Tips & tricks

Step‑by-Step Guide to Setting Up a Facebook Engagement Campaign for Contests

Kate Irova

October 9, 2024

Reading time 10 minutes

Running a contest on Facebook is a powerful way to engage your audience, boost brand visibility, and increase interaction on your social media posts. A well‑executed contest can attract new customers, generate excitement around your products, and create organic engagement through comments, likes, and shares. Here’s a step‑by-step guide to setting up a Facebook Engagement campaign specifically designed for running contests where participants engage by commenting on posts and tagging friends.

Step 1: Define Your Contest Goals

Before setting up your Facebook campaign, it’s essential to clarify what you aim to achieve with your contest. Common goals include:

  • Increasing social media engagement (likes, shares, comments)

  • Growing your social media followers

  • Boosting brand awareness

  • Driving website traffic

  • Generating user-generated content (UGC)

Having clear goals will help guide your campaign setup and the metrics you use to measure success.

Step 2: Choose the Right Contest Type

Select a contest type that aligns with your goals. Here are some popular options:

  • Comment to Win: Participants enter by commenting on your post, often with answers to a question or tagging friends.

  • Photo/Video Contest: Participants create and share content, tagging your brand in their posts or using a specific hashtag.

  • Challenges or Quizzes: Participants engage with your content by answering questions or completing tasks.

For this guide, we will focus on a “Comment to Win” contest, which encourages interaction directly under your post by asking participants to comment and tag their friends.

Step 3: Plan the Contest Rules

Create simple and clear rules for your contest. For example, participants might need to:

  • Like your contest post.

  • Follow your Facebook page.

  • Comment on the post and tag a friend to enter.

Make sure the rules are easy to understand and accessible to everyone. Clearly specify the prize(s), entry deadline, and how winners will be selected.

Step 4: Prepare Your Contest Assets

Before setting up your campaign, gather all necessary assets. Here are some specific examples of contest assets:

  • Visuals: Use eye-catching images or videos. For example, if you’re giving away a new fitness tracker, use a high-quality image or short video of someone using the tracker during a workout. Visuals should clearly display the prize and create excitement.

  • Copy: Write a compelling headline like, “Win a FREE Fitness Tracker! 👣” and use a description that explains how to enter: “Tag a friend who loves staying active, and you could BOTH win a brand-new fitness tracker! 💪

Call-to-Action (CTA): A clear CTA could be something like, “Tag your workout buddy in the comments below to enter the contest. The more friends you tag, the more chances you have to win!”

Step 5: Set Up the Facebook Engagement Campaign

Now, it’s time to create the Facebook campaign to drive interaction on your contest post. Follow these steps, along with specific examples:

  1. Go to Facebook Ads Manager: Log in to your Facebook Ads Manager account and click "Create" to start a new campaign.

  2. Choose the Campaign Objective:

    • Select "Engagement" as your campaign objective. This will optimize your contest post to receive more comments, likes, and shares.

  3. Set Up the Ad Set:

    • Choose the Facebook Page: Select the page that will host your contest.

    • Set Your Target Audience: For example, if you’re giving away a fitness tracker, you might target users aged 18-35 who are interested in health, fitness, and exercise. Use Facebook’s audience filters to reach people who follow fitness brands, sports pages, or gyms.

    • Define Your Budget and Schedule: Let’s say you want to spend $500 over a 7-day period. You would set the daily budget at approximately $71.43. Or set a long-term budget of $500/per campaign.

  4. Create the Engagement Post:

    • Choose to either boost an existing post or create a new one. For example, you might create a new post with a catchy description, such as: “💥 WIN a Premium Fitness Tracker! 💥 To enter, tag a friend you’d love to crush a workout with! The more friends you tag, the better your chances to win! 🏆

Step 6: Design the Facebook Ad

Once your contest post is ready, design an engaging ad to promote it. Here are specific examples for designing your ad:

  • Ad Format: A single image ad might be the best option for showcasing a clear, visually appealing prize. For example, use a high-quality image of the fitness tracker in action, along with people happily wearing it.

