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Competitions backfiring..maybe?

by zendog78
15 replies
I am trying to build a following for our lingerie brand and I have been running lots of competitions giving away our products on Facebook.

We have been getting a great response now that I have increased the prize value and decreased the time the competitions are run over.

However.

Looking at the profiles of the people who enter, 75% of the are people who's timeline is packed with their entries to other competitions.

My gut feeling is that these people are worthless to me as potential customers however having them as likers gives me access to their friends for promotion and maybe I can convert some of them into customers?

Any thoughts on this?
#backfiringmaybe #competitions
  • Profile picture of the author RomanZ
    Is it location-based company? Maybe localize more if you don't already?

    I am not very sure you can do something different from what you do with the promotions. I am also guilty of liking page for promotion (and unlike after, but I think most dont unlike after). From what I remember, your site not yet up with shopping cart functional. when you have shopping cart working, you can run promotions also have to do with purchase, like coupons for large discounts, and that will bring more relevant audience.

    good luck, man!
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    • Profile picture of the author zendog78
      Are these people who continuously enter competitions worth anything to me?

      Should I just ban them as fast as they come in?

      I am just getting flooded with them!
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      • Profile picture of the author RomanZ
        I don't think they are worth for you anything. If they enter many contest, it is because they want prizes, not because they value your product, so they won't purchase, that is your ultimate goal, no?
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        • Profile picture of the author zendog78
          But the question is:


          Is the increase in costs of having these parasites on my page offset by the potential of having their shares of my posts bring someone of value to my page?

          And

          If they are in my demographic (which most of them are) there is the possibility that they could be potential future customers.


          Thoughts?
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          • Profile picture of the author RomanZ
            If you are talking about the Facebook page, I don't think there is much value to people who are only in contests. There is of course a chance they are really interested, but very few (if any) will convert to sales.

            I participate in a few contests, but I very rare will Like page just for contest. Usually it is something I may be interested in too, but I don't do a lot of contests, you would not know from looking at my profile that i am many contest so it isn't the same.

            If your contest has them sharing to many friends and they come to your page and are real then it is worth it. Random sample if they have many facebook friends or are just in contest. Not worth cost at all other than to inflate (legally of course) likes of page that later legitimizes your website more, which isn't a bad thing by the way.

            It just depends what your ultimate goal(s) is/are and if immediate or over time.
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            • Profile picture of the author zendog78
              My goal is to build a customer base. Not interested in inflated likes, I don't see any benefit for my business in that.

              I guess it is a hard question to answer...
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  • Profile picture of the author RomanZ
    Then no, no real use for it in this case. Offer great coupons once you have installed your shopping cart.
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Thio
    I'm just thinking, perhaps if you offered a gift certificate among the prizes it would help. Then they'd have to spend the money on your products. Even if they sell the gift certificate, the person buying would presumably be spending their money on you. So no matter what, you get something out of it.
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  • Profile picture of the author webcosmo
    Usually the majority of those obsessed with free stuff on contests will never buy, but there`s a big chance their friends will see and you will become more known, and that`s a good thing, so money well spent.
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    • Profile picture of the author RomanZ
      It would be well spent if they have actual friends who would be legitimitely intersted in your business. since you don't know that, a coupon (or gift certificate like joe suggested) would be good since both will get people to purchase your product, not just get something for free.

      alternately, make it harder for people to win product from you that will force them to share a lot with their friends.
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    • Profile picture of the author zendog78
      You would think so but it appears that they have set up secondary accounts because their friends don't want to be bombarded with all the shit they enter. Their friends (if they have any) are usually other competition whores
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      • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
        Originally Posted by zendog78 View Post

        You would think so but it appears that they have set up secondary accounts because their friends don't want to be bombarded with all the shit they enter. Their friends (if they have any) are usually other competition whores
        I have friends that do this with games.

        It's the reason I know Facebook's active users numbers are off by at least a factor of 2 or 3.

        I have several friends who have 3 or more active accounts. Add in people who have personal and business accounts. Then add in the accounts for animals, kids, or parents that are really just ran by one person. Once you add it all together in your head you start to see what I believe. That the fake/double accounts IMO account for at least half of Facebook's monthly users.
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        Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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  • Profile picture of the author qw3rty
    A lot of good advice here on the topic. It seems to be a wait and see what happens or someone that had the same dilemma can share their experience with you.

    I was wondering about your TOS on the competition. Do you have anything in place to cover you if you started to ban leechers from the competition? Or maybe something in place to discourage them?
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Are you tracking your social media ROI in some way? You should be and then you can tell what kind of sales you are getting from it.

    Contests can be a double edged sword. They build lists and etc but do you really want a list of people who enter contests.

    Example: In my feed I have seen this a lot. There is a Chick-fil-la in Idaho that had a "share to win" (against Facebook TOS BTW) contest for a free year of food. It is getting shared a lot. Problem? No one on my feed is from Idaho. So the dozens of people I have seen share it can't take advantage if they win (people don't realize it is for that store only) and the people sharing and liking are from around the country (not really their target audience).

    Entering contests doesn't take much time so people who do not value their time do it a lot. You know who doesn't value their time much? People with loads of free time and no money. Once again not the best people to be targeting.

    I have no problem with using a contest to get people on your list but it might be better to target your current customers or at least keep the targeting to the best potential customers.

    The gift certificate idea is good but I have seen people in my feed doing share to wins on gift certificates they wouldn't use. For some they simply want to win anything of value.

    So do contests if the ROI is worth it but track it to make sure it is.

    As I have said in this section before which would you rather have....
    10,000 Fans with 100 buyers or
    500 Fans with 100 buyers.

    If fans are costing you to get (true for almost all even if the cost is just time) the second is better and at best they are the same. Loads of fans who never interact and never buy are not worth anything to you.
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    Aaron Doud - Sales & Success
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  • Profile picture of the author ZephyrIon
    I'm not sure how you started your fan page in the beginning when it came to adding fans your fan base. But I can tell you now that if your local business, which I'm not sure if you are not, or trying to reach an international or domestic crowd. When it comes down to running promotions is a local business you want to make sure that 99% of the people that like your page or from your local area and as a kicker you need to add that they need to be able to come and pick it up from your shop or live within 50 miles of your area, all programs like you're running have their rules and regulations. The best of luck.
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