You’ve made the commitment to launch a photo contest or video contest to engage your customer audience on social channels. It’s a great idea since it clearly addresses the question: what do I do with my Facebook and social media following?

But all user generated content contests are not cut from the same cloth. Some work tremendously- relative to the goals of the sponsor. And some probably flop- though we’re unfamiliar with that variety.

There are a lot of factors involved. But while we’ve recently shared our thoughts on Why Social Media Contests Work and, earlier, simply How To Do Social Media, we’ll continue on the theme and get closer to our sweet spot. Today’s lesson, polled from our full-service client team: 3 Features that Push a Social Media Contest to Success.

1) Geotargeting: Localize the User Experience

Big brands are gravitating toward a localized content experience on Facebook, mobile and beyond, writes Lauren Fisher at SimplyZesty.

Or as Dave Williams, Bling Media CEO, wrote recently on Ad Age:

“Localized creative is effective at generating awareness and ultimately driving people into stores, building higher order value, and powering transactions. Think of it like the Sunday circular that runs in the newspaper every week. Instead of buying ads in the paper, brands can push weekly specials out to localized audiences, and do so far more efficiently with mass reach and frequency.”

The social media promotion feature that solves this: Geotargeting. Say you’re a retailer, restaurant or service provider and you want to talk to customers based on proximity to your retail locations. Either through Profile information (on Facebook) or by asking for a zip code, geotargeting allows you to promote events (store openings), offer coupons or even customize contest parameters and prizes at the local level.”

2) Voter Incentive: Removing Barriers to Participate

Everyone creates content on the internet right? Actually not: as Forrester Research reported last autumn (via ReadWriteWeb’s Sarah Perez), fewer than a quarter of the internet audience are Creators of social content.

It’s true that in nearly a year since the Forrester study was released, new forums for publishing social content abound. Not just Google+, Quora, Tumblr and the other surging social networks, but also apps like Instagr.am and services like Spotify are empowering users with even more opportunity to publish content (like stylized photos and personal playlists) to the social web.

Still, content creation is a barrier for some would-be participants of a photo or video contest. So on the one hand, a significant chunk of your brand’s audience are Creators. They are in the habit of creating content for the web, and they have more tools than ever to do so. That user generated content will lead to authentic engagement, viral brand storytelling among your customers, and a repository of content (video, images, words) to be repurposed for future use (with permission). Many contest sponsors would be thrilled with that result.

But on the other, you can generate far greater participation in the contest if you also remove the Creator barrier from participation.

A Voter Incentive does just that. This feature layers a sweepstakes, in which anyone who votes, or comments, or shares a submission, is eligible to win a prize, on top of the contest. Rewarded for participating, voters who haven’t submitted content still have incentive to check back daily or weekly, see the latest entries, cast a vote, spread the word again, and most importantly for you, reconnect with the brand.

Check out ABSA’s My Team, My Passion photo and video contest, which promotes the Currie Cup- South Africa’s premier rugby competition- and is sponsored by one of the nation’s largest banks. ABSA’s contest is perfect example of a well-staged user generated content contest- especially because the winning video will air during the Currie Cup Final, but also because the Voter Incentive awards weekly prizes to voters.

3) The Viral Incentive: A Round Trip to Spreading the Word

This refer-a-friend feature is critical for creating the word-of-mouth effect that is typically a goal for any social media contest. In essence, the contest participant gains additional entries to a sweepstakes each time someone they invite registers, votes or otherwise participates in the contest. It is a simple and powerful form of referral marketing and it virtually ensures word-of-mouth will happen.

You’re investing in a social media promotion- a great step to engaging and expanding your pool of potential customers and advocates across digital channels. Don’t forget about the details- those premium features that broaden participation, personalize the experience and trigger word-of-mouth.

Last week we offered up 4 reasons why Social Media Contests work in summer, in the marketing blitzes leading up to the school year and the holidays, or any time of year. Today we continue with 4 more reasons you should consider Contests and Sweepstakes as part of your social media strategy on Facebook and beyond.

