Understanding Social Contesting and Promotions

Loyd Ford wrote a great article at www.radioink.com today about using social media for contesting. He makes some good points and his advice is very good. I disagree with him that social media is not advertising. Everything we do is advertising and sales. We want to promote ourselves in everything we do. We are selling ourselves to our audience, to our customers, to our co-workers, to our bosses and even to our families and friends in an on going basis. However, what I think he meant was that we should not just be posting commercials about ourselves. People don't want to read commercials, they want to read content. He is right that social media is about engagement. And contests are one way to get engagement. However I think he left out something very important that everyone seems to forget about: The Rules.

Just as a radio station has contest rules, social media sites have rules regarding running contests and/or promotions using their platform. It is very important for station managers, program directors and promotion directors to familiarize themselves with the rules regarding promotions/contests of the Social site they are using especially if they do not have someone running their social media. No one wants a call from Facebook or Twitter Legal, nor do you want to wake up to find out your page or account has been shut down for violating the sites terms of service. Familiarize yourself with the social platform rules. If you are uncertain, and don't have a social media manager, make sure you are doing things right by running your contest by your own lawyers, who also should be familiar with these rules.

Facebook has strict contest and promotion rules found here: Facebook Rules. Twitter is more friendly to contests and promotions: Twitter Rules.

Every station should have a social media manager either on staff or contracted. And I am happy to assist you. I can even show you how you can get an ROI from your social media channels.

What is your experience using social media to run contests?