HOW TO RUN A WINNING ONLINE CONTEST

Ben Pickering | CEO |

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@sandrafathi @teamaffect@bpicks @strutta

Sandra Fathi | President |

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SPEAKER BIO – SANDRA FATHI

Sandra has spent the past 15+ years helping technology companies achieve their communications goals through public relations, social media and marketing.

Prior to founding Affect in 2002, Sandra led corporate communications and investor relations for RADVISION, a provider of video conferencing infrastructure products. Earlier in her career, she was on the technology team at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, where she specialized in the networking, telecommunications, computer hardware, software and Internet business verticals. While at Edelman, some of Sandra's clients included Ericsson, EDS and Microsoft.

Sandra is the immediate Past President of PRSA NY Chapter and Past President of PRSA's Technology Section. Her commentary has appeared in PR Week, Marketing Profs, Bulldog Reporter and DM News, and she has speaks frequently at industry events.

A New York native, Sandra attended New York University and graduated from Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a degree in International Relations.

2011 PR News People Awards PR Professional of Year, Finalist2010 Bulldog Awards PR Agency Professional of the Year2010 PR Source Code 'Top Tech Communicators' Awards, Honorable Mention2009 PRSA New York President's Award

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Ben joined Strutta as CEO in September 2009 and has been involved with online media for more than ten years. Prior to Strutta Ben worked at Yahoo!, where he held a variety of strategic roles within the company’s display advertising business. While at Yahoo! Ben played a key role in the first large-scale consumer promotion utilizing user generated content: Doritos Crash the Super Bowl. Now he's thrilled to be able to offer marketers of any size the ability to create equally engaging experiences using the Strutta platform.

SPEAKER BIO - BEN PICKERING

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As a writer Ben has appeared on Mashable and as a featured contributor to Social

Media Examiner. He has also been asked to speak on the topic of social media contests and promotions at events such as Likeable Media’s #LikeableU Summit and the Public Relations Society of America Digital Impact Conference.

Ben holds a bachelor's degree in Economics and an M.B.A., both from Stanford University.

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1. Why run a promotion

2. Common types of promotions

3. Basics of promotional law

4. Planning your promotion

5. Tips for a successful promotion

6. Awesome case studies

AGENDA

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WHY RUN A PROMOTION?

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THE EVOLUTION

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From this... To this

And this

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GOING BACK EVEN FURTHER

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Napoleon Bonaparte

Nicolas Appert

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BENEFITS OF RUNNING A PROMOTION

1. Generate leads and sales

2. Drive traffic online <-> offline

3. Increase brand equity

4. Engage and delight customers

5. Grow fan base, generate opt-ins and subscribers

6. Gain user data and insight

7. Collect consumer generated content

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COMMON PROMOTION TYPES

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SWEEPSTAKES

CONTEST

Chance based promotion

Skill based promotion

VS

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SWEEPSTAKES

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OTHER SOCIAL SWEEPSTAKES

Enter, Tweet or Comment to Win

• Follow @

• RT or #CONTEST

• Blog comment

Winner selected at random

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WINNING!

•Good Design

•Clear Call to Action

•Simple Entry Form

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CONTEST

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UGC PROMOTIONS

Skill Based

•Public voting / Closed judging

•What are the entry requirements

•Collect only information you need

•What is the criteria for winning

•Keep it simple!

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REWARDING PARTICIPANTS

•Coupons

•Free Samples

•Other Incentives

•Encourage and Have Fun

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PROMOTIONAL LAW

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BASICS OF PROMOTION LAW

Promotion containing all 3 deemed an illegal lottery

1. Prize• Anything of tangible value

2. Chance• Any random selection of winner, absence of skill

3. Consideration• Purchase or Payment

• Substantial effort

• Possible with UGC contests but more theoretical than practical risk

• Liking a Page, sending a tweet not “substantial effort”

Must eliminate 1 of 3

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FACEBOOK PROMOTIONS GUIDELINES

Don’t• Administer a promotion directly on your Page or use Facebook features as an entry or voting mechanism

• Automatically enter someone for Liking, posting a photo or comment

• Use a Like button for voting

• Use Facebook channels to notify winners

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FACEBOOK PROMOTIONS GUIDELINES

Do

• Use a 3rd party application

• You can require a user to Like your page or check-in to a location provided the promotion is administered through an app

• Be sure your promotion includes the following:

a. A complete release of Facebook by each entrant or participant.

b. Acknowledgment that the promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Facebook.

c. Disclosure that the participant is providing information to (disclose recipient(s) of information) and not to Facebook.

