Social media contests are not exclusive to B2C brands anymore—B2B companies can run them too. Studies show that on average, 34% of new buyers come from social media competitions and giveaways, while calls-to-action (CTAs) used in social contests have a 3.37% higher conversion rate than other marketing CTAs.
These contests are social media campaigns, in which you encourage targeted users to participate by taking the action you want them to take, in hopes of winning a reward or prize. B2B brands leverage social media contests to boost lead generation, drive organic web traffic, increase their email subscribers, or grow their social media followers. This guide will help you run a successful B2B social media contest in five easy steps.
1. Determine Your Goals and Object
To design a successful B2B social media contest or giveaway, you must define the purpose and goals of this campaign. Do you want to solidify customer loyalty? Or do you want to expand your reach and increase your followers? Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound) goals to accurately measure your campaign performance.
Without clear, SMART goals, B2B companies will struggle to determine if their social media giveaways and contests are successful. After establishing your SMART goals, document and share them with your team. Every professional involved in designing, developing, and executing your social media contests must know what your company wants to achieve and how they can tailor your giveaway or contest accordingly.
2. Conduct Buyer Persona Research
Personalization is an indispensable technique that B2B companies must practice for digital marketing success—including social media contests. To personalize your social media competitions, conduct in-depth research about your target buyers. Your audience is much more likely to respond to social media giveaways and contests tailored to who they are as buyers and what value they are looking for. Think about it—if you were a consumer, you would not be engaged by a social media contest that is unrelated to your purchasing needs.
Conduct research to determine key information about your target audience, including:
- Which social media platform are they most active on? Determine which social channels, like LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter, your target audience uses the most. The best way to gather this information is through surveys that ask your customers what content they like to consume, which industry influencers they follow, or which social sites they rely on the most.
- What pain points are these buyers facing that your social media contest can address? Ask your customers to express their purchasing pain points and what they want to see businesses offer. Businesses can get these insights from surveys, questionnaires, polls, or by reaching out to their social networks (through a post) and asking them.
- What contest reward would these consumers find most valuable? This information will be clear once you have identified your buyer’s pain points, as you will know what will excite them. If this is unclear, use a poll or survey to pinpoint the most buyer-centric contest prize.
- What content would engage your buyers? The content you use to market and run your social media competition must appeal to your target audience. Refer to previous or different marketing campaigns and what content drove the highest engagement. Some target audiences prefer educational video content, while others prefer statistics and infographics.
The best methods to get answers to all the questions above is through surveys, questionnaires, and customer data. If your business serves a broad range of consumers, develop a contest for a specific customer segment, making it easier to personalize.
3. Establish Simple and Clear Contest Rules
You know the purpose and target audience of your social media contest. Now, you need to determine how your competition will work. Consider the top B2B ideas and tips for social media giveaways and contests to choose the best and easiest way to design yours.
The easier it is to enter and share your social media contest, the more likely you are to drive interest. Brainstorm how you can make it possible for engaged buyers to join your social media contest in just a few steps.
For instance, let us assume your social media contest requires participants to create a video in exchange for a reward or incentive. On one hand, you ask participants to sign up through a dedicated landing page, confirm their entry via email, and then email you their video content. Alternatively, you could ask participants to create a video, post it on social media, and tag your business. The second instance would appeal more to targeted customers because it is easier.
There must also be fair contest rules to govern how customers participate. For example, clearly state the social media contest start and end dates, the type of content participants can promote or create, and how customers can enter your competition. If your contest follows a specific theme (remote work, team building, etc.) communicate this and all your contest rules to participants.
Make it effortless for B2B buyers to join your contest, complete the challenge, and claim their reward.
4. Choose the Best B2B Social Media Contest Software
Avoid manually managing your social media contest, and invest in reliable social media contest tools. These tools will help you build, promote and manage your B2B social media contest more efficiently and accurately. You can depend on this software to ensure a winner is fairly picked and all the different components of your contest are integrated for a smooth user experience.
Additionally, B2B social media contest software often comes with analytics features to measure your contest’s performance and share reports with your team. However, not all tools have robust analytics, and businesses must consider this when choosing the best software.
5. Measure Your Social Media Contest KPIs
Measure your key performance indicators (KPIs) when your social media contest comes to an end. These metrics help you accurately measure the success of your social media contest against industry standards. Your KPIs must be related to the SMART goals you set in Step 1.
If your goal is to boost lead generation, your KPIs must include lead conversion, cost per lead, and cost per acquisition. But if you set out to skyrocket your social media followers, your KPIs should focus on the count of followers lost, followers gained, and user engagement.
After establishing your KPIs, use your social media contest tool to measure the correct metrics. Use this data to improve your next B2B social media contests, to achieve better results for your next campaign.
Conclusion
B2B contests on social media can boost customer engagement rates, optimize lead generation and web traffic, and grow your email subscribers. Additionally, you can create a social media competition in five easy steps: determine your goals and budget, conduct buyer persona research, set contest rules, invest in B2B software, and measure your campaign KPIs.
