I’m going to break down the basics on how we got Pagnian Americas, a video game accessory company 31,973 real Facebook fans in just under a month and how we helped them launch a viral campaign that got a single post 50,523 shares, 23,824 likes and 2369 comments.
Here is the exact post image we used.
You can see the live post here: bit.ly/OVRGRNDxPAGNIAN
Context
On November 15, 2014 the owners of Pagnian Americas approached us eager to get the word out on their new Gaming Cockpit which is geared towards simulator style video games. They had just acquired the North & South American rights to distribute the unit exclusively. As the Christmas season was just weeks away, they asked us to strategically grow their Facebook fan base in hopes to educate their target market about the unit and its accessories and then ultimately lead them to buy the products online.
We needed something to entice people to like the page so we decided to run a contest where we’d give away a full Cockpit ($875 Retail) to one lucky winner at the end of December. Users simply had to like the Pagnian Americas page and share the post with their friends. We were given a modest $1000 Facebook ad budget to promote the contest. Our client started with approximately 300 fans and had the ambitious goal of reaching 3000 fans by the end of December. Little did they know, their page was going to spike 10 times beyond their expectations.
What We Did
The contest post we created included a full image of the unit that was up for grabs. The caption clearly defined what, when and how the prize can be won. Asking for a like and most importantly, a share made all the difference in making the campaign go viral. The combination of an amazing prize, clearly defined instructions and a small ad budget targeted to a very specific market blew this contest up really quick.
Typically a $1000 Facebook ad budget for one month would not generate such massive results if not strategically allocated. We created 4 separate ads, each with its own objective to run simultaneously throughout our campaign.
- Facebook Contest Post Engagement (40% ad budget) – a set budget consistently promoting the contest post throughout the entire month
- Facebook Daily Post Engagement (30% ad budget) – used to promote daily posts to keep fans up to date on new products
- Facebook Like Campaign (20% ad budget) – used to encourage new page likes
- Buy Now Campaign (10% ad budget) – used to send people directly to the Pagnian online store.
We were extremely diligent in researching our target market and narrowed down our target to approx 650,000 avid gamers between the ages of 20-35 who are huge simulator game fans and live in either Canada or the US.
Results
By the 4th week, our Fan Page had been seen by 4.4 millions people and we hit just over 30,000 fans, an even more impressive 50,000 contest shares and over 2000 comments asking about our products. We had also lead approx 23,000 unique visits to the Pagnain website directly from our Facebook efforts.
Week 1 – 9.9k new fans
Week 2 – 10.1k new fans
Week 3 – 8.2k new fans
Week 4 – 4k new fans
The important metric here is the viral reach our contest had versus our paid promotion. The quality of the prize and the ease of entry allowed us to achieve massive results. Essentially, our paid ad campaign was just a catalyst that helped get our campaign in front of a few target users. Those key users then shared our contest post which set off a huge chain reaction.
Keys to a successful Facebook Contest
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Know your target market
Who do you want to be aware of, and take part in your contest? Brainstorm the markets you want to reach. List out their demographics and interest. This will help you to determine the fundamental details about your contest and how you should promote it.
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Choose a prize wisely
Your prize is the most important motivator for people to enter your contest. Having a bad prize (or no prize) can make your contest flop. The prize we gave away on this particular contest was valued at just under a thousand bucks. It drew massive attention based on the sheer value. Your prize doesn’t necessarily need to be worth thousands of dollars. Another strategy that works well is bundling multiple small products or services together like a dope gift basket.
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Determine entry methods
Before you start to build your contest, decide on the entry method for your contestants. Remember to keep things simple for your users as attentions spans are shorter than ever. Your entry requirements should be no longer than 2 steps. We recommend aiming for a page like and a post share. This method tends to spread the quickest with the least resistance. If you’re aiming to building your email list, setup up Like-Gate facebook tab where users have to like your page before they can enter your contest with their email. You can use tools like Woobox and Leadpages to perform the latter. Base your entry method on your goals, objectives and target market.
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Use Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are a relatively inexpensive way to reach your target audience. As of late, Facebook has been throttling organic reach for business pages in their aim to increase ad revenues. It’s now near impossible to reach your fan base without a well structured ad campaign. A good combination of Post promotion, Page likes and website re-directs are essential to getting massive results.
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Highlight a Facebook post about your contest
Keep your contest post at the top of your Facebook Page by using the “Pin To Top” feature. This will allow you to continue to post content on a regular basis without your contest getting lost in the mix. Your regular content will continue to post as usual, just under your your contest post.
If you have any questions regarding launching a Facebook contest, Shoot me an email vee@ovrgrnd.ca