5) Contests Work for a B2B audience, Too

93% of B2B marketers already use some combination of social media for marketing, according to SocialMediaB2b (via B2B magazine’s study).  Using social media for B2B marketing isn’t so different than for consumer brands, wrote Inc.’s JJ McCorvey: define your target audience and go to the channels they use with consistent, resourceful content.

A well-targeted contest geared toward business participants can certainly be part of your B2B social media strategy. Much more on this topic to come, but check out  the city of Yonkers, New York’s efforts to attract start-ups and “smart” businesses through its Y-Your Enterprise video contest. Small, growing businesses are entering to win office space at the Y-Enterprise Business Center; finalists videos will soon be posted. The contest also attracted press from Mashable’s Jennifer Van Grove when it launched in May.

6) Contests Integrate Well with Digital Ad Campaigns

Any social media promotion can- and should- be supported with an ad campaign that drives users and attention to it.  Speedway isn’t relying on word-of-mouth alone to drive (highly entertaining) submissions to its Fountain Palooza video contest. It’s also supporting the promotion with a digital display ad campaign that drives awareness and clicks from other entertaining websites to the contest home page.  Retailers with physical storefronts can  also represent the promotion with an in-store display, and add Twitter, Facebook and YouTube components, to attain cross-media awareness. And vice versa: a contest can support a broader ad campaign, and the video and photo submissions can (with permission) be repurposed into future ad content.

7) Contests Bring Your Brand’s Subject Matter to Life

Let’s say you’re an established business introducing a complex new technology, or simply launching a new product into an established market.  How do you hold the audiences’ attention long enough to convey the benefits of your latest innovation?  A contest is an effective way to tell the story of something new and breathe viral life into any discussion.

Waste Management, the long-reigning king of waste removal and recycling, launched a new product- the Bagster- to fill a void in the home waste removal market.  How does WM get consumers to think about this alternative, which fills a void between the curbside garbage can and the dumpster?  By asking customers to demonstrate the impact the new product could make in the Bagster Home Waste Loss Plan photo contest, which taps users for Before and After photos of home renovation projections where the large-capacity container could’ve come in handy.  It’s a clever spin on asking customers to show how they would use a new product.

8 )  Contests Build Through Stages To a Remarkable Conclusion

Finally, a great contest tells a story not as a one-time exposure (like seeing the same ad over and over), but through multiple stages of  activity.  Brands sponsoring a contest can engage the audience at several touchpoints- from announcing the imminent launch of the contest to collecting and showcasing submissions to announcing semi-finalists to hosting a finalist stage or grand prize event.   It’s easy to incorporate a lot of event milestones and multimedia elements to keep the audience engaged and checking back often.

Bank of the West’s recently-concluded Rockin’ O!maha Band Contest first collected videos of emerging groups performing original songs, and built to the crescendo of a free outdoor concert and fireworks show that took place over Independence Day Weekend in Omaha.  The contest winners- Take Me To Vegas- won the honor of opening the show for .38 Special and Cheap Trick in front of an estimated 62,000 fans. That’s an incredible build-up to a very memorable event.

There you have it- 8 solid reasons why social media contests can help you break your brand through the historically slow summer months and continue to build a following on Facebook and other social media platforms.  Please contact Votigo if you have questions or want to start planning something special. Enjoy the rest of your summer!

The summer months can traditionally be a tough time to get something good going in marketing. Brand managers throttle back spend to ensure they don’t overshoot their budgets by midyear. Media planners and creatives head for the coasts for well-deserved holidays. Traditional media programmers broadcast a season of reruns and (admittedly riveting- don’t tell anyone that some Votigo people are captivated by this) reality fare. In short, July and August are historically surrendered by marketers.

But social media changes everything, enabling a year-round calendar of opportunity to engage your audience and reach potential new customers. Launching a summertime Contest or Sweepstakes on across social media- from Facebook to microsites to mobile platforms to Twitter to YouTube- is one effective way to harness social media and jumpstart your audience.

