I was visiting with Donna Walker, our Edmond Outlook
Account Executive, about ideas for a really interesting Q&A
in our February issue – something Valentine’s Day related. We
thought of a couple good questions to ask in our Q&A, but thinking out loud
I asked, “How could we find people to interview?” Being the marketing genius that
she is, she simply said “Twitter.” My eyes lit up. “Yes! We could tweet the
questions and publish the really good answers in Edmond Outlook with their @name!” We had the
start of a plan.
Creating
a Twitter Contest
Premise or Goals:
- To increase Twitter followers
- To encourage readers to get involved in the magazine
- To reach out to our community
- To
benefit readers of our advertiser’s products and services - To promote our editorial content
- To develop a great homegrown reader-based story
- To create a system to promote similar (even monthly) features again
Step 1:
Conceptualizing the contest. I reviewed examples of other Twitter contests and
I began to create a list of ideas for things I would tweet that would get users
to submit ideas and entries. I e-mailed the team for input and got some great
feedback with excellent suggestions.
Step 2:
I worked with Reyna Wilcox, our resident “web mama,” to sketch out a web page
for the contest that will be the central hub. This is where twitterers will go to find
information about the contest and submit questions or comments. It was reviewed
and submitted to a designer for production.
Began to tweet teasers
about the upcoming contest to wet our follower’s appetites.
Step 3:
The web page was posted online, tested and made ‘live.’
I began systematic periodic tweets promoting the contest.
Stay tuned for steps 4 and 5!