11 Creative Contest Ideas for Facebook

Topical Posts

Topical posts are inspired by topical copies (a technical term in advertising used to refer to advertisements which are linked with current events). Tying posts, updates and contests or promotions to a current event will elicit attention and evince interest among target audiences.

Reasons?

The event is fresh in the minds of people, they might just have an idea or opinion about it and chances are they will be excited about participating. Tanishq, the jewellery arm of Titan had a “My Expressions” contest for Women’s Day which encouraged participants to write a story based on the theme, “I am not you”.

Another spin off of this contest was the predictions contest which got participants to predict who would win the “My Expressions Contest” and bag a diamond pendant.

Try National Pride

An extension of topical posts and contests, the trick here is to know how to engage fans on the right occasion. A case in point is Tata Docomo which launched an “Express Your Freedom” contest for the last Independence Day through its Facebook page.

Fans were asked to express their joy of freedom on social networking sites like Facebook, Orkut and Twitter. The best few entries were widely publicized across Tata Docomo’s social channels. This campaign helped Tata Docomo forge a link between “freedom” and its brand through user generated content.

The Guessing Game

Posting a picture and getting people to guess the location, activity or item shown therein is another great contest idea that you can use on Facebook. A picture can speak a thousand words and 'Pictionary' has been used effectively by TBZ The Original as well as The WOW Club on their Facebook pages asking people to guess which place is shown in the photograph.

What you do need to know is that the only way you can run a photo contest on Facebook is by creating a custom tab/app. Another instance of the guessing game is the “Guess the Series” contest run by Flipkart. An image of a book cover is posted and responses are elicited with regard to the series to which the book belongs. The answer to this instance is “Famous Five”!

One Liners

TheWittyShit, a unique Indian venture which encourages people to post one liners on just about anything and then links them with brands looking for interesting slogans and one liners uses its Facebook page to let people’s creative juices flow and showcase their way with words.

If you are looking for a slogan or jingle for your brand and don’t really want to burn a hole in your pocket, then giving away gift coupons or memorabilia in return for great one liners at a contest might just be the thing to try.

Art Contest

An idea for an art contest on Facebook came to me when I was looking at some art work posted by The WOW club on their Facebook page.  Paintings created by wanderers (women travelers who have taken trips with the company) are regularly posted on their wall. This can be taken one step further and people can be encouraged to submit paintings on a theme and battle it out in cyberspace.

Sharing Tips

Creative ways of using products and services are what people come up with all the time. UTMT (Under The Mango Tree) often asks their fans to share their tips on how to use their single flora gourmet honey. Fans then reply saying they like it with iced tea, on a salad, with oats and so on.

Running a contest asking fans to submit recipes using honey might work better I think!

Rewarding Likes

The simplest thing to do is rewarding “likes”. Getting people to like a post, picture or page and rewarding the person with the most likes is what you can try. Give the weekly winner a hamper of your products or a gift coupon. Giving away a hamper will encourage feedback on your products too. Needless to say, you must be careful how you do this to fall within Facebook guidelines.

Click on a Pixel

Good Homes, a premium home décor brand is currently running a contest in which people are encouraged to click on pixels in a picture to win a prize. Hiding a gift coupon or a prize for people to win under the pixels is a game people would love to play I’m sure.

Spin a Story

Everyone loves a story and Flipkart, the Indian e-commerce giant is using 'spin a story' to engage fans and customers on Facebook. They set the ball rolling with a statement and encourage others to follow suit where the previous person left off. Though Flipkart is not using this as a contest idea, it can be used to give prizes to people who add the most interesting twist to the story!

The Magic of Cinema

Celluloid magic almost always works and with the Indian fascination for the Silver Screen this might not be too difficult an option to try.

Take for example the HBO India which uses its Facebook page to make by tying up interesting ideas with movie launches. For the movie- “The Hangover”, fans were asked to share their hangover recipes to win some goodies.

Memorabilia Giveaways

Giving away limited edition products or memorabilia to contest winners is another way to get people to battle it out for something rare and sought after. Like the Amul Butter Bash contest on Facebook in which the giveaway was a coffee table book which was a compilation of Amul topical advertisements over the years…Something worth treasuring in a country where Amul and butter are synonyms.

While your imagination is about the only limit to creative contest ideas that you can use on Facebook don’t forget to check out Facebook guidelines first. To learn more click here.

Featured Image Courtesy Gideon Burton