Category: Facebook Contest Apps

Facebook Custom Application Changes for Brands

Recently, Facebook made an API change to brand pages that prevents a new custom application (also called a custom tab) from being added to a brand page if that brand page has less than 2,000 followers. This means that if you are starting a new Facebook page for your brand or business, or if you a small brand, and you want to add a custom application (i.e. a sweepstakes form

May 22, 2019 No Comments

Use the Marden-Kane Social Tracker Tool for a Successful Hashtag Contest

Marden-Kane’s Social Tracker tool is a quick, efficient way to run a social sweepstakes or contest. A social media sweepstakes or contest is a cost effective way for your brand to gain followers and increase sales without setting up a special web site or sophisticated data collection. The Social Tracker tool tracks hashtags, likes and comments on social media platforms. Simply let us know what hashtag to track for

January 10, 2017 No Comments

#Hashtag Contests 101

The buzzword in contests right now are hashtag contests (or hashtag sweepstakes). These types of promotions are easy to run, less expensive than setting up a contest web site, and don’t require a lot of lead time. The simplicity and low cost appeals to a lot of businesses anxious to expand their social channels, but you will still need to follow some best practices to ensure that you don’t run

May 17, 2016 No Comments

Social Contest Platforms: Inexpensive, Easy…and Risky

Today I was sent a link to an article touting Platforms for Social Contests that will “launch and track your contest with ease.” The article then went on to list eleven platforms, all relatively cheap – well, really dirt cheap or even free – and all the wonderful features each one had. If I were looking for a way to run a contest and I didn’t know any better

April 19, 2016 No Comments

How to Contact Winners in Social Media Contests

Running a promotion on Twitter or Instagram or other social platform is fairly easy. You basically follow the social platform guidelines, post rules, collect entries and select winners from valid posts or tweets or pins. The hard part can be contacting and clearing winners. In a traditional contest where a form is used to collect data you typically collect address and phone or email so contacting winners is easy.

February 23, 2016 No Comments

Why a Facebook Ad Buy is a Must for Any Facebook Promotion

It’s happening again. Facebook is in the midst of changing their newsfeed algorithm. It’s another in a long list of unannounced Facebook changes that may result in even fewer of your followers actually viewing your posts. So what does this mean for a brand/marketer running a sweepstakes or contest on Facebook? Simply put, you must pay to play. Marketers can no longer rely on a “build it and they will

June 16, 2015 No Comments

The Value of User Generated Content (UGC) in a Contest

User Generated Content (“UGC”) are digital assets (videos, photos, essays) created by an individual. When UGC is used in conjunction with a Skills Contest, entrants become really invested in their submissions, and in turn, the brand. Contests, compared to Sweepstakes, typically see a lower number of entries. However, the quality of the entry submissions and entrant engagement often outweighs the high entry count. A “standard” UGC Contest typically consists

May 12, 2015 No Comments

What Makes Us Different from Other Sweeps and Contest Vendors?

Is the grass really greener at that other promotional marketing company? From a glance at some of other sweeps and contest vendors it might seem that way. Some other companies may charge less. Or even offer “free” promotional services. And they make lots of great promises, such as a guarantee your promotion will go viral or that you get thousands of entries. Sound too good to be true? Well, you

February 5, 2015 No Comments

Contest Considerations from a Technical Perspective

Eric Grimm, Senior Programmer, offers up this advice if you run a contest asking for user generated content. I’m going to focus on some UGC (user generated content) aspects from a programming and security side of the equation. Now repeat after me: NEVER TRUST USER INPUT! This is true with a simple form that only collects names and addresses, but requires even more caution when you are allowing large blocks

January 27, 2015 No Comments