6 Tips to Run a Winning Twitter Contest

Driving traffic to your business online is one of the best ways to build brand awareness. You get new leads, new potential customers, and new clients. If you have a business and are active on Twitter, running a Twitter contest is an excellent way to drive engagement to your brand. It’s straightforward. People like freebies and will do almost anything to win one.

What is a Twitter Contest?

Twitter contests are the fastest way to increase your followers, engage more people, and increase brand awareness through the platform. One thing unites the best Twitter contests: They are fun as users perform certain actions such as commenting, retweeting, liking, etc.

Below is a simple Twitter contest, people are asked to retweet and ensure they follow the page to win the contest.

😍 GIVEAWAY! 😍

Time to wrap up cosy and what better way than to win yourself your very own toastie bedding!!

RT this tweet and follow us on Twitter!

UK and Republic of Ireland only.

The winner will be chosen 19/01/22.#giveaway #competition #contest #win #winner #prize pic.twitter.com/MmAZGWOKNG

— Cherry Lane Garden Centres (@cherrylaneGC) January 12, 2022

Below is a Twitter contest that involves a creative answer with some set of rules that involves the use of hashtags in tweets.

#FriyayChallenge Alert! 🔊
Identify the false statement and stand a chance to win an Amazon voucher!

RULES:
-Like & retweet this post.
-Follow us if you don't already
-Comment your answer along with #FriyayChallenge
-Tag your best buddies to join#Contest #Giveaway pic.twitter.com/vZ3hph3vNu

— VOGO (@Vogo_rentals) January 14, 2022

Your brand also needs exposure, so you run a contest to fulfill your need while also giving away to your target audience. Twitter contests can also lead to customer loyalty if done right. Twitter contests will always bring engagement to your brand.

If your target audience doesn’t win that particular contest, they will want to wait around to check if you will do another one. While doing so, they might see your products and like them. It’s a win-win situation for you and your business.

However, running a successful Twitter contest is not as easy as it sounds. It’s more than just putting out a tweet and expecting people to retweet and comment. It requires that you follow the rules set by Twitter, come up with brilliant content, start the contest at the right time, etc.

Before you even think about doing a Twitter contest, the first thing to do is to check out Twitter’s guidelines for promotions so that you can know the dos and don’ts of promoting your business. After you have read the guidelines, you can then run your contest.

If you don’t know how to run a Twitter contest or you want to know how to run one successfully, we have put together steps and tips that will help you to run a Twitter contest successfully.

Decide The Purpose From The Start

Why do you want to do this contest?. What do you aim to get from it?. You must have answers to these questions before you even think of doing a Twitter Contest. Are you doing it to increase your fellowship?. If so, how many followers do you hope to gain from the contest?. 

Do you want to create awareness about your brand?. Or do you have a new product and want to create a buzz about it?. If that is the case, how many engagements will you work on?.

Having a clear purpose from the beginning makes you know the type of contest you will do and the duration.

Create Your Terms And Conditions 

Rules are not exactly fun for Twitter contests, but it is essential, especially if you are on a budget. You need to let the contestants know if they can win more than once, if they are eligible, how many times they can enter the contest, if the winner will be chosen at random or if they have to answer questions to win, etc. Make sure you cover every possible outcome for the contestants to know what they can and cannot win.

Select Your Contest Type

This can be a little tricky because you want to make sure you still get the desired results after the contest ends. There are different types of contests, and you have to pick the one that will help you achieve your purpose.

The most popular ones are Retweet and Follow, where contestants follow your brand and retweet your post, Comment to Enter, where the contestants will have to comment on your contest post, and you will randomly pick a winner, Question and Answer where you put out a question, ask the contestant to answer and you choose your winner, etc.

Find the one that will lead to your desired result and use it to run the contest.

Choose a Relevant Prize

The most important part of the contest is deciding the gifts you want to give the contest winners. Winning a PS5 or iPhone 13 pro are quite the prizes to win in a contest, but the question is, are the gifts relevant to your brand. You will find out that you have only helped Apple and PlayStation to promote their brands instead.

Always choose a gift that is relevant to your business. Let your contestants see their prizes after a long time and remember your brand immediately. For example, if you are a clothing line, your giveaway prize can be a shirt, top, or pair of pants. Your giveaway prizes should highlight the value of your brand.

Utilize the Right Twitter Giveaway Picker

When running a Twitter contest, you have to avoid all forms of biases so that every contestant can have equal rights and opportunities for the prize. It would be best to use a Twitter giveaway picker randomly picking from hundreds or thousands of contestants. There are several Twitter giveaway selectors you can use online. If you use the Retweet and Follow type of contest, then Retweet Picker or Tweetdraw are great choices.

And if you use the Comment to Enter type, you can use Comment Picker or Random Picker.

Manage and Measure Results

It is essential to manage and measure the results from your contest. It might be overwhelming if you have many numerous responses from the contestants. You can make use of Vista Social. Vista Social offers complete twitter integration that includes publishing, analytics and a Smart Inbox that helps you filter and manage all the replies you get in a single spot. With a social media management tool like Vista Social, you will be able to collate responses quickly so that you can pick a winner. 

Rules are not exactly fun for Twitter contests, but it is essential, especially if you are on a budget. You need to let the contestants know if they can win more than once, if they are eligible, how many times they can enter the contest, if the winner will be chosen at random or if they have to answer questions to win, etc. Make sure you cover every possible outcome for the contestants to know what they can and cannot win.

Select Your Contest Type

This can be a little tricky because you want to make sure you still get the desired results after the contest ends. There are different types of contests, and you have to pick the one that will help you achieve your purpose.

The most popular ones are Retweet and Follow, where contestants follow your brand and retweet your post, Comment to Enter, where the contestants will have to comment on your contest post, and you will randomly pick a winner, Question and Answer where you put out a question, ask the contestant to answer and you choose your winner, etc.

Find the one that will lead to your desired result and use it to run the contest.

Choose a Relevant Prize

The most important part of the contest is deciding the gifts you want to give the contest winners. Winning a PS5 or iPhone 13 pro are quite the prizes to win in a contest, but the question is, are the gifts relevant to your brand. You will find out that you have only helped Apple and PlayStation to promote their brands instead.

Always choose a gift that is relevant to your business. Let your contestants see their prizes after a long time and remember your brand immediately. For example, if you are a clothing line, your giveaway prize can be a shirt, top, or pair of pants. Your giveaway prizes should highlight the value of your brand.

Utilize the Right Twitter Giveaway Picker

When running a Twitter contest, you have to avoid all forms of biases so that every contestant can have equal rights and opportunities for the prize. It would be best to use a Twitter giveaway picker randomly picking from hundreds or thousands of contestants. There are several Twitter giveaway selectors you can use online. If you use the Retweet and Follow type of contest, then Retweet Picker or Tweetdraw are great choices.

And if you use the Comment to Enter type, you can use Comment Picker or Random Picker.

Manage and Measure Results

It is essential to manage and measure the results from your contest. It might be overwhelming if you have many numerous responses from the contestants. You can make use of Vista Social. Vista Social offers complete twitter integration that includes publishing, analytics and a Smart Inbox that helps you filter and manage all the replies you get in a single spot. With a social media management tool like Vista Social, you will be able to collate responses quickly so that you can pick a winner. 

Grow Your Business With Twitter Contest

Twitter contests are a great way to build your business on Twitter. It is also one of the best marketing strategies that will never go out of style. With the tips we have given, you can successfully run a Twitter contest. You will drive engagement to your business, win the loyalty of your target audience, get new leads and convert those leads to customers that will return.

The best way to increase your social media engagement is through contests. If you want to run a successful Twitter contest, Vista Social has the tools and expertise that can help you create an engaging campaign for your business.