Consider letting competitions and giveaways be your secret weapon to achieving viral status. They have a magical appeal, enticing folks with the prospect of winning and triggering high levels of sharing and engagement.

However, tread carefully, ensuring your competition doesn’t cross the line of any social media platform’s terms of service.

Long gone are the days when you could ask people to like your page or tag a friend as an entry method.

Consider the following competition and giveaway possibilities:

• Post a comment and stand a chance to win
• Sharing or retweeting to enter the draw
• Quirky photo caption contests
• Best comment competitions
• Play and win games
• Vote to win contests

Before you begin, get clear on what your objectives are:

• Boosting your social media following and enhancing brand awareness
• Gathering leads

Smart Actions:

1. Know the promotional rules of your chosen platform inside-out
2. Have a crystal clear social media goal
3. Create engaging and appealing content
4. Launch your campaign and regularly track its performance

Here’s a useful link to the Instagram Promotion Guidelines: https://help.instagram.com/179379842258600

And here’s one for Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines: https://www.facebook.com/policies/pages_groups_events