Make sure to check out the Summer Social Marketing Sweepstakes Powered by Votigo - a preview of our Sweepstakes app and an opportunity for you to win a $5,000 credit to run a social media promotion through the Votigo platform.  Meanwhile, here are 4 reasons that Social Media Contests and Sweepstakes are a great way for businesses and brands to burst through the dog days of summer.

1) Contests Are Opportunities to Engage Customers And Tell Your Story

The best contests generate repeat audience participation. An ideal lifecycle for a participant in a Photo Contest on Facebook, for example, would look something like this:

User receives an email from a friend to vote on friend’s submission -> He visits the Facebook Brand Page and “Likes” it -> Casting a a vote for his friend’s photo, he gets swept up by the contest’s stunning graphics or compelling incentive -> He decides to enter, finding a great picture to submit or taking a new one -> He shares his entry via email, Facebook, Twitter and more to friends, asking for their votes -> He checks back frequently to see how many votes he has or whether he made the Final round…

Contests give your brand’s audience relevant reasons to engage, or check-in with your frequently.  They are opt-in by nature- participants choose to submit, comment, or vote- always a more powerful form of engagement. And they help tell the story of your brand.

2) Contests Put Your Customers In The Spotlight To Create Content

A well-designed contest conveys your brand message quickly and effectively…and then gets out of the way, allowing your audience to take center stage, tapping their creativity and asking potential customers to share their favorite picture or produce a clever video. American Cancer Society does just that with it’s Create More Birthdays Contest & Sweepstakes, asking participants to submit art or music inspired by the organization’s life-saving work.   Flipping through the early submissions is already inspiring as entrants tell their stories in visually or with music.

Similarly The Drummer of Tomorrow Video Contest, presented by Mapex and other percussion and music brands, continues to generate soul-thumping videos from hardcore and hobbyist drummers alike, all competing for over $50,000 in prizes.

Why is having your own content important to your brand?  Major brands are finding that producing and publishing their own content increases not only brand awareness but also subscribers and leads, writes Shane Snow on Mashable.  Snow points to inbound marketing expert Hubspot’s recent study that shows that a content-driven marketing strategy can drive a 4x increase in leads within a few months. There is no more authentic way to get creative content for your brand than asking your audience to generate it. So contests that drive UGC can be an important part of a content marketing strategy.

3) Contests Are An Effective Way to Connect To Big Events

There are few better ways to motivate an audience than with the possibility of winning a trip to a huge championship, VIP access to a major concert, or an expenses-paid dream vacation. Great contests capture the buzz of the destination or event they’re tied to. Check out the Four Points Score Tickets Sweepstakes, where Starwood Preferred Guest offers the chance to win a serious travel experience to anyone booking a room by July 15: an all-expense-paid trip to the 2011 Major League Soccer AT&T All-Star Game in New York City.

Contests are an effective vehicle for offering an authentic incentive for customers to spread the word.  Nothing is as authentic as getaway travel to an event or destination that reflects the message of an aspirational travel, hospitality or luxury brand. What would be a fitting giveaway for your brand?

4) Contests Can Easily Involve Babies and Adorable Animals

It’s been said time and again: you want participation?  Ask for photos of babies and pets.  Not only do social media audiences simply respond to these adorable submissions; participants generally have such photos or videos handy on their laptops or mobiles- removing a barrier for quickly entering to your contest.  Zulily- the daily deals site for moms and babies- has a simple branding rationale to ask for photos in their Zulily Cuties photo contest, which features a gallery full of adorable pictures and rolling monthly winners of shopping credits.  But even for brands that don’t center on gear for babies and kids, tapping into parents’ affinities for their children (and pets) is a proven tactic.

There you go- 4 Good Reasons that you can get social media contests working for your brand- even in the summer months.  Stay tuned early next week for 4 More Good Reasons.  Have a great weekend.