Comments on: Follow Me and Win a Prize – The Merit of Twitter Competitions

By: Joshua Bauder

Joshua Bauder — Sun, 19 Dec 2010 01:12:35 +0000

I would rather a follower follow me because they are genuinely interested but I guess having a large number of followers would help

By: Lottie

Lottie — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 09:49:56 +0000

I think it can seem rash but if you believe in your brand then you’ll know that those ‘hooked in’ by competitions will quickly see that you’re sending out some great tweets. If they don’t like you they’ll tell you/stop following.

By: You're Welcome Cards

You're Welcome Cards — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:44:39 +0000

We’re currently running a contest/giveaway… as of yet, it hasn’t had much success. We’ve had our twitter account for over a year, but it hasn’t been until recently that we’ve began to use it.

What we’re doing is sending out free product as we reach certain milestones of followers (100, 250, 500, 1,000, etc.) If anyone has done something similar to this, let me know what made it a success/failure for you.

Thanks!

By: Andy Miller

Andy Miller — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:02:06 +0000

Interesting post, thanks.

Of course attracting followers/fans that are interested in what you’ve got to say (as opposed to what you’re giving away) is preferable. While it’s no replacement for these kinds of followers, it can’t do your cause any harm to huge volumes of unengaged, prize-hunting followers at the same time. Who knows, getting your content in front of them may eventually pique their interest and stimulate them to engage.

By: Tim

Tim — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 12:32:10 +0000

I understand wanting a focused following and wanting followers who follow me bacause they have some sort of interest in what I have to share. That’s where I am.

I can also see the other side. If someone runs a contest to garner followers, they may gain followers who have no interest in them, but the contest holder has at least the duration of the contest to peak someone’s interest. They’ll probably lose some followers after the contest but they also have the opportunity to gain the interest of some, too.

This will work best, perhaps, with focused prizes

By: Lisa Copen

Lisa Copen — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:14:22 +0000

I agree that it must be something related. We are a Christian ministry for those who live with illness but we are also the founders of National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week and we do a lot of awareness/education and also have a 5-day virtual conference online with 4 guess per day giving seminars at blog talk radio.

A lot of people are involved with social networks that include others with illness and I’ve been thinking of what give-aways we could do to promote our event in Sept without being tacky. I did actually think of an ipod shuffle. For $50 it would not be too expensive for me to spread the word (better than a $150 press release service) –and a lot of those we serve are on limited income and can’t afford an ipod.

Plus, our virtual conference last year had 19 seminars and we’ll be doing 20 more this year, which are all available through itunes. So that way we could give people an additional tool to hear the seminars on besides blog talk radio.

Anyone have an opinion or tips in social media and nonprofit event promotion? I’ve been doing some reading, but right now trying to build a solid base foundation on FB and Twitter.

By: Wised-up

Wised-up — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 22:16:45 +0000

I agree with other posts (@jonathandavies, @lexirodrigo) that the race to get as many followers as possible is, well….condescending. To me that’s saying: “I don’t know who you are, what you have to offer or share, and basically, I don’t care to find out first if we even have anything mutually in common because afterall, you’re only a # and a potential client”. And chances are if you’re following 20,000 people, and just as many following you, anything I tweet or comment on is of little relevance to you since afterall, you’re not looking for quality people to engage with, but #’s. By “you” I mean those of “you” who do this, and you know who you are and why so many people are wising up to this mass marketing and aren’t following back.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 13:32:21 +0000

I’ve got a couple hundred followers, I’ve done nothing to try and artificially increase the number of people who do follow me. It has simply taken time, and (I hope!) interesting stuff that I’ve said. I also have a personal blog which has had a positive impact on my Twitter followers.

I think that organic growth is far better in the long term, because after all, when the prize is handed out – and you weren’t the winner – the first thing you’re going to do is unfollow them.

What does one gain from having more disinterested followers? Nothing.

By: Rafa

Rafa — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:55:25 +0000

@CoffeeCupNews offers prizes consistig on specialty coffees and coffee-makers. Still, even without the prizes, he’s still a valuable resource on coffee since he also produces videos that teach you the art of enjoying different coffees, reviews varieties and encourages (and helps) you to know more about coffee.
There’s nothing wrong with giving prizes, as long as the person or company offering this also give you more: a conversation, information, “friendship”.

By: Cory O'Brien

Cory O'Brien — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 07:29:14 +0000

I think you hit the nail on the head with "Focused Prizes that Attract Focused Followers". I have a twitter account that's all about t-shirts called @IHeartTShirts, and to get the word out, I created a retweet contest where I gave away 10 t-shirts as prizes. That way, people that took part were more likely to be interested in t-shirts as well, and would follow the account in addition to just retweeting. Trying to promote a personal account however is a bit tougher, because there aren't really any prizes that you can give away that match what you're likely to tweet about (unless you've written your own ebook or something similar) but I still think you can make it work if you think it through and plan the contest to attract relevant sponsors. You just have to make sure not to just jump on the contest bandwagon without first planning what you want to get from the contest, and you'll do fine.