If you spend any time on social media, it’s no doubt you’ve seen film campaigns using competitions before. You might have even entered one yourself – but why do so many companies do it?
When done properly and effectively, competitions and gamifaction can be one of the best ways to gather data from fans and interested audiences.
To qualify for winning the competition, you can have people sign-up with their emails, share your post, follow you or even tag friends to boost engagement.
Yet, the benefits even go beyond that. Let’s explore..
1. Competitions drive purchases
Whilst your competition is live, fans engage with this content and the engagement itself boosts your presence on social media platforms — and SEO, if you are using your own website for the competition campaign.
This brings your content in front of more eyes, giving the double benefit of raisig awareness of the competition itself, plus the real thing your’e selling – your movie.
We recommend doing a special offer AFTER the competition has closed, as potential customers may decide they like the look of your new film enough anyway and a good deal will push them over the purchase line to buy their cinema tickets.
2. Get to know your audience and enhance marketing strategies
You can learn so much from the data social media platforms and Google Analytics provide, but before you launch your competition, decide what your ideal entrant would be, so you can boost posts and streamline marketing efforts. Use your film’s unique story, brand, cast and any other unique features to help identify your primary target audience.
By creating an image of the person you want to engage with, it also makes it easier to create the tone of copy, graphics and prize of the competition, as you can really understand what would make them want to enter.
When the competition starts, to your surprise, it could be a completely different demographic engaging from the one you wanted, which is a useful discovery for future marketing endeavours.
And most importantly, utilise the email addresses you have gathered to update these signups about the movie release date, and any other releases you have at a later date.
Importantly, make sure your terms and conditions are very clear for competition entrants and only email people who have agreed to be communicated with.
3. Find your winning graphics
Competitions are the ideal place for you to test different creative styles to see which ones drive the most engagement. You might find this interesting to see which yields the most clicks and implement the most engaging one in future marketing campaigns.
You could also split the ads with two different links to two different landing pages. By experimenting with the landing pages you’ll find conclusive proof of what works well with your audience (and saves ad spend in the future).
Building direct relationships with fans / audiences by powering competitions is a way to create new marketing channels and efficiencies (that can help you save money and create long-term resilience)
usheru Engage offers an easy way to begin your competitions strategy. Explore Engage and reach out if you’re ready for a demo!
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