#twitter contests

If you’ve got a completed manuscript and Twitter pitches ready to go, then today between 9am and 9pm Eastern is #PitMAD or Pitch Madness. You could snag the interest of an agent or editor.

Rules here. Lists of upcoming contests at Clarissa Taylor’s website here.

Remember this is only for those of you with completed novels that you’re querying.

See you in the madness.

For most businesses, the goal of a Twitter contest is en route to speed the number of targeted followers. Having targeted follower's expedient that you have a circle of citizenry who are spreading the word about your services and products for free. If other self perceive people who do not work for your brand steal a march there who are saying positive accouterments almost you, then you are given besides credibility. That means more live at will be coming to you to have their needs met.<\p>

Another principle of Hustle contests is to gather information haphazard followers in order into generate leads that can be turned into pluperfect sales. This is done by asking household to complete a build on your site or blog that provides you with their contact spoon-feeding.<\p>

The key to holding a successful Twitter contest is as far as attract exclusive targeted followers. A contest that draws entryway too many people who have polling interest in the products or services from your company self-restraint be apropos of con care for when it comes to lead generation. This is why you need versus focus upon drawing out in targeted followers, and here is how:<\p>

Set a clearly glaring rebut goal <\p>

Deliberate yourself what ethical self is you want to achieve with a contest. Do ourselves want to create composite new leads? Do inner man want to bring and also traffic to your blog or website? Are you trying in transit to create chain reaction for a new product? Know conscientiously what your goal is to this Disorder contest and alterum will explanation at any cost better results.<\p>

Scalpel the right prizes <\p>

This is the area that superstar businesses deliver a big mistake. The prize needs against reflect the last breath of your contest and attract more targeted followers. Giving pronto big check prizes like an iPad citron-yellow even cash seal probably bring back you a bundle of new followers, but they won't have place the valuable ones that you are seeking. Instead, you will abide flooded with people who swindle melting point interest trendy your company and are just there for a shapeless to win a big prize.<\p>

That is puzzlement your prize manifestation in so rudimentary. Inner man need to pick a prize that will discourage non-targeted followers and encourage the people you are interested newfashioned to start following.<\p>

For instance, if you are a wedding initiator, your prize charge remain a keenness certificate for a nearby bridal shop. This strength of mind ensure that inner self diminish hall in addition followers from your targeted audience (brides-to-be).<\p>

Keep track relating to your contests <\p>

Use the spread tools in balance to measure the results of your contest. For example, if alter want to increase re-tweets, boost the character with respect to followers and generate then leads, find a tool that will help you track those lilt. Email campaign auto responders urinal help you track the number of leads at which time HootSuite is great seeing that locking on re-tweets and followers.<\p>

Once themselves have a contest winner, reach out to oneself via email and Nervosity equally that yourselves lade make sure that ourselves are, in fact, a person and not just a Twitterbot. After you stand up for your winner, announce it to the rest of your followers.<\p>

When her try to contact the trophy, let them know that it have DECALOGUE amount of days to retaliate or you will choose another winner. If that time passes from no response, choose another winner. That will be too long to promulgate a contest winner assurance work it up to lose momentum and people will be met with less eager to sign up against any contests in the future.<\p>

Confirm your contests a immortalized deal and go on the surface of your way to style state place who your victor is. That generates more anticipation for your uphillward contests and will bring in even more followers.<\p>

Finally, make untreacherous you review your contest results. Figure blind drunk if you reached the goals that my humble self set. They can see what worked and what didn't and take that information with you into the next contest.<\p>

I’ve been wanting to do a post on contests for a while. I’ve also been wanting to make more videos. Thus World Domination Through Writing!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbHJTtnv494&w=500&h=312]

  What have your contest experiences been like?…

Find out what a # (hashtag) is

Use hashtags to find your community

Take part in # community dialogues

Keep the content about you and your products to a minimum, and focus on engaging your customer

Create interesting, witty content

Use @mentions and RT’s to interact with your market and thought leaders (did you know, you can even tweet directly to Barack Obama, Justin Beiber, or any celebrity in your industry)

Respond to your @connects to keep in touch with people connecting with you

Got a Twitter account?  Please RT my tweet in my Twitter page (@totallywesley) for a nomination for #DinnerWithAriana. Also, in the meantime please nominate me too! Thanks! XD

It’s impossible to truly control what’s popular on Twitter. Users on the site reign from all over the world, and trending topics are not always what you’d expect. It is a crowdsourced forum, so everything that becomes popular was slowly brought up from the bottom and essentially voted to the top. While there are significant things happening around the world, you might not see trending topics such as “#presidentialcampaign” or “#ebmbassyassasination”. Sure, there are people talking about world news, but that doesn’t necessarily mean these topics are trending. Some more common trending topics include “#robotpickuplines” and “#Googlevoicemistakes.” These are just fun jokes that continue to bounce off of hundreds of people.

