As anyone in business knows, generating leads is essential for success. And while there are many ways to generate leads, one of the most effective is through leveraging brand advocates - those passionate fans who spread the word about your product or service. Brand advocates are valuable because they provide social proof that your brand is worth considering. They can also be more efficient and cost-effective than paid advertising, since they're essentially acting as free brand ambassadors.

Brand advocates also have a much higher conversion rate to paying customers than cold leads. So if you can find a way to engage and incentives tour brand advicates, then your return on investment can be as high as 400%.

One of the best ways to capture the names and contact details of your brand’s superfans is to run a video contest. By creating a contest that asks users to submit videos about your product or service, you can collect information about potential customers while also generating excitement and awareness about your brand. In this blog post, we'll discuss how to create a video contest that generates leads, as well as some tips for running a successful campaign. Let's get started!

Contents of this blog on lead generation strategies using video contests:

1. What is a video contest and how does it work
2. Why use video contests for lead generation
3. How to create a successful video contest campaign
4. Tips for running a successful video contest
5. Examples of businesses using video contests for lead generation
6. How to pick the best video submission platform for video contests

 

Contests have been a part of marketing for years. They can be a great way to engage an audience and generate buzz for a product or service. But what exactly is a video contest, and how does it work? In this blog post, we'll explain everything you need to know about video contests, including tips on how to create a campaign that delivers high return on investment for lead generation. Stay tuned!

If you're not familiar with the concept, a video contest is a competition where people create videos based on a specific topic or theme. The videos are then judged and the winner is determined by a panel of judges or the public. Video contests can be for all ages, and there are all sorts of different contests out there. So, how do you enter a video contest? And what are the benefits? Keep reading to find out!

1. What is a video contest and how does it work?

A video contest is a type of contest that is centered around videos. To enter, participants usually need to submit a video that meets the requirements set by the host. For example, the host might ask for a video that is no longer than one minute and that promotes their product in some way.

Whether you are looking for fresh inspiration or solid ideas, The Brands' Guide to User-Generated Video will give you all the insight you need to run your next user-generated video campaign

 

Once all of the videos have been submitted, a panel of judges will view them and select a winner. The prize for winning a video contest can vary depending on the host, but it might include a cash prize, gift card, or product samples. Video contests can be an effective way for businesses to generate leads and reach new audiences. By hosting a contest, businesses can encourage potential customers to create informative or entertaining videos that promote their products or services. And since participants need to share their videos in order to enter the contest, businesses can also benefit from increased exposure and outreach.

2. Why use video contests in my lead generation strategies?

As any business knows, lead generation is essential for growth. One great way to generate leads is through video contests. By requiring participants to submit their email address as part of the entry process, you can quickly and easily build up a database of potential customers. Plus, if you make it clear that entrants are providing their email address for the purposes of receiving marketing communications from your company, you can gain consent for future marketing efforts. In other words, video contests are an efficient and effective way to generate leads that can be converted into paying customers.

However, video contests do pose an even higher barrier to entry than asking someone for their thoughts or submitting photos. Even with smartphones making it easier these days, some people just don't feel comfortable recording videos and then uploading them onto the internet- which is why focusing on engagement rather than quantity should be your primary goal as a company running this type of promotion.

To maximize your lead generation efforts, be sure to promote your contest widely and make it easy for people to enter. With a little effort, you can soon have a long list of interested and qualified prospects.

3. How to create a successful video contents campaign that generates leads?

If you're thinking about hosting a video contest, there are a few things you'll need to do to ensure its success. When developing your video contest campaign, try to develop a theme that will generate video content that is re-usable on your social media channels during and potentially beyond the promotion. It’s great for the winners to see their own content, but also for fans who may like the contest idea, but don’t have the interest or ability to enter themselves.

To get started, first you'll need to come up with a prize that will incentivize people to participate.

Second, you'll need to build a team of voting judges who can help select the winner.

And third, you'll need to promote the contest through social media and other channels.

By following these steps, you can create a video contest campaign that will engage your audience and produce great results. prize incentive team voting If you're thinking about hosting a video contest, there are a few things you'll need to do to ensure its success.

Organizing a successful video contest campaign can be a lot of work, but it's worth it when you see the final result of a vast video library of authentic footage submitted by your brand’s customers. What’s more, you have a database of passionate fans of your product.

But every contest needs a prize, and the prize should be something that will incentive people to make quality videos. Without a prize, you're just asking for people to submit any old thing. The prize doesn't have to be expensive, but it should be something that people would want to win.

Team voting is also essential for a successful video contest campaign. You need to have a group of people who are willing to watch all the videos and pick a winner. This team should be impartial and objective, and they should be able to agree on a consensus. If you can follow these tips, then you'll be well on your way to organizing a successful video contest campaign.

4. Tips for running a successful video contest

If you're looking for a fun and engaging way to connect with your audience, a video contest is a great option. But running a successful contest takes more than just posting a few videos on social media. Here are a few tips to keep in mind:

First, choose a video submission platform like Vloggi. This will make it easy for people to submit their videos and for you to track entries and manage the overall contest.

Next, set some guidelines for submissions. For example, you might require that all videos be a certain length or focus on a specific topic. This will help to ensure that all of the submissions are high quality and relevant to your brand.

You made also need to seed some good examples of the videos you want.With video contests, it’s smart to be as communicative as possible in order to show your audience what types of entries you’re looking for. The best way to do this is by seeding the call for entries landing page with company generated examples.

Structure the entry deadline to encourage entries, but also use reminders.

With a higher barrier to entry in producing video content, consider extending the time window of the contest beyond what you would do for an image contest. Contributors know that they will have to spend more time on the entry, so a chance to win a better prize could help encourage higher quality entries. Just make sure to schedule in a few additional posts or tweets to remind people to enter during a longer time window.

Finally, promote the contest through your social media channels and email list. Encourage people to share their videos with friends and family for additional chances to win. With a little planning, you can ensure that your video contest is a success!

Read more about how how brands are replacing repurposing with video contests in 2022

5. Examples of brands who have used video contests for lead generation

JAX Tyres & Autos, Transcendental Meditation, Coca-Cola, and Doritos are all businesses that have used video contests for lead generation.

The Australian tire retailer Jax ran a contest called “JAX Tribe" where people could submit videos of their four-wheel drive cars in action in outback Australia. The winner each week received a set of highly-sought after Mickey Thomson tires, worth over $2,000. Jax received over 300 entries from all seven Australian states in only four weeks. As a result of the contest, Jax increased their social media following by 40% and generated over $250,000 in PR value. However, the contest also allowed the company to build a valuable database of 4Wd enthusiasts, who are the highest-spending sector of motoring enthusiasts due to the specialised nature of their tires.

 

Coca-Cola is one of the most well-known companies in the world. Thanks to the high reach the brand already has, it was able to leverage micro video contests during the most recent Winter Olympic games in Beijing for its fans in the US.

Coca-Cola hosted the #CokeGames on Facebook and Instagram, during which gift cards were awarded for as prizes entries along the Olympic lines of gold ($100) silver ($80) or bronze ($60) for contributors. Every week for four weeks a new event was created, such as speed sipping (how fast you can down a 330ml can), ice cube ski jumping (where fans are challenged to film themselves launching ice cubes into a cup of Coke), Coke Curling (where fans can upload a video showing how far they can slide a Coke) or Bottle Cap Hockey.

Coke wanted public submissions, so it used Facebook and Instagram. In previous contests the soft drink giant has built its own video submission platform for contests. Coca-Cola received over 3,000 entries from all 50 US states. As a result of the contest, they generated over $1 million in PR value and increased their social media following by 10%, according to Convince & Convert marketing blog.

Doritos is a brand of chips that is known for its intense flavor. In 2014, they ran a video contest called “Crash the Super Bowl”. They asked people to submit ads for Doritos that would air during the Super Bowl. Doritos received over 6,000 entries from 60 countries. As a result of the contest, they generated over $5 million in PR value and increased their social media following by 15%.

 

6. Picking the best video submission contest platform to maximize return on investment

When you want to chose a video submission contest platform for lead generation, it is important to consider a few aspects. While it may be obvious to use platforms like Instagram and Facebook, because you have already built an online community, but each is fraught with danger from a marketing post of view. Also the time involved in manually managing a contest can dramaticlaly reduce the return on investment.

For video, while sharing across Facebook and Instagram is seamless, downloading content for future re-use is illegal. Other platforms like Twitter, TikTok and SnapChat can also be considered, but with video length limits can pose a complication in judging. Finally, video sharing platforms like YouTube and Vimeo seem ideal on first glance, but be careful to read the platforms’ terms and conditions around downloading content. It actually makes it hard for brands to legally obtain valuable content.

For example, while you could just post up a landing page with a cloud storage link and ask people to post up raw videos. However, you'll need to reformat all the videos to be horizontal in landscape mode. This may sound like a lot of work, but it's essential for creating a consistent viewing experience for your audience