Social Media 25 Contest Ideas to Promote Your Online Business.

Social media contests are a proven strategy for growing engagement on your business’s owned social channels. Nice! The real challenge is picking the right contest to motivate your audience to participate.

 

25 proven social media contest

1. Photo caption contest ideas
Have participants create a creative or funny caption for a photo you post, and then pick your favorite as the winner.
2. Video contest ideas
Leverage user-generated content by having participants create a short video as a contest entry. The video might showcase a person using your product, sharing why they deserve to win your contest, or talking about why they love your brand. 
3. Essay contest ideas
Ask participants to write an essay about why they admire your company and/or products. 
4. Sweepstakes
Sweepstakes work well for getting new people to opt-in to your email list, like/follow/share your social media accounts, or check out items from your store and comment on a particular blog post. Oftentimes, participants can earn more entries the more actions like these they complete. 
5. Share your best tips contest
Let users share how they use your products with a contest geared toward participants sharing their best tips. 
6. Selfie contest ideas
Let users enter your contest by taking a “selfie” with your product.
7. Instagram contests ideas
An online competition ideas that always works.
8. Share a photo contest
This more generic photo-sharing contest that encourages contest participants to share a photo as an entry. 
9. Facebook contest ideas
Almost any type of contest can be modified to fit any social media platform.
10. Drawing/painting contest ideas
Encourage your audience to get artsy with a drawing or painting contest.
11. Cutest pet contest
Ideal for pet-centric online stores, cutest pet contest are a great way to get participants to share photos of their furry friends and to encourage voting, sharing, and promotion of your store.
12. Recipe contest ideas
Especially around the holidays, a recipe contest is a great way to get people sharing their favorite foods and tips for dishes. 
13. Fill in the blank contest
Ad libs and fill in the blank contests can help drive people to your online store by testing people’s knowledge. Ask a question like:
14. Trivia contest ideas
Test your audience’s knowledge with trivia questions about your brand
15. Product-a-day giveaway
“Repost” and “Tag a Friend” giveaways are pretty common these days.
16. Name a new product contest
Let your audience get involved with naming your products by challenging them to name a new product you’re releasing
17. Curated Pinterest board contest
If your audience is one of avid Pinterest users, leverage this social network and create a contest around it.
18. Build a lookbook contest
Challenge your participants you create a lookbook around your products.
19. Mother’s day story contest
Have people share a story about their moms in honor of Mother’s Day, and talk about why they think their Mom deserves a prize package on her special day. 
20. Father’s day story contest
Same as Mother’s Day–but with dads. Encourage people to celebrate their families and tell stories about their loved ones.
21. Win an afternoon/session with an influencer contest
If you’re partnering with an influencer for a contest, your prize might be an in-person session with that influencer for whatever his or her specialty may be. 
22. Win a gift card contest
Rather than designating a specific item for your contest, add some mass appeal by making your prize a gift card.
23. Vote for your favorite item contest
Find out which items your audience really likes by creating a contest in which people vote for their favorite items from your store.
24. Holiday decorating contest
Get in the holiday spirit by encouraging contest participants to decorate holiday items — but with a branded twist. 
25. Create a jingle contest
Go old-school and create a contest where participants have to create a jingle for your brand. 

Your turn:
What’s the most successful contest you’ve ever run? We’d love to hear about it!

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