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UNIQUE ISSUES FOR TWITTER

The Twitter disclosure challenge• 140 character limit makes disclosure of any material terms, rules or privacy

policy challenging

Risk Mitigation• Reference official rules/URL

• Tweet abbreviated rules in several messages

• Consider use of tiny URL or cmp.ly

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PLANNING YOUR PROMOTION

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KEY PLANNING QUESTIONS

Do you have time and resources to plan and execute? Beware the “Field of Dreams fallacy” (i.e., if I build it they will come)

Do you have clear and realistic goals? Enable it to “go viral” but don’t count on it

Do you know what your audience wants? Have a premise and prize targeted to your audience

Do you understand applicable rules and regulations? What platforms are you using and how do you want to administer

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ALIGNING WITH BUSINESS OBJECTIVES

1. Crystallize goals & objectives before launching a promotion

2. Design promotion to achieve these goals

3. Tailor program to focus on and attract your target audience

a. Consider safeguards in rules and regulations

b. Raise the barrier for entry

4. Identify Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

5. Build in milestones and triggers for measurement

6. Calculate investment vs. return

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CHOOSING YOUR PROMOTION TYPE

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TIPS FOR SUCCESS

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TIPS FOR RUNNING YOUR PROMOTION

Plan Ahead One of the biggest reasons promotions fail is due to lack of planning. Plan for when things don’t go according to plan!

Don’t Over-Complicate Favor execution over concept - i.e., a concise message, clear call to action, and good UI will outperform “clever but complex.”

Leverage PartnersMarketing partners/sponsors can expand the reach of your promotion and provide additional marketing channels. They can also help increase the prize value, making it more attractive to entrants.

Technology partners with platforms and social media tools can make it easy to create and manage a promotion.

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TIPS TO BUILD BUZZ

1. Make it easy to share 2. Post regularly on Facebook (use “Pinned Post”)3. Leverage other social networks (Twitter, G+)4. Promote on your website

5. Email existing customers

6. Enlist sponsors to cross promote

7. Identify influential blogs (or other media)

8. Use UGC entries for content marketing

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TIPS TO BUILD BUZZ

1. Make it easy to share 2. Post regularly on Facebook (use “Pinned Post”)3. Leverage other social networks (Twitter, G+)4. Promote on your website

5. Email existing customers

6. Enlist sponsors to cross promote

7. Identify influential blogs (or other media)

8. Use UGC entries for content marketing

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9. And in case you missed it... Make it easy to share

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PROMOTING YOUR PROMOTION

1.Build and budget for effective marketing plan (pre and post)

• Public Relations

• Marketing

• Social Media

• On-site/In-store

• POS

2.Leverage existing and new company assets to achieve KPIs

3.Stack the deck –- seed entries

4.Plan for contingencies

• Additional marketing budget

• List purchase/email marketing solicitation

• Public take-over

• Crisis communications

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TECHNOLOGY PARTNER OR PLATFORM

1. Custom vs. Standard Build

2. Expertise vs. Experiment

3. Social Media Tie-ins

4. Budgetary Constraints

5. Time-to-Market

6. Internal Resources

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NEW YORK INTERN PROJECT

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NEW YORK INTERN PROJECT

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GOALS & OBJECTIVES

1. Generate Awareness for the Agency

• Drive public relations

• Increase social media engagement

2. Proof of Concept: Run a Successful Contest

• Gain valuable experience and insights

• Train our internal team

3. Find an Intern

• Summer Internship Slate

• Potential Full-time Employee

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CONTEST REQUIREMENTS

1. Student, 18 or over

2. Legal US Resident

3. Upload Photo or Video

4. Fill Out Questionnaire

5. Solicit Votes & Comments

Top 6 Advance to Semi-Finals

Top 3 Flown to NY for Interviews & Challenges

Judges Pick Winner

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Flight Plan

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MARKETING PLAN

1. Prompting Action

2. Setting Milestones

3. Setting Triggers

4. Tracking & Measuring

5. Analyzing Results

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CELEBRITY JUDGES

1. Lend Credibility

2. Built in Promotional Mechanisms

3. Objective Judging

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BRAND REPUTATION MANAGEMENT = MODERATION

1. User Generated Content

• Copyright Issues

• Language

• Comments

• Inappropriate Content

2. Public Voting & Fraud

3. Media Monitoring

4. Social Media Monitoring

5. Communicating Results

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MEASUREMENT

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MEDIA , SPEAKING & AWARDS RESULTS

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RESULTS & ROI

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ADDITIONAL CASE STUDIES

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RESULTS & ROI

Culver’s

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RESULTS & ROI

Tourism Newfoundland!""#"""$%&'($)(%*+,*-./')

!"#$%&$'%()*+

,)-'./0!+*!12$,34'3)$%

!"#"$%&"'&()*$%'+,*-*.$+#&

./01+2+&3

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!"#$%&'(%)*'+,(%-*+.

/+,0*%1&

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!"#$%%$&'()*+",$+-.

RESULTS & ROI

Ultimate Wedding Contest

!"#$%"%&'##'()*(+,-%."-+

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1. Why run a promotion: Engagement, Data, Leads ->Sales

2. Common types of promotions: Contest vs. Sweeps

3. Promotional law and FB guidelines: Know the rules

4. Planning your promotion: Set clear and realistic goals

5. Tips for a successful promotion: Keep it simple, Partner up

6. Case studies: How can a promotion work for you?

RECAP

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THANK YOU!

Any questions?

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Ben Pickering | CEO |

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@sandrafathi @teamaffect@bpicks @strutta

Sandra Fathi | President |

Monday, 2 April, 12