Ellen Tsang

There are many free tools, apps and features on Twitter that will help different businesses boost their income and reputation.

Among these are Twitter contests where people can learn more about your company while increasing your engagement volume. These are also free and you can gain a huge following in just a few days, sometimes even just minutes.

So How Can Twitter Contests Help Maximize Business Growth?

1. Strengthen brand awareness – Get your name out there! Holding a contest will usually induce people to talk about you and promote earned media. This will increase the chances of your company being in a consumer’s initial consideration set when they are on their consumer decision journey to purchase a product or service.
2. Boost your reputation – Twitter contests will put businesses in the spotlight temporarily and set you apart from competitors in the same industry.
3. Personalize your account – Twitter users are more attracted to companies with personality. Show off your unique brand personality through the contest and at the same time show that there are real human beings behind the account! This will make your company more approachable and the contest more fun and interactive.
4. Gain more followers – When people join your Twitter contest, one of the requirements will usually have them follow you.
5. Increase revenue – Long term benefits include bringing in more customers even after the contest has finished. Be sure to give them relevant content each time to maintain their interest and keep them joining the next time you launch a contest online. If you introduce your company and products to the right customers,, sales often increase significantly after!
6. Take advantage of freebies – One of the best things is: starting a Twitter contest will not cost you anything! Although you might have to give out a few products or freebies depending on the mechanics of the game. This allows you to maximize your budget and spend on other potentially useful Twitter advertising products if you wish.
7. Have FUN while building your brand! – Hosting a Twitter contest will give the impression that your business is highly concerned in catering to and serving customers, not the other way around. Make it appear that your primary objective is to offer useful and reliable products, as well provide good customer service to gain a huge following. People will be attracted more to companies that do not seem only interested in making a quick sale. A Twitter competition is one of the best ways to target customers without being invasive or being a hard-sell.

Relevant Links:

http://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/how-twitter-contests-help-maximize-business-growth/ (Also see ‘Related Articles You May Enjoy’ at bottom of page)

http://www.hashtags.org/platforms/twitter/twitter-contest-guidelines-101/

http://www.vtldesign.com/inbound-marketing/social-media/twitter/five-things-that-make-a-great-twitter-contest/

http://socialmediatoday.com/bryannagy/1211641/coca-cola-s-twitter-contest-heart-truth

http://beeliked.com/social-media-buzz/5-awesome-twitter-competition-ideas/

http://maximizesocialbusiness.com/twitter-contest-ideas-7457/

http://www.cleverwood.be/blog/2011/04/twitter-contest-ideas/