Written by Kate Emanuel |
August 5, 2010  The Ad Council recently hosted a panel discussion, along with Google, on Online Contests. Presenters included YouTube, AARP, National Parks Foundation and ePrize. While it was mostly geared to nonprofits, the presenters provided some good “lessons learned” which I’ve included below.
For Federal government folks looking to create or improve their online contests and challenges, GSA’s Center for New Media and Citizen Engagement is helping agencies learn more about innovation challenges and prizes. Visit their site to get tools, examples, guidelines, case studies and sample rules. They will also soon launch Challenge.gov, which will be a one-stop shop for federal agencies to post challenges and for the public to find and participate in federal challenges.
Initial Steps for Success…
- Do your research.
- Prioritize your goals – what behaviors do you want to motivate? Your goals will help define the solution.
- Identify consumer touch points.
- Assign a budget.
- Keep it simple. You may not need as many bells as whistles as originally thought.
- YouTube: Create a great call-out video.
Promotion…
- You need to promote your promotion! Use email blasts, banners, homepage placement, Facebook posts, Tweets, Direct Mail (bill stuffer), events, mobile – use it all.
- Prizes should be topically relevant. The combination of a bigger grand prize coupled with frequent smaller instant win prizes has proven to be a powerful draw.
- Keep it simple – Simple clear message with clean creative. Just because you can do it doesn’t mean you should.
- Leverage social networking, blogs, newsletters and websites.
- Think about advertising and which sites make sense for your contest and who it targets.
- Target individual YouTube users. Don’t be afraid to send messages.
- Utilize all resources (internal and external) available to you
- Engage your web and marketing teams
- Engage your partners/prospects
- Use social media/Integrate!
- Generate excitement about upcoming contest(s)
- Send emails to your database
- Have a sweepstakes or “teaser” contest
Internally…
- Don’t take on more than you can handle.
- If your budget is limited, keep it simple
- Engage a contest administration company if budget allows
- A major redesign/relaunch is not the best time to launch a complex campaign that requires technical integration.
- Bring some content from behind the registration wall, and don’t make it flash-based, in order for it to be viewed/found by search engines (missed out on organic traffic opportunity).
- Get legal in early and keep them updated each step of the way to ensure that there are no last minute surprises, i.e. incenting referrals are a no-no at AARP (which was learned just before launch).
After you launch…
- Keep it exciting – after 10-12 weeks, offer a new message or reason to engage
- Continue to grow and evolve. Keep it fresh.
- Create contest updates to keep people engaged throughout the contest.
- Finish strong and leverage your content to create mashups, ads and video press releases.
Written by Rowena Tse |
July 27, 2010 Last week, yours truly traveled to Chicago to attend Feeding America’s annual Mobilizing the Public conference, ready to hobnob and learn from the more than 400 food bank communicators and fundraisers who have come together for this event.
One of the most buzzed-about workshops was “Effective Storytelling,” presented by Roger Fishman, founder and CEO of ZiZo Group. His workshop was not initially on my go-list, but by day 2, with glowing reviews and comments like “his last session was standing room only,” it seemed ridiculous for me to miss it.
As it turns out, Mr. Fishman has quite the pedigree (marketing and media veteran, published author, and a famous wife), but instead of starting off with a run-down of his impressive resume, he chose to open the session by telling us a story about his mother, his childhood and his family’s struggle to get by.
He told us how as a kid he couldn’t afford lunch, but was too ashamed to stand in line for a free meal, so he skipped lunch altogether. He told us about his elementary school principal who showed incredible kindness by giving him a quarter each day to buy lunch so he could eat and not be teased by other kids. He told us about the importance of dignity, even for a young boy like him, and how his childhood experience affects the way he thinks about his own charitable giving today. He told us about how much he admired the work of the food banks because they allow people to hold on to their dignity.
As he finished his intro, I looked across the room and saw 50 pairs of eyes glued onto him, some even glistening with tears. Wow, this guy’s good. He obviously did his homework and knew that his personal story is the best way into the hearts and minds of a group of compassionate food bank employees. 
So how can storytelling be effective? Mr. Fishman offers the following:
- Know your audience. Everything starts from here because we all make decisions emotionally. Without an emotional benefit, all the facts in the world won’t make an ounce of difference. Find out what moves them, bring it to life and then make it personal and relevant.
- Do your homework. In addition to knowing your audience, know your competition, know your environment, and know your goals.
- Get to the point. Time is precious. Be quick and be authentic.
- Story sharing vs. storytelling: A story should be a two-way exchange. We are all incubators for stories… encourage participation from your audience, and find out what’s their story?
- Think laterally: Don’t just be linear in your storytelling—if it feels familiar, it probably has been done before. Repackage your story and frame it in a new way.
- Firsthand stories beat secondhand any day. If you cannot be present—ask for specific details before retelling.
- Always be relevant, different and important to your audience.
He closed his workshop by saying that all of us have our own personal and professional experiences that shape our narrative. The important thing is to do the research, take the time to get to know your audience, and make your story relevant.
Written by Amanda Lehner |
July 21, 2010 Don’t ever underestimate the power of teen ambassadors. At the SADD National Conference in June, I found hundreds of fun, energetic teenagers that were very engaged in teen issues – a social marketers dream.
I also found myself to be pretty nervous. I have worked on teen targeted initiatives, but I have never presented to real live teens. I couldn’t help thinking of the stereotypical paper airplanes whizzing by my head, strategically placed whoopie cushions and maybe even a spit ball splattering on my powerpoint projection.
However, we came prepared; we came with a gimmick. And to my delight, I believe it worked. We named our workshop “How to Become a Digital Superhero.” At our booth we had teens text the word ‘digitalhero’ to the short code 30364 to receive all our teen-targeted campaign website links with the message “Your 1st assignment as a digital superhero is to share these links.’” Then we had them give their name and email address so we could follow up with more info (when they are at their computers and not at a resort with three waterslides) and took their pictures dressed as superheroes.
Did they know it was gi mmicky? Yes. Did they care? No. That’s what I love about these kids most of all. Their willingness to try new things, play along and do what they have to do to keep themselves and their friends safe and healthy. If your organization has teen initiatives and has a chances to attend a teen-heavy conference, I say do it. It’s important to get staff out from behind the desk to actually talk with the teens they are messaging. Plus, as much as we message to teens, nothing can compare to hearing the message from their peers. We hope our new superheroes will take their first assignment seriously and share the information about digital safety with their friends.
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 Almost a billion people on the planet don’t have access to clean drinking water. Unsafe water and a lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all disease and kill more people than all forms of violence, including war. Read how charity: water is working to change that by giving up their birthday gifts this month!
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