How To Create An Online Fan Contest In 3 Steps

For an artist, their online presence can provide a variety of promotional opportunities. Launching a contest is one of them, and can be an excellent method for increasing fan engagement.

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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski on Music 3.0One of the great things for an artist about being online is that there are so many options for promotion. A great one is launching a contest. Here’s an excerpt from my Social Media Promotion For Musicians book that outlines general contest basics.

“Artists, bands and musicians are always looking for ways to increase their fan engagement and contests can be a good way to do that. A white paper from Launchpad6, a site that specializes in conducting all kinds of online contests, had a number of suggestions regarding conducting a successful one with video. The following three ideas from the paper are worth considering.1. You need a premise. A premise is the basic idea of the contest itself. Here are some ideas to ask yourself first:

Is content for the contest readily available or easily created?
Is that content interesting?
Is the content shareable?
Is there enough passion for the idea?
Is an element of voyeurism involved?

2. You need a prize. Cash is always king when it comes to attention, but sometimes smaller more niche prizes can be more alluring to your target audience. Ask yourself the following questions:

Does the prize appeal to my target market?
Will my market find the prize valuable?
Are there any other smaller prizes that I can offer?

3. You need promotion. Your contest won’t get any traction if it’s not promoted and you get people to enter. Here are a few ideas to consider:

Create a video for the contest and seed it around the web
List your contest in directory sites
Don’t forget social media
Try partnering with a blog or industry publication or anything that has more reach than you do.”

Be aware that many platforms have very strict rules about contests, so be sure to read them before you launch. In most cases, it’s much easier to use a third party plugin to help even though you may have to pay for it.”You can read more from Social Media Promotion For Musicians and my other books on the excerpt section of bobbyowsinski.com.