  • Ad Copy: Your ad copy could read: “Ready to get in shape? You and a friend could WIN a free fitness tracker! Simply tag your workout buddy in the comments below to enter. 💪 Hurry, contest ends soon!”

  • Visuals: Use the fitness tracker image you prepared in Step 4. Make sure the image is bright, attention-grabbing, and prominently shows the prize.

  • Placement: For broad reach, select “Automatic Placements,” but if you want to prioritize engagement on Facebook itself, you can choose to place the ad in Facebook News Feed and Facebook Stories.

Step 7: Review and Launch Your Campaign

Before launching your campaign, review all the details. Here are specific examples of what to check:

  • Audience Targeting: Make sure your audience targeting matches your desired participants. For example, if you notice that users interested in fitness and health are responding well, ensure you focus on those interests.

  • Budget and Schedule: Confirm that your budget, such as $500 over 7 days, is properly set up and that the campaign will run for the duration of the contest.

  • Ad Preview: Check how your ad appears on both mobile and desktop. For example, make sure the visuals display correctly on mobile and that the CTA is clear in the ad preview.

Once everything looks good, click "Publish" to launch your engagement campaign.

Step 8: Promote Your Contest

To maximize participation, promote your contest beyond the Facebook ad. Here are some specific examples:

  • Social Media: Post about the contest on Instagram and Twitter. For example, create a story on Instagram with a swipe-up link directing followers to your contest on Facebook.

  • Email Marketing: Send an email to your subscribers with the subject line: “💥 Last Chance to Win a Fitness Tracker! 💥” Include details of the contest and a direct link to the Facebook post.

  • Website Promotion: Add a banner on your website’s homepage that says, “Win a Free Fitness Tracker! Visit our Facebook page to enter.”

  • Partnerships: Collaborate with a fitness influencer who can share your contest with their audience, such as: “Hey, fitness fam! My friends at [Your Brand] are giving away an awesome fitness tracker. Tag a friend to enter!”

Step 9: Monitor and Optimize

Once your contest is live, track its performance regularly. Here are specific examples of metrics to monitor:

  • Engagement Metrics: Keep an eye on how many comments and tags your post receives. For example, if the post isn’t getting many comments, consider adjusting the copy to make the instructions clearer, or increase your budget.

  • Audience Insights: If you notice that a certain demographic (e.g., women aged 25-35) is responding more than others, adjust your ad targeting to focus more on that group for better results.

  • Ad Performance: If you’re running ads, check metrics like Cost Per Engagement (CPE). For example, if your CPE is high, consider tweaking the visuals or CTA to encourage more participation at a lower cost.

    If you’re not seeing the engagement you expected, try adjusting the ad copy to make the contest seem more exciting or offer a secondary prize to boost interest.

Step 10: Announce Winners and Follow Up

After the contest ends, it’s time to announce winners and engage with all participants. Here are specific examples:

  • Select and Announce Winners: For instance, you can use a random comment picker tool to fairly select a winner from those who participated. Once chosen, create a celebratory post: “ 🙌 Congratulations to @JohnDoe for winning our fitness tracker contest! 🙌 Thank you to everyone who participated—stay tuned for more giveaways!”

  • Encourage Sharing: Ask the winner to post a picture with their prize and tag your brand. For example, you could say: “We’d love to see you with your new fitness tracker! Share a picture, tag us, and use the hashtag #FitnessWin.”

  • Follow Up with Non-Winners: Send a follow-up message offering a discount: “Thank you for participating in our contest! While you didn’t win this time, here’s a 15% off coupon just for you—use code FITNESS15 at checkout!”

Conclusion

Setting up a Facebook Engagement campaign for contests that rely on comments and tagging friends is an effective way to engage your audience and boost your brand’s visibility. By following these steps—defining your goals, planning the contest, setting up a campaign with engagement objectives, and promoting your contest—you can create a buzz around your brand and drive meaningful interactions on social media.

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