First of all, let’s look at how online promotions and social media contests support your marketing strategy. Inbound Marketing is based on Five Basic Essentials:
- Attracting traffic: making yourself known and driving traffic with social media, blogs, SEO positioning, etc.
- Conversion: give visitors a reason to engage with your brand or products. This is where guides, downloads, eBooks, contests, etc. will be your allies in achieving lead generation.
- Marketing Automation: score your leads and identify where they are in the sales funnel. Then it’s time to convert them into customers, with targeted lead nurturing for each buyer profile.
- Loyalization: establish a relationship with your customers to keep them faithful to your brand.
- Synchronization: Potential customers should have a smooth ride through the buyer’s journey. No lead gets left behind!
So how do online contests support your strategy?
Contests can be very useful, especially during the phases of attraction and conversion. They represent a dynamic and fun way to promote your brand. And with the right prize as motivation, customers will leave their contact information in the registration form. So you’ll have new leads to nurture.
#Contests can help you to implement your #leadnurturing strategies, targeted at specific segments or lead profiles. Click To Tweet
If you ask the right questions on the registration form, you can collect key lead scoring information. Then use your followers’ answers to segment your audience, nurture key leads, and fill in gaps in your CRM. Each contest or promotion is a new opportunity to learn more about your customers.
Integrate contest data with your CRM
Of course, it’s pointless to collect this information unless you use it correctly. In order to get the most out of your online promotions, you need to combine it with sales data and customer histories.
When you design your social media contests, make sure you use an app which is fully integrated with CRM tools such as Salesforce or Zapier. That makes it easier to record participants’ details alongside any sales data you have about them. If you can add social login to your contest, even better. You can keep a record of social networks, usernames, and comments made by individual leads.
Get integrated data with Instagram contests
Let’s take an example to illustrate all this. Contests on Instagram have long been a popular way to win followers and get attention. But marketers have been stuck on the same problem. How do you convert Instagram likes into real leads?
There are two options here. You can collect a little information, or a lot. With a standard Instagram comments contest, you can collect usernames and comments. In exchange for a simple giveaway, you can integrate this information with your CRM.
But you can aim higher, too. The new Instagram photo contest app is designed to collect contact details, social login, and customized questions for your brand. Create your own registration form to fill up your CRM with information that’s tailored to your brand. For example, a fashion company could ask users to share dress sizes or color preferences, in order to target their sales campaigns.
If you’re ready to upgrade your marketing strategy, then you can start designing contests for free here. If you’d like to learn more about the new Instagram app, or CRM integrations available, contact our team.
