Hashtag Contests

How To Build Brand Awareness, Curate Content and Engage Multiple Social Platforms With #Hashtag Contests

When you’re planning your next campaign, there are always a handful of different promotion types to choose from depending on what your campaign objectives are. Simple enter-to-win sweepstakes or UGC photo contests are always popular choices.

However, if you’re looking to add a little variety to your promotional landscape and keep things interesting for your fans, try throwing a #Hashtag campaign into the mix and engage some additional platform audiences.

Hashtag contests let your followers enter a promotion through their Instagram and Twitter accounts as well as directly from a Facebook page or Website. This way, people can participate from the platform they are most comfortable with, which is a great way to ensure high levels of campaign engagement for your brand.

3 Questions To Answer When Choosing Your Campaign Hashtag

1. Am I running a contest or sweepstakes?

The FTC updated their guidelines for running contests and sweepstakes on social media requiring brands to include “contest” or “sweepstakes” either within the promotion hashtag or as a it’s own hashtag. For example, if we wanted to run a contest called #MySummerTrip we would also need to include #Contest in order for entries to be eligible. Another option would be to use the single hashtag #MySummerTripContest. Your brand can use either option with our multiple hashtag promotion builder

2. Is my hashtag easy to remember?

When promoting your hashtag you’ll likely only have the attention of your potential entrant for a brief moment. Having a long or complex hashtag could result on misspellings or the user forgetting it all together. If you are giving away a big trip, it can be tempting to use #BrandHonoluluHawaiiTripOfALifetimeContest but you’ll be much better off simplifying that to #BrandHawaiiContest

3. Has someone already used my hashtag?

There’s nothing worse than launching a social promotion only to find out that another brand already used your hashtag. If you’re using a simplified hashtag, we suggest including your brand’s name to ensure a competitor hasn’t used it previously.

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