Social Media
Get Social with a Back to School Sweepstakes for Students
Social is the perfect platform for a back to school sweepstakes as it’s the easiest way to engage high school and college aged students. You don’t need a huge budget to run a social campaign, and as long as you run the promotion on a platform familiar to your target age group, and offer something they want they will find you! It’s a win-win for your brand and for your student audience. So what do kids want to win? They want cash or items they could not afford on their own. They crave experiences like concert tickets or getting … Continue reading
Sizzling Summer Social Sweepstakes Ideas
Need a summer social sweepstakes idea? Here are 6 of them! Hashtag a Day Sweepstakes: Post a new hashtag every day in your social posts, and ask your customers to tweet or post an Instagram photo or Tumblr post using that hashtag of the day. This sweepstakes will encourage people to look for your social posts each day – and reward customers with random drawings for daily prizes. I Need a Vacation Sweepstakes: Everyone wants to go on a summer vacation, but not everyone can afford to do so. Run a sweepstakes where you ask people to post photos … Continue reading
Social Contests and Sweepstakes: Favorite (and Least Favorite) Platforms to Use
Social contests and sweepstakes are currently the most popular tactic that we are seeing our clients use to increase brand awareness and reach. The Marden-Kane team has some strong ideas on what social platforms work, and which ones can cause headaches. We compiled this list of pros and cons to use when evaluating social platforms for your brand’s next social promotion. Remember: If you are thinking of running social contests or sweepstakes, be mindful when deciding which platform(s) to use, your call to action, and that you follow each platforms’ promotion guidelines. And as always, keep it legal by … Continue reading
Make Your AMOE Count
AMOE stands for Alternate Means of Entry or Alternate Method of Entry. By law, a sweepstakes in the United States must have a free method of entry, so if a sweepstakes asks for a purchase to obtain an entry or a code for an entry, then the rules should always list a “no purchase” or AMOE method of entry. Whether you are running a sweepstakes or entering one, here is how to make your AMOE count. AMOE Methods: The following are some of the various AMOE methods that a sponsor or brand could use in their sweepstakes: Mail The traditional AMOE method is … Continue reading
20 Questions to Ask Before Hiring a Contest Vendor
Before hiring a contest vendor you should ask lots of questions. Not all vendors are created equal. Some may be technically proficient but lack legal expertise. Some have the legal credentials but can’t build a web site or do registration and bonding. Here are twenty questions you should be asking before you select your contest vendor: How well do they know sweepstakes law and advertising and mobile? A top notch promotional marketing agency is well versed in national and international laws that pertain to promotions, sweepstakes and contests. They should also have legal representation and know social, mobile and … Continue reading
Pinterest Guidelines for a Successful Promotion
Pinterest guidelines for contests and sweepstakes were recently updated to allow brands more flexibility in running promotions. Gone are the mandates around forbidding using likes and follows for entries or votes. Instead, the guidelines now ask that brands simply discourage spam by both limiting entries and not requiring people to pin the same thing over and over. These new guidelines can be found within the Acceptable Use Policy on the Pinterest site and as follows in text and image versions: Don’t require participants to Pin a specific image Explanation: Successful contests encourage creative and authentic behavior. Give Pinners the ability to choose Pins … Continue reading
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 your promotion, what social platforms you want to track, and the dates you want the promotion to run. We take care of the rest! We send you daily reports on … Continue reading
Promotional Marketing Predictions for 2017
Every year at this time we discuss what the next big thing will be. Sometimes we can see it coming, and sometimes we don’t. So how did we do for this past year’s marketing predictions? Here they are so you can see! 2016 Prediction #1: Native ads will be booming – and promotions are part of that mix. Results: Native ads did turn out to be big news this year, especially because the FTC started to enforce native ad guidelines and brands became more aware of what disclosure was required. Some brands learned the hard way that disclosure is … Continue reading
Holiday Sweepstakes Basics: Everything You Need to Know in One Neat Package
A holiday sweepstakes is an easy affordable way to increase sales or traffic to your store. Not sure how to make it happen? We are! Just take a peek at this super early present from Santa Kane: a series of articles and links about how to run a holiday sweepstakes that we have compiled in one neat, handy package of a list. The links cover things like holiday sweepstakes planning, strategy, prizing, and legal tips. Any one of them can help get your holiday sweepstakes up and running quickly and without a lot of searching for ideas! You’re welcome! Holiday Sweepstakes Ideas and … Continue reading
Run a Legal Giveaway
Trying to figure out how to run a legal giveaway? It’s easier than you think – or not, depending on where you are running your giveaway, who can enter, how you collect and use data, and what you are giving away. First, there are some basic things to know about the legalities of a giveaway. In the United States, a giveaway, or sweepstakes in legal terminology, is when you collect entries and then randomly select a winner. There are many other federal and state laws to be aware of as well, which may include bonding, state registration, and other … Continue reading
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Recent Articles
- Get Social with a Back to School Sweepstakes for Students
- Criteria for Judging a Video Contest
- Sizzling Summer Social Sweepstakes Ideas
- Sweepstakes Void in Florida and New York
- 10 Necessary Features of an Online Contest Judging Tool
