Social Media Contests

For the social media savvy, appreciating the value of instantly connecting directly with those who have chosen to listen to what you have to say easy - it's as important as air.  Now, imagine that those people are even more engaged because they can win something.

The Durham Facebook page played host to a series of contests over the past two weeks to help promote Madagascar LIVE! at DPAC - Durham Performing Arts Center.  The contests were a huge success.

"One of the real goals in social media is to share experiences and get others involved in them, too," said Sam Poley, Director of Marketing and Communications at the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau.  DCVB administers the Durham Facebook page.  "Give-aways always get folks excited, and doing them in social media carries the benefit of allowing contestants to share their excitement with other like-minded people.  There is a lot of power in that format," Poley added.  These contests delivered significant impression counts on the posts about the show where people could possibly win tickets.  An impression is counted every time someone sees the post on their wall.

According to Linda Charlton, DPAC's Marketing Director, the collaboration between DCVB and DPAC on the promotion of the show was a great success. "Their contest to give away Madagascar LIVE! tickets produced close to 50,000 impressions collecting 287 comments and 52 likes. We love it when we see such a great fan engagement rate as well as an influx of traffic to our website. Their expertise in new media has helped promote many of our shows including Phantom of the Opera and Lion King,” Charlton said.  "I'd describe this as a social media success story," she added.

DCVB is looking to continue to promote fan engagement with such projects in the future and will continue to develop ways to use its social media to do so.  At well over 15,000 fans on its fan page on Facebook, DCVB has a direct line to fans around the world and here in Durham.