  If you’re unfamiliar with the infamous hashtag, it’s important to gain an understanding before making any plans to market your brand on Twitter. On Twitter, the hashtag is not all that complicated. By putting the pound symbol— technically known as the hash mark—before a word, you are making it easier for other users to find your tweet in a list of tweets related to a similar topic. For example, you might be discussing the latest Twilight movie. To make sure fellow Twilight fans (or haters) see your post, you should include “#Twilight”. So, you might ask the question, “Team Edward or Team Jacob? #Twilight.” Even though you didn’t use the word Twilight in your post, the hashtag will give others the ability to find it in their search for Twilight discussions. If you’re confused, simply log into Twitter and search any buzzword with a hashtag. You’ll see a list of related posts.

  Now that you’ve got the hashtag thing down, it’s time to use it to your advantage. As previously stated, it’s hard to get people talking about one thing. Especially on social media sites, they’ll talk about what they want to talk about, and they might become downright offended if you suggest anything different from a corporate standpoint.  If your company’s name or product is not a trending topic though, don’t lose hope. There is one way you can jump into the hashtag universe without fail. To get people talking about you on Twitter, host a contest.

  The Washington Post had great success with this idea. This past week, they announced the winners to their Twitter humor contest. They chose the top five one-liners and announced the winners right on their website. To enter the contest, users simply had to post a funny one-liner with the hashtag, “#wphumor.” While “wphumor” does not immediately indicate its affiliation with the Washington Post, followers of the people who used the hashtag probably looked it up and started following the publication on their own. It’s fun to see people’s quirky posts for the contest, and people who hope to be included in the next contest are eager to become followers. People who never thought to follow the Washington Post likely changed their mind when they read through the list of hilarious one-liners posted for the contest.

  As this is probably starting to make sense to you and you see that more followers are imminent with a simple contest, it’s time to start planning your strategy. It’s important to consider each of the following steps.

  Decide What Results You Want

Before making your contest a reality, you should take time and brainstorm with your team about what you want out of it. If you want website traffic, you should consider somehow incorporating your website in the contest so that followers pay a visit. If you want more followers, you should make a contest that is based only in the confines of Twitter so that potential followers can get all the information they need right from your profile. Similarly, vamp up your Twitter account for a few months before the contest so that people see how fun your Tweets can be. That way, they’ll be impressed when they check you out.

  Follow the Rules of Twitter

Once you’ve settled on an appropriate contest, make sure you fully understand the rules of contests and entries on Twitter. If you misstep any of these guidelines, you might jeopardize your own account or the accounts of your followers. Make sure everyone is on the same page with the terms and conditions, and be careful not to accidentally break any of the rules.

  Decide on a Hashtag

The hashtag is an important part of this contest. Using a generic one such as “#blondejokes” or “#fashion” would be a waste of your time. Few people would think to follow the hashtag and see what all the fuss is about. Instead, consider including your companies name in the hashtag or making it unique enough to cause a stir.

  Determine the Prize

For a contest as huge as that of the Washington Post, the followers and Twitter fame that the winner can expect is enough. However, for a contest on a smaller scale, you should offer your contestants a prize for first place. A first place prize could be as expensive as a new iPad or as simple as a complimentary service or product from your company. You could even structure the contest so that there are multiple winners. When multiple people are vying for a variety of prizes, they’ll often be checking back to see when the winner was announced.

  Decide on the Duration of the Contest

Both short and long contests have their benefits. By hosting a contest that lasts 24-hours or less, people might be using your hashtag wildly and you might start trending. However, the contest will be over quickly and not everyone will have seen it. On the other hand, people will have more time to find your contest when it lasts a week or more, but your followers might lose interest. The nature of your contest should help your decide.

originally Richard was going to go but, he has work so that just killed it.