Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Interactive Campaign Marketing


Interactive Campaign Marketing

By Melissa Brewer




Interactive campaign marketing is the key to return visitors to your website, no matter what you are selling or marketing. Unfortunately, businesses without interactivity on the web are sure to flounder, especially with the trend towards social media sites such as Myspace and Youtube. Your customers and website visitors need to interact with your business - and trust it, to be successful.


Hosting a contest that gets your visitors involved with your company and products. Video contests are ideal for this - they are free and easy to manage using YouTube.


Worried that an interactive contest campaign is too costly or time-consuming? Don't worry - we've got you covered - step-by-step. Your campaign will need a promotion until the contest ends - but the basics should be easy to cover and check on.


1. First things first - get your business on Myspace and YouTube. Sign up at http://www.youtube.com and http://www.myspace.com. (Tip: there are tons of boutiques and bookstores on Myspace, and they're easy to find using the Myspace search engine...) Make sure you use your business name or keywords when you choose your URL. (Our company's Myspace URL is: http://www.myspace.com/capitalcreative) (Our company's channel is at: http://www.youtube.com/capitalcreative to see an example of how a channel at Youtube will look.)


2. Plan a contest - not a drawing, but a competition. That's right - this isn't going to cost you money, but it may cost you a free gift certificate, book, or other piece of your business inventory. Plan on at least having a grand prize, if not first, second, and third prizes. For an effective campaign, you'll want to limit your contest to 30 to 45 days. Choose an item you really want to push - in many cases, your customers may buy it if they don't win...


3. Decide what the contest is going to be about - and what you want your customers to think about your company. Many bigger companies even ask users to submit their own commercials for a specific product. The key to this contest is to build excitement for your products and company - so ask a question to your prospects that help them think about your brand and how it relates to them.


4. Create a Youtube Group for your contest. (http://www.youtube.com/groups_create) You get a free bulletin board in the group, so link to your contest guidelines and your business on Myspace. Let everyone know contest updates will be announced on Myspace and via your mailing list.


5. Create a Contest Page on your website. List the rules and the theme of your contest. Although the video contest will be on Youtube, you'll want to collect their email addresses and the URL of their video either by form or email, depending on your preferences. Link to your Myspace profile and Youtube Group prominently. Not sure what the contest rules should entail? Do a Google search for "contest guidelines" and write up your own.


6. Announce your contest. Every place you announce your contest, you'll want to promote the URL of your Youtube Group, Contest URL, and Myspace profile. (if you already have a Myspace profile, then announce the contest to everyone once a week, using a bulletin...) Oh, yeah - and those free contest websites - there are thousands of them with avid contest entrants. (http://www.contesthound.com/addcontest.php3, http://www.contestalley.com/submitcontest.shtml, to name a few)


7. Promote until the day the contest closes. Continue listing your contest in forums and directories, with a link to your contest page - if you list your contest in just 5 places a day, you can achieve prominence quickly.


8. Choose your winners and give them some publicity. Let all of your entrants know where to see the winning videos - and make them an offer they can't refuse. Let your website visitors know where to see the results of the contest. Post the winning video on your website and any other place you promote your business. Ask winners for their photographs and post them in your Myspace profile as " recent contest winners". Send out press release announcing the winners - and the theme for your next contest.


Have fun with contests - when you run a contest, you build your company's image and brand awareness. A contest is a great way to generate enthusiasm with your website visitors, add people to your mailing list, and achieve brand recognition. Contests also tend to be very viral in nature - people share them with their friends and there are tons of contest fanatics on the web that republish information for their own website visitors.


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