Follower Wars: How to Run a Social Media Contest for Your Restaurant
Most restaurant businesses have come to realize that social media is a vital piece of their overall restaurant marketing strategy. From foodie photos to Facebook check-ins, social media has a huge impact on brand awareness and customer traffic, especially when done right. However, you don’t have to stick to the same tactics as your restaurant neighbors — a creative social media campaign like a contest can generate buzz and enhance your brand personality.
If you’re ready to learn how to run a successful social media contest for your restaurant, let the follower wars begin!
1. Set Clear Guidelines
Many restaurants make the mistake of starting social media contests without defined rules or a clear beginning or ending. With so many brands encouraging social media users to post photos of their product, your followers won’t feel compelled to participate without a clear shot at winning. Give your followers a fighting chance by communicating and ensuring that their submission will definitely be considered.
2. Be Creative
When we think of contests that generated tons of buzz for a brand, the Lay’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest easily comes to mind. The wild popularity of this contest is a clear indication that creativity is a powerful marketing tool. Don’t succumb to doing the same style of contests as every other restaurant brand. Instead, create a unique concept that integrates your customers day to day lives with your menu items. Check out Red Bull’s Put a Can on it contest for inspiration.
3. Make Participation Easy
You may think that a creative contest may be complicated for followers to participate in, but Red Bull’s award-winning campaign shows that it doesn’t have to be. Social media contests shouldn’t require a high level of effort to join — you’ll lose half of your participants from your lengthy instructions alone. Instead, make it so that your customers can easily participate while going about their day — a simple hashtag or Facebook like keeps the barrier to entry low and accessible.
4. Don’t Skimp on the Prize
While you already know that a contest requires a prize, make sure to put some thought behind it. Many restaurants assume that a 50% off coupon or a BOGO deal is enough to compensate the lucky winner, but rewarding a customer with something they can easily obtain from a Groupon deal is not the best display of customer service. The key to attracting lots of participants to your contest is to offer a prize that’s worth the effort of entering. For example, a free happy hour for 10 friends or naming a menu item after the winner are creative prizes that will have your followers going above and beyond to win — which means free publicity and new customers for you!
The best way to raise brand awareness, on and offline, is to do so organically, and a social media contest is a great way to accomplish this. A well-defined and creative contest that results with an awesome prize for the lucky winner is a sure-fire way to achieve your #restaurantgoals faster than you can say, “let the games begin!”
This post was originally published to the ChowNow Blog on September 9, 2016.
