Budsies Partners with Brands to Make Awesome Social Media Contests

A Follower Is Not Enough: Engagement is King

Comparing Actions

Brands have traditionally measured their reach based on the number of followers they have on social networks.  However, Facebook's algorithm only organically shows posts to a large portion of your followers if the post receives outsized engagement.  Unless the brand provides actionable content, the vast majority of followers will never see it.

Simple "Likes" on posts don't cut it, either.  The most viral posts are those with plenty of comments and shares.  These actions expose posts to followers' friends.

Comparing Reach of Posts that Elicit Comments vs. Those that Do Not

Memorable Touchpoints Create Brand Evangelists

A successful ad campaign, whether online or off, creates multiple touchpoints with the targeted audience.  While a single interaction is easily brushed off, repeated on-theme impressions build true fans who will evangelize the brand.  Lastly, brands are wise to provide fans with momentos of their experience which serve to reinforce the connection to the brand for years to come.

Themed Drawing Contests Activate Followers and Their Friends

At Budsies, we've found an incredible method for engaging fans both young and old: themed drawing contests.

1. Brand announces contest and challenges fans to post original artwork in comments beneath the post
2. Fans and friends vote on the entries by Liking the comments
3. The winner(s) receive their artwork turned into custom Budsie stuffed animals

The benefits of the drawing contest are clear:

• Simple: The entire promotion only requires a simple post from the brand.  The recent changes to Facebook allowing photos to be used as comments provides the mechanics while Budsies handles all the visual design work and the prize-making
• Multiple Touchpoints: There are three natural opportunities to engage fans. (1) Within the initial announcement (2) When announcing the winner(s) and (3) Posting photo of winner(s) with artwork and Budsies.  The winner(s) also receive branded keepsakes that they treasure forever
• Viral: Since entrants win by amassing votes, they are incentivized to share the contest with their friends and ask for additional votes

Case Study 1: Cut the Rope's Nommies

Cut the Rope is an international brand responsible for the super popular iOS and Android game series by the same name.  Together, we ran a drawing contest specifically for their US fans to draw their rendition of a "Nommie" (the cute furball character in their game).

The post garnered an incredible response: nearly 1,300 likes, 56 shares, and 144 comments/entries.  Cut the Rope chose to make two more posts promoting the contest.

30 artists had their drawings brought to life as well as a branded Cut the Rope t-shirt and "Nommie".

Here's the first batch of Nommies we produced:

Of note, Cut the Rope elected to choose the winners themselves, which reduced the virality of the post. 

Case Study 2: Budsies' 4th of July

To celebrate America's Independence Day, Budsies announced a "Red, White, and Blue" drawing contest.

At the time, Budsies only had 2,000 Facebook fans.  The post received 44 shares, over 40 comments/entrants, and an average of 19 votes per entrant.  The winning entrant had 72 votes!

Case Study 3: Juggling with Kids

Juggling With Kids, a mommy blog run by Akane Everitt, hosted a summer-themed drawing contest.

The top three entries received 146, 102, and 101 votes/likes, respectively.

A Free Turnkey Collaboration

Budsies is happy to work with likeminded brands to engage their audience and reward their fans.  We will leverage our experience to craft the perfect messaging, timing, and theme to maximize impact.  We will also offer a free Budsie for the winner or offer discounted bulk pricing in the case of multiple winners.  In addition, Budsies can handle all the logistics of creating and shipping prize packs to the winners.  Finally, Budsies can cross-promote the contest to 5,000+ Facebook fans and 4,000+ email recipients.