campaign. Dag Holmboe, for Social Media Examiner, provides a
good perspective on social media ROI.
Depending on how you set up your promotion, these are some
of the key metrics to consider:
‣ How many people visited your promotion? How much time did they spend engaging?
‣ Of those who visited, how many actively participated? How many entered? How many
voted (if applicable)?
Objectives drive
‣ How much sharing took place? outcomes. By setting
‣ What type of content generated the most interaction your objectives clearly
(i.e., comments, Likes, retweets)?
‣ How many new Likes on Facebook or followers on Twitter?
up front you can
‣ What was the level of Twitter activity establish what goals
(especially if you have a contest-specific hashtag)?
matter to you and
‣ What was the redemption rate of any coupons or offers?
‣ How many users opted in to your email list?
track against them.
‣ If you included any outbound links to drive traffic, what was the click-through rate?
‣ And ultimately what new business (revenue/profit) can be attributed to the promotion?
MORE RESOURCES:
In Marketing Profs, Veronica Maria Jarski highlights the importance of measuring attention, attitudes and action.
In a guest post on Danny Brown’s blog, Eugene Farber offers solid tips and insight on social media ROI.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

13. 6. Best Practices
a) Promotion Length
Promotion lengths may vary. We’ve seen incredibly successful 24-hour flash sweepstakes giveaway. Creating a sense
of urgency can really catapult your campaign’s viral success. On the other hand, we’ve also powered impressive
year-long contest campaigns that reset the buzz regularly with monthly prizing. Establishing consistency and setting
expectations on your social channels for promotions are a great way to ensure your fans check in regularly.
A typical contest promotion will
usually last 4-8 weeks as follows:
Refresh excitement and
‣ Submission Round: 2-4 weeks
engagement around your brand
‣ Voting Round: 2-4 weeks with each incentive and
(may overlap with Submission Round) promotional campaign!
‣ Judging Round: 1-2 weeks
If you have overlapping submission and voting rounds, we recommend letting the voting round go for at least one
extra week. As there’s usually a good push of submissions at the deadline, this gives your last-minute entrants some
time to rally up support!
A typical sweepstakes giveaway will run up to one month.
It’s generally a good idea to tie your promotion to a product launch, a company milestone, or other seasonal event
where you’ll already amass a good amount of attention.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

14. 6. Best Practices
b) Contest Promotions: Media Type
No matter the type of content collected in your contest, the task at hand should resonate individually but appeal
globally. In other words, there should be a natural sense of resonation and inclination to share the content
submitted to your contest.
Media types Strutta’s platform supports: photo, video, text and audio
‣ Photo contests will generally yield more entries and participation than any other medium.
Common use cases: travel shots, family & pet moments, memorable experiences
‣ Video contests have a higher barrier entry but they tend to make for more engaging contests.
Common use cases: live action shots, short film competitions, product demos
‣ Text based contests can spark innovative ideas and build a great database of content.
Common use cases: best recipe contests, caption contests, and essay competitions.
‣ Audio contests are great if you’re looking to find a hot band or catchy anthem.
Strutta’s platform is Choose to accept all Let your participants
unique in offering mixed media types in your decide how to best convey
media contests. contest. their message!
Note: Your contest participants will retain ownership over their content and work. You, as the Contest Organizer, gain rights to use the
submitted work in your marketing materials or projects. We are firm believers in giving due credit for all creative works!
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

15. 6. Best Practices
c) Choosing Your Channel
Social marketing by nature requires touch points across channels
and platforms. With Strutta, you’ll extend the reach of your
promotional campaign as you can choose to launch on the channel(s)
that will best fit your needs. Plus, spread your message further with
our integrated Facebook, Twitter and email share tools.
Below are key differentiators between the channel options. Standalone microsite, iframe, Facebook or mobile?
Standalone Microsite
If brand integrity and design is a high priority on your list, you’ll appreciate the ability to build a site that is ad-free and you’ll
love the freedom to customize a site that may extend beyond Facebook’s layout limitations.
IFrame
If increasing traffic to your site is your main goal, choose to embed your promotion directly into an existing page within your
web site. This option is particularly popular with our clients in media and broadcasting as ad placements and general site
navigation remain in place as users interact with the promotion.
Facebook
If you want to strengthen your community on Facebook, run your promotion directly on your Facebook Page!
Mobile
If you’re looking to boost your presence among your customers on-the-go, supplement your full site with a mobile-friendly
version! This advanced option is included in our DIY PRO packages and is unique to Strutta’s platform.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

16. 6. Best Practices
d) Voting, Judging and Other Considerations
We always recommend using a combination of
voting and judging in order to determine winners.
A voting round adds exciting elements of competition and
urgency. It also encourages sharing among participants and their
social networks which is the biggest contributor to a “viral”
contest campaign.
• On average, each entrant will bring in at least 10 voters to
the contest site via social sharing
• The number of visits to your site will jump exponentially
when you allow multiple submissions per entrant and enable
hourly or daily voting
We recommend at least allowing
your community to flag
Including a judging round can boost your contest’s clout inappropriate content on the site.
(especially if you bring in influential personalities as judges),
and introducing a judging criteria helps to ensure the quality of
In order to ensure brand integrity,
your contest winner vs. a popularity contest alone.
choose full moderation to collect
Content Moderation and hold all content and comments.
Strutta’s system offers 3 moderation options:
• No moderation Only publish content that meets
• Users can flag inappropriate content your brand’s standards.
• Full moderation
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

17. 6. Best Practices
d) Voting, Judging and Other Considerations
Sponsors
Adding sponsors to your promotion may add excitement,
increase reach and even help with your campaign's prizing
and costs. A coveted sponsor spot is a great value-add
especially for those in events, publications and promotions.
Random Draws and Extra Incentives
In addition to awarding prizes to top entrants, you may
want to reward other social behavior and incentivize other
participants!
For example:
• Integrate a coupon code into the entry flow & surprise
those who take the time to enter your promotion!
• Through our Stats Dashboard see who brings in the most
click-throughs to the contest site and give reward them for
their active participation!
• Send a follow-up message to all entrants and voters with a
special deal. Surprise and delight everyone who
contributed to your promotion’s success!
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

18. 6. Best Practices
e) Communication and Timing
We recommend that you schedule ahead of time where, when and what you’ll communicate about
your promotion.
For contests that will require a greater investment in effort or time (e.g. community involvement, video production
or event registration), you’ll likely want to start promoting the campaign before the submission round opens. This
will help give your community time to really consider and plan out their submissions.
The timing and frequency of communication varies per channel.
Work promotional posts into your regular schedule on
Twitter, Facebook and on your other active networks. Mix
up the content of your posts to highlight the many aspects
of the contest including the premise, prize, and any note-
worthy submissions or activity. Don’t forget to post follow-
up messages as well.
Reserve any press releases, media pitches and e-blasts for your promotion’s milestones. For example: the
promotion’s launch, opening of the voting phase, results.
MORE RESOURCES:
For tips on when send updates, see these informative posts from The Social Media Guide (Twitter)
and Social Times (Twitter and Facebook), PR Daily (Blog)
See extensive marketing and communications tips in PART TWO of this guide.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

19. 6. Best Practices
f) Benchmarks
We refrain from giving out general benchmarks as each campaign that is launched is so very unique.
Because there are so many variables in each campaign, we don’t want to mislead you or give you false expectations.
Consider all of the variables in a contest promotion: timing, prizes, promotion, sponsors, ads, campaign objectives,
industry, community, budget, etc.
If you would like a customized benchmark report for your particular campaign, please contact us at info@strutta.com.
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS Part One

20. BAM!
NEXT UP
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS
Part Two Promoting and Managing Your Campaign Guide (Coming Soon)
MARKETING for SOCIAL MEDIA PROMOTIONS
Part Three Life After Your Campaign Guide (Coming Soon)
Promotion examples and case studies: http://strutta.com/spotlight
Thank you for choosing Strutta!
Tina Hoang | Communications Manager | tina@strutta.com | @t1nah on Twitter
Facebook Photo Video
Sweepstakes
Contest Apps Contests Contests
Start your promotion by visiting strutta.com or Call us toll-free at 1-877-477-5717