Facebook Contest Ideas for your Dealership

[ryanabbott]

Hello! I'm looking for a fun way to create "Likes" on our Facebook page and I want to run a contest.

I have two really good tickets to the Bills game this Sunday and I want to give them away. Does anyone have any great ideas?! Thanks in advance!

 

[Mitch Gallant]

Re: Contest Ideas

Ryan, going with any hot product is a great way to drum up interest... the classic iPad giveaway, or maybe an iPhone 5. Personally, I think it's less about likes then it is engagement... (buzzword) but why care about the number if they don't care about you after the giveaway. If you can I'd steer it to something related to the store. If you have a cheap oil change maybe do a survey of quick lubes within 10 miles and ask for a like and an over under for how much yours costs in comparison for the chance to win $50 to (insert local hotspot) and 1 (1-4) free oil changes for the first correct answer to the penny... make sure it's an odd number like - $1.58.

We just did this giveaway:

 

[ryanabbott]

Re: Contest Ideas

I like that one Mitch! This is what I came up with for this one though. I'm going to Scramble letters that make a word (Probably BILLS) on different pages throughout my 5 websites. The letters could be anywhere but I'll place them on rebate, specials, etc pages. I'll send all the people involved to the websites and have them do a little website scavenger hunt! First one to link to the five pages and spell out the word wins! Maybe they see a car they like in the process!

 

[Mitch Gallant]

Sounds great Ryan, I like your thinking and what you're trying to do in getting them to your sites in a scavenger hunt. Don't get discouraged if it doesn't go well though, the more effort you make people put out the harder it is to get them to do anything. I hope you prove me wrong, cause I'd like to try it if you could share your result when its done.

I've found even doing best photo contests takes either a super engaged audience or one big enough to get a few who will put out the effort.

Nothing is ever a failure as long as you learn from it.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Okay - this is going way past a quick facebook contest - and I may double post this as it's own thread and allow others to build upon...

I / dealership help an online scavenger hunt a few years back with a dealership that resulted in some nice success.


We did it during the Easter Holiday (easter egg hunt) and hid eggs within the vehicle photos (2nd photo). The customer had to find 3 eggs hidden throughout our new and used car inventory then fill out the supplied form with the corresponding numbers displayed on each egg they found.


I'm taking this from memory since I no longer have the full program written out (I'm pissed for loosing it - but could rewrite it if I took the time)


Contest / Rules


- Customer must find 3 colored and numbered eggs hidden throughout the inventory
- Customer must submit the 4 digit numbers found in each of the 3 eggs they find using the supplied online forum.
- Find and submit 3 numbers that match our 3 picked numbers and win $500.00. Match 2 and Win $200 and Match 3 and Win $50
- No obligation to purchase
- Winners must redeem their award in person at the dealership to verify personal information
- One entry per person and 1 winner per house hold


Promotions and support:


- TV buy / commercials to support the event and drive traffic to the website (this can be a lot of fun)
- Small Radio buy to support (make it fun and funny)
- Display and Remarketing campaign (a must!) supporting the event
- Homepage, specials and VDP banners supporting the event
- Commercial to online videos pumped out to video sites (YouTube)
- CityTwist conquest email marketing blast supporting the event
- Quick video on landing page to explain the contest rules and prizes (another must


Results:

- Over doubled time on site
- Online form conversion went down a little but lead volume increased by 20ish% (not counting the egg hunt form)
- Overall Lead to Close that month from website leads alone was 23% (not our highest but solid sales considering the traffic)
- Huge sales month for the dealership
- Awesome Engagement - average 16 page views per unique vs average 7
- Ton of buzz around the promotion - people were asking when we were going to do it again.


We didn't half ass it. We made this into a full online sales event with traditional support.


I would love the opportunity to run and event like this again while making a few changes. A few things I would do differently and things to consider:


- Additional TV spend
- Social influence (social wasn't really the hype when I did this years ago)
- Consider a double your prize IF you purchase a car

- I recommend having the eggs in the photo stream so these photos make their way out to the 3rd party listing sites for additional exposure.
- Don't make it too hard to play. Find only 3 eggs but have many that can be found. Don't forget to consider the size of your inventory for egg ratio.
- Announce winners online / social with photos and video.

I'm sure I have more around this and as I remember - I'll add to it. OR like I said above, I may make this into it's own thread and allow others to contribute.

 

[ryanabbott]

Nice Jeff, Nice!! I just received these tickets and the game is Sunday.. So my time is limited. I'll see how this little hunt goes then focus on that next time.

Mitch, I'll let you know the results! Thanks for the input guys!

 

[malinda.terreri]

Jeff - great idea on the Easter egg hunt. You could probably swap out eggs for tiny pumpkins in time to put together a Halloween promotion.

 

[ryanabbott]

Well here are the results. The contest ended yesterday and we added 66 new "Likes" in the two days of build-up. I had 11 different people "Share" my posts which means our brand was seen by many people other than just my friends. I sent all the people to our websites during the contest and as far as I can tell, none of the 66 new "Likes" have un (Liked) us since the contest ended. All in all I think it was a success!