4 Incredible Tools to Host a Contest On Your Facebook

Social media in general and Facebook in particular have come a long way in terms of reach, importance and its effect on brand and business popularity. Today, Facebook not only offers profile and fan pages but allows embedding of third party applications which enhances its functionality. These applications are entrenched within the Facebook fan page via code, widget or tab making the task of engaging, managing, measuring and converting the four social media metrics a breeze.  

One of the popular applications which can be synched with Facebook fan page is "Contest". The contest app creates instant buzz and coerces users to participate, and thereby increase brand value and customer loyalty.

Mentioned below are some of the trendy contests.

1. Photo contest by far is the most popular. As an administrator, you can ask users to submit a photo, vote for others and "like" company page; a prerequisite to participate. The idea is to engage users through voting. It is easy to set up and the images offer a visually soothing experience.
2. The second most popular way of engaging users via contest is "Scratch & Win". Instead of using a physical tool such as a coin to scratch, users simply scratch online, with the help of mouse to view result.  Timer can be set up so that a participant can enter only once in 24 hours.
3. Creating an interesting timeline contest is the next on this list. However, it does have limitations and may not be the right way to analyse page metrics. This type of contest will not generate leads because of its inherent workings.
4. Caption contest is a great way to engage users and generate user content. Businesses can set up this type of contest by uploading the image which could be a product or advertisement, and ask users to express their views.

Listed below are four incredible tools to host a contest on Facebook.

1. Agorapulse

This versatile, intuitive and easy to use marketing and CRM suite is one of the favourite tools of many administrators and marketers. The reasons for its popularity are many.

So what makes it the choice of community managers? Here are the reasons.

• It helps gain more fans through a gamut of apps such as quiz, instant prizes, contests, coupons and sweepstakes.
• Using these apps translates into efficient people engagement which in turn means more fans.
• On the other hand a contest application generates amazing number of opt-in leads.

Although, Agorapulse is an enterprise class tool, it can also be used by mid and small-sized businesses, non-profit entities and even NGO's. A free trial is available for a limited period. However, the basic price structure starts at $29. Agorapulse apps, especially contest, help marketers turn fans into customers. With this tool managing information whether email submissions or polls is a breeze. It can be synched with CRM and email software very easily.

2. Woobox

Woobox is another amazing Facebook tool which allows administrators and marketers to built instant buzz with contest application. Create innumerable intelligent and intriguing contests. Let your creativity go wild. Mentioned below are some of the "contests" which can be created with Woobox.

• Photo contests, where users can participate and vote for the best media.
• Audio/video contests - If you are a marketer or a community manager for a company this type of engagement can instantly catapult a brand to dizzying heights.
• Article, poem, short story contests are some of the other options which every administrator should exploit.

Some of the important features of Woobox are:

• Sweepstakes - An interesting app which allows community managers to collect entries and pick winners in the most transparent way. 
• Coupons - They are simply compelling. It forces users to interact. Coupons have a randomly generated code, offered during seasonal sales, festivals and entry to exclusive shows.
• HTML Fangate
• Poll - This application promises unbiased fan/user inputs whether it is about a brand or service
• Instagram and Pinterest tabs offer a quick way to post images of new products and get instant feedback in the form of followers.

3. Votigo

Votigo is an all in one marketing tool for Facebook page. It offers comprehensive features with maximum customization in terms of look, feel and back end storage of information collected from the fans. It can be used as an application or tab. In either case the user information is stored in a separate database. Some of the engagement tools that it offers are: user or self generated contests such as photo, video and essay. It also offers other routine apps like sweepstakes, polls, input forms and a host of other interesting ways to generate fan page likes.

Salient features of Votigo -

• Better conversion and more Facebook likes.
• It offers compelling apps for Facebook.
• Apps typically translate into high profile viral branding.
• High conversion factor leads to significant increase in customers.

4. Social Prize 

Social Prize is yet another tool which is simply brilliant in terms of engaging with fans, building trust, creating brand hype. A must have tool for every marketer. One of its interesting features is the "cash giveaways", a kind of contest which can be setup in minutes and offers instant brand recognition.

Social Prize offers a two prong strategy.

SHARE TO WIN -

The contest app can be easily embedded as a widget. Administrators need to simply copy paste the code. However, its simplicity doesn't make it less effective. On the contrary it offers an array of tools to monitor the success of contest through online statistics. It also offers several interesting features such as downloading and building leads, creating user generated content and customization of contests, prominent among them the feature which recognizes a single winner each day.

GROW YOUR BASE -

Email lists, content created by fans/users through social engagement like contest app makes sure the company never runs short of customers. In other words, a fan base which grows consistently.