The mission of this lens is to list as many online contests, sweepstakes, and giveaways available online as possible!
At the same time, we are using Plexo Links in many cases to allow you to vote up your favorite contests.
The Plexo Links modules we are using also allow you to add your own favorite contests!
Table of Contents
(to help you navigate through this huge list of resources!)
Contest Rules & Guidelines Resources
- Sample Contest Rules for Sweepstakes, Giveaways & Online Contests
- Samples of rules and guidelines for online contests, sweepstakes & giveaways.
Recent Online Contests
Contests that have recently been announced (some have expiration dates)
2008 EAA Aircraft Sweepstakes
Enter and win a plane! 2nd place wins you a helico more...1 point
Frame My Future Scholarship - Church Hill Classics
Church Hill Classicsa will be awarding $1,000 scho more...1 point
Dream Home Giveaway
Summer 2008! The Grand Prize winner will have the more...0 points
Create-A-Greeting-Card Scholarship Contest - Gallery Collection, Business Christmas Cards
Enter the 1st Annual Create-A-Greeting Card $10,00 more...0 points
$1,000 College Admissions Frustration Scholarship!
the Sam Jackson College Experience<br />< more...0 points
DatMoney's "Get Traffic" Contest (and Other Prizes)
You can potentially get your blog/site viewed by o more...0 points
iRise "Visualize the Prize" Commercial Contest
$15,000 prize for helping iRise create a commercia more...0 points
http://www.travelandleisure.com/infiniti/
Enter for a chance to win a trip as distinctive as more...0 points
OPENSports.com 2-A-DAY Sweepstakes
Daily Cash Prizes plus a chance to win a Sports Ho more...0 points
http://www.foodandwine.com/promo/giveaway
Food & Wine Magazine - 30th Anniversary 30 Day more...0 points
World's Best Getaway Sweepstakes Presented by Patron
Grand Prize includes 3 simply perfect nights at a more...0 points
Blogs That List Contests
Blogs that list opportunities to win prizes.
Its All Free Online .com
"Daily Free Product Samples, Freebies and Sav more...1 point
Contest Live Blog
Your #1 Contest Resource Site1 point
Contest Live
You can submit, vote, and join great online contes more...1 point
Contest Beat
Blog about contests that you can enter to win priz more...0 points
Winning The Web
Craziest Internet Marketing Contest You Ever Seen more...0 points
The Prize Blog
The Prize Blog is the Original Contest Blog! This more...0 points
An Island Review
Great list of giveaways and sweepstakes that is ke more...0 points
A.B.C. - About Blog Contests
Great blog listing "Contests around the Net&q more...0 points
Home Mom 3
If you can weed through all the Google ads here, t more...0 points
Blog Paradise
Blog Contests & Tips0 points
Blog Contest Site .com
A little tough to navigate, but lists contests.0 points
Contests in Canada
Contest Canada.net has over 2,000 contests, all fr more...0 points
Blog Contests on the Net
Blog Contests on the Net0 points
Submit Your Contest .com
Fresh Daily Contests,Earn money,Win prizes.0 points
The Contest Winner
List of contest that I participated in and hope to more...0 points
Contest Blog Cat
Easy to navigate the contests listed here.0 points
contest bytes
"A place to enter contests, sponsor contests more...0 points
Laura Williams' Musings: Current Giveaways I am Hosting on My Blog
Be sure to stop back by my blog each day for the N more...0 points
Contest Blogger .com
Win online contests, sweepstakes, free stuff, cash more...0 points
Blog Contest Central .com
This page is primarily related to listing bloggers more...0 points
About.com - Contests and Sweepstakes
Want to win free sweepstakes and contests with fab more...0 points
Contest Alley
0 points
New York Post - Contests | Sweepstakes | Promotions
Contests, sweepstakes and promotions - NYPost.com. more...0 points
iVillage.com - Promotions
0 points
Contests For Moms .com
Contest For Moms is the leading site for online co more...0 points
Contest Hound .com
Sweepstakes and Contest Directory - free to enter more...0 points
The Celebrity Cafe .com
Contests, games, sweepstakes, and it's all free. W more...0 points
The Contest Guide .com
0 points
Photo Submission Contests
Websites where you can submit photos to win cash & prizes
Various Photo Submission Contests - updates ferquently
Submit photos to win cash prizes and a high-qualit more...1 point
Liberty Tax's Dance for Babies Contest
Submit your video or photo for your chance to win more...0 points
Competico.com
Photo contests - Share your Photos and Win Cash Pr more...0 points
The Cute Kid
Baby photo contest to show off cute kids.0 points
Photolaureates.org
Photo laureates is a leading photo contest and pho more...0 points
Great American Photo Contest
The concept is to create a safe environment where more...0 points
National Photo Awards
The National Photo Awards offers the cash award ad more...0 points
Contests For Girls
There are many fun, safe contest online for girls, here are a few...
Beacon Street Girls
Beacon Street Girls - games, fun, books for pretee more...0 points
Discovery Girls Magazine
Currently listing a "Scavenger Hunt".0 points
Girls Write Now - Scholarships & Contests
Below is a list of contests and scholarships that more...0 points
AGirlsWorld.com
Multiple contests for girls.0 points
Blogs ABOUT Contests
Here are some blogs & blog posts with tips and advice about running contests.
Blog Contest Central
Blog Contests Resources0 points
What Makes a Good Online Contest?
A good online contest might have these qualities:
1) Cash prize
2) Unique prize that you could not get on your own (e.g. hard-to-find-tickets)
3) Clear guidelines about how the winner is chosen
4) The contest is ongoing (more than just a one-time event)
5) Safe & secure - especially if uploading photos of children!
6) The winner is chosen by users voting for their favorites
Creating & Promoting Online Video Contests
Online video contests can be an amazing way of leveraging user-generated content to generate brand awareness, buzz, and website traffic.
Online video contests are gaining traction with major brands - including 1-800-Flowers, Converse, Red Bull, Nike, Diesel Jeans, Mountain Dew, Coors, Sony BMG and, others.
Prizes are usually offered to encourage participation. You can also give away your own company's products to everyone who spends time creating entries for the contest.
Will Video Contests Work for You?
First, which kinds of brands make sense for experimenting with an online video contest? Video contests seem best suited for brands that want to enhance an already strong loyalty (rather than those who want to create or repair loyalty).
When asked, interactive marketers indicated that an online video contest works best for a company with a specific demographic and with a Web savvy audience.
Consumers who truly identify with your brand are the ones who will take the time to create videos for a contest.
Brands with audiences active in social communities, such as YouTube, MySpace, Facebook, CreativeCOW.net, and the Yahoo! Final Cut Pro User Group, are likely to be natural fits.
Sony BMG, for example, used an online video and photo contest to promote a band's album and received more than 1,000 submissions.
3 Good Reasons to Test Online Video Contests
Destination websites are not getting the traffic they once did, and user-contributed content/promotions are an excellent way to generate excitement, buzz, and traffic.
#1: Video Creation Gets People Excited
Videos created by consumers generate significant interaction between a brand and consumers. The energy and creativity that people put into their submissions will resonate with your target audience. Your brand will benefit by association with this energy, and the potential for viral promotion is incredible.
#2: Keep Your Brand Looking Young
Online video contests can make your brand look younger than it actually is (or can sustain the youthful image it already has).
Online video contests are successful when they revolve around a concept that is humorous, different, or fun. Keep the idea of youthfulness in mind when creating and planning a contest.
Your audience itself doesn't necessarily have to be young. But your contest should at least help them feel younger.
#3: Bang for the Buck
An online video contest can produce a similar number of impressions as a TV commercial, at a fraction of the cost. By engaging your consumers to create the content, you eliminate costs for talent, preproduction, production, postproduction and media buys.
You can start and use groups at YouTube, Facebook and MySpace at essentially no cost. Make sure that you monitor the groups so the contest behaves the way you want it to.
How to Run a Video Contest
Setting up the contest can take a few days to a few weeks. Executing the idea properly can take anywhere from one or two people, to a handful of staff members.
Of course, the most important thing it to clearly define your objectives before beginning your contest. And, establish metrics that will correspond to the objectives, and make sure that those metrics can be easily updated on a rolling basis.
It is highly advisable that you:
a) Review every submission
b) Record notes about each entry
c) Track progress
How to Promote a Video Contest
Make sure to research all of the possible websites that will be outlets for promoting the contest. This could include well-known social communities such as YouTube and Facebook, and will likely include many niche websites where your audience congregates.
The list of contest websites on this lens is also a great start!
You will also want to define the incentive for people to enter the contest. Cash speaks loudly! But also consider offering unique experiences that people can't get on their own (e.g. meeting someone famous, getting into a trendy event, etc.)
Here are some ways you can promote your online video contest:
1) Advertise the contest on your homepage and throughout your website (roughly 6 weeks before the video deadline).
2) Send an email to your subscriber list that's dedicated to announcing the contest.
3) Set up groups on Facebook, MySpace and YouTube to build a community of "friends" and then push the contest to them.
4) Consider running banners at individual sites targeted to your audience. Find websites where you know your audience goes to read content.
How Much Does It Cost?
The cost of a properly run online video contest varies greatly.
Start by testing with free YouTube accounts and groups before committing to the creation of a microsite.
It has been reported that successful online video contests can cost anywhere from $25K to $150K (this will depend heavily on the complexity of the contest).
Things to Watch Out For
Upsetting People Who Don't Win
Online video contest participants often put a great deal of effort into their submissions. So, you don't want them to go away angry if they lose (some will think their video was the best no matter what and feel like they were treated unfairly).
To help avoid that, consider:
a) Giving everyone who submits a video a personalized email with a reward coupon (20% off, $25 discount on $100 purchase, free shipping, etc.).
b) Sending contestants something "cool", like a free item they will wear or tell their friends about.
c) Using a panel of judges to determine the winning entries.
d) Allowing viewers to vote for the winner - while it might turn into a 'click competition', it will leverage the democratic nature of the Web and will add to the viral aspect of the contest. Just make sure to have some technical barriers to avoid abuse (such as "capcha" fields where users have to enter the text they see in an image)
Justifying The Cost/Opportunity Cost of Video vs. Other Types of Contests
Getting people to make a video for your brand is far more time-consuming than getting them to write a letter or send in a photo. Think about trying a less time-intensive contest before embarking on an online video contest campaign.
Don't Forget
1) The contest page should include a clearly written and thorough list of instructions on how to participate.
2) Have a Terms & Conditions Page (maintain the rights to the videos!)
3) Privacy Policy Page
4) Have a lawyer review the Terms & Conditions
Let Us Know How We Are Doing
What should we add or change about this lens?
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ffnstuff
great lens, ive added my contest sites! :) Posted August 30, 2008 |
