How to Create Social Media Buzz with Judgify

Opening the door for a contest is daunting. But wait, you don’t have to turn into a bundle of nerves worrying about how people will react to your contest. Creating a buzz on social media can help you drive word-of-mouth and raise recognition before the contest is announced.

The meaning of social media buzz

Social media buzz is the result of sharing viral content across social media platforms. One of the most cost-effective ways to introduce a project,  launch a product or a business campaign, or create buzz on social media is a foolproof promotion strategy.

Why social media buzz is a necessity

No longer consider whether you should generate buzz on social media or not. Unless you’re a world-renowned corporation, there is a low probability that your contest will get discovered if you just create it and let it go. And guess what, the well-known corporations don’t ignore opportunities to generate social media buzz. For instance, Apple has developed an official Instagram account where users can share photos shot on iPhones.

Check out the significant benefits of social media buzz for your contest:

• Attract potential participants. Spreading the word about your upcoming campaign is a proven way to attract your target audience.
• Measure feedback. Social media buzz can help you correct flaws. If you announce the concept of your contest early, you can get initial feedback on social media and adjust the upcoming campaign accordingly.
• Intrigue. A smart social media buzz strategy builds anticipation. Don’t disclose all the details about the contest straight away. Leaving some space for intrigue drums up immense interest.

The ways to create social media buzz for your contests

There are many roads to drive word-of-mouth for your upcoming contests with a minimal budget. Using social media to create buzz can employ a huge range of these triggers. Here are some of them:

1. Offer freebies. Why not launch a contest to launch a contest? Social media giveaways and creative online contests that encourage viral engagement serve as great pre-event activities. Offer freebies to motivate participation and prepare the new audience for the upcoming event.
2. Influence through influencers. Virality is the profession of social media influencers. Contact some of the most prominent online personas in your target sphere and negotiate promotion of your content with them. Borrowing credibility from influencers is of great help while expanding the outreach.
3. Leverage hashtags. The hottest buzzy platforms, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, love hashtags. Create thematic hashtags for your contest which are simple, easy to remember, and directly aligned with the contest topic or company name. To make hashtags actionable, promote them for user-generated content, entry submissions, and social media comments.
   
4. Use time-limited offers. Social media should be your main weapon, not a complementary tool. To create buzz on social media, make it the basic channel for gaining a discount for contest participation or to encourage submissions with the help of time-limited offers for free events.
   
5. Teaser it. Providing a sneak peek at your upcoming contest is the best way to build excitement. Although this strategy isn’t very productive in terms of expanding the audience, your social media community is going to love it. Hint at the luscious offers that wait for contest winners or leak the key event highlights, and you’ll take anticipation sky high.

How to create social media buzz step-by-step with Judgify

Early preparation isn’t the only prerequisite for contest success. To launch a buzzy online event, you should be armed with a reliable awards management system like Judgify. Here’s how you and Judgify can create a huge impact through social media buzz, step-by-step:

• First ask, then do. There’s no point creating a contest if you’re not 100% sure that your target audience is going to adore it. Collect the data from your previous award events using the reporting module on Judgify and see what works well for your audience. Go online and set up polling and short, question-and-answer contests to tap into the preferences of your community.

Protip: You don’t have to create a contest for your target audience but WITH  your target audience.

• Plan and teaser. Create a detailed plan for your award campaign. Begin by developing an actionable contest landing page and email campaigns with Judgify. Once your contest idea has shape, start creating teasers for contest social media buzz.

Protip: Developing a tool for contest management along with promoting the content. The automation and flexibility of Judgify can be the critical arguments for enticing your audience.

• Make a creative announcement. As the starting date gets closer, think of how you can break the news about the contest. Utilize the types of social media platforms that you employ (short and enticing for Twitter, professional for LinkedIn, and creative for Facebook).

Protip: Your contest announcement should open a dialogue. Encourage actions like voting, sharing UGC, or commenting to make the announcement go viral. If you’re looking for Facebook contest advertising inspiration, you can find it here.

• Streamline. Take pre-event social media buzz up a notch by streamlining the judging processes and encouraging public voting in a real time. What’s more, with the Judgify’s public voting module, you can encourage participants to use their social media platforms for voting. This way you expand the reach of a contest along two lines: through entrant profiles and your business social media platforms.

Conclusion

Judgify is an awards management expert that performs two roles in your contest organization experiences. First, it supports you on the technical side to enable automation and simplified event management. Second, Judgify builds the spaces for maintaining dialogues with your target community before, during, and after an event. Get started to create social media buzz for contests free of charge!