We decided to hold two more contests via social media last month. The prize was two pairs of tickets to the homecoming game Oct. 31, CU-Mizzou. Who doesn't like free stuff? Having used Facebook in September to give away free tickets to the Rocky Mountain Showdown, our first forray into social media giveaways, we wanted to use both Twitter and Facebook this time.
We brainstormed some ideas and we decided:
- Twitter: Ask people to tweet why they should win with the hashtag #LeedsCU. A winner would be chosen at random at the deadline. The more creative the reason, the better but really this time winning was purely left to chance. And who can argue with that?
- Facebook: This was more difficult this time to decide. We had a variety of ideas(best Halloween costume, best kid photo- since our homecoming event was family friendly this year, Best kid Halloween photo), but I kind of now wonder if our first experience with a Facebook contest left us a little wary to try something with a similar structure. In the end we opted to steal, er I mean be INSPIRED by a contest I saw my alma mater doing for its Facebook page. (I know I know, don't even ask me who I am rooting for on Nov. 27)
The Twitter contest was a huge hit, in my opinion. I posted it both on the school Twitter account and my personal account. It was retweeted on both sides. A total of eight people participated. Their reasons were great. I made sure to acknowledge when someone used the hashtag and gave their reason why they should win. I also used each tweet as a opportunity to explain the contest: the prize, the deadline, the hashtag, how the winner would be randomly chosen. I announced the randomly chosen winner on Twitter and arranged for his tickets pick-up via Twitter, told the other seven they won a free Tweet Me! Poke Me! Leeds shirt just for playing (free stuff for you! free advertising of our social media spots for us! win-win!) and got their mailing addresses via direct messages (DMs) on Twitter.
The Facebook contest, though, struggled. One person entered at the very last minute. Looking back now, I think perhaps the task required more time than we allowed (a week, including a weekend), and we also didn't provide pumpkin carving designs like my alma mater. Also we had an early critic of the prize noting on our Facebook Page that free tickets to see a lackluster football team might not garner much contest competition. However, Buff pride runs deep, as the Twitter contest proved. I think this taught us that the prize of any contest needs to be worth the effort of participating. If the Buffs were a hot ticket item this year, then I would guess we would have had more Buff-o-lanterns. But a creative tweet about Buff prize was just the right amount of effort put forth, at least for eight CU fans, for a chance to win. Hey man, free = free.
p.s. Here are the Twitter replies to "Why Should You Win Free tix to See CU-Mizzou on Oct. 31?" I loved how this contest engaged our Twitter followers!
@mandymarks #LeedsCU I deserve to win because I rep the #cubuffs in San Fran and I am flying back to support my team
@CJ_Powell I deserve to win because I never win anything. Come on, #LeedsCU, help a Buff Alum out!!! #LeedsCU
@aviraj I should go cos I wanna see+hear 53,749 screaming Buffs. PLUS I've never been to a football game. Ever. Mercy tix? #LeedsCU
And our winner, who tweeted twice! (FYI only one tweet per person was submitted into the drawing)..... @BupsJones And...we have not seen the Buffs win, in person, in over 5 years (6 different games). #LeedsCU AND Tweet No.2: I should win because I am flying in from Chicago with my best friend, a fellow Leeds '02 Alum, for his birthday! #LeedsCU
@hydrogenated #leedsCU I should get tix because I have H1N1 today and I'm going to miss all sorts of fun stuff this weekend.
@laurenkl Once from Missouri, my allegiance is now to the Buffs, would love to see the showdown! #LeedsCU
@LeslieNorgren Winning tickets for the CU-Mizzou game would awesome! I should win because I bleed black & gold. #LeedsCU
@RyanonBoulder #LeedsCU- I should win the tickets because it would be a chance for my 6 mo old son to see his dad's favorite team for 1st time - Go Buffs!!
