We run prize draws on social media for our clients, and we’re often we’re asked to ramp up engagement by administering a RT to win mechanic on Twitter. Unless you have a prize for which an element of membership is required to claim it (like only open to season ticket holders, for example), there are plenty of reasons why you should avoid a RT to win promotion on Twitter. Ironically lack of engagement is one.
- No one engages with your brand. Well perhaps a handful but nowhere near the number of people who will enter. You can RT without any thought, engagement or even checking who’s giving away the prize. 1 out of 10 for engagement.
- Most of the people who entered your RT to win didn’t even enter. Yes, you read that correctly. They did not enter. A bot did. Revert to point 1.
- If you’ve implemented a follow action alongside the RT i.e. Follow and RT to win, you instantly dilute the quality of your followers. As ever, quality not quantity. You need 10 followers who heart your brand and not 100 followers who will never read your timeline ever again (and they probably didn’t in the first place).
- You miss the moment when a genuinely interesting individual follows you. It’s virtually impossible to check the Twitter IDs of thousands of entries, and amongst the Bot entries there will be one gem of a customer for whom conversation would benefit you well. But that’s only if you can find them.
- Lots of your new followers are duplicates. The same person with multiple accounts all set to Bot mode to increase their chance of winning. Go immediately to Point 1.
- Your mentions, notification and RTs go on for days, months even. It’s exhausting. RT to win never ends because Bots can’t read closing dates.
- At the end the campaign you will have achieved very little. Why? POINT ONE.
Next time you plan at prize draw on Twitter, be less driven by volume of entries and focus on engagement. Ask entrants to answer a question, or tweet ideas or photos. Start a conversation with your followers. This will guarantee entries from real people who can demonstrably show an interest in your brand, company or product.
Sarah Burns is Prizeology’s Chief Prizeologist, an IPM Board Director, and a SCAMbassador for National Trading Standards Scams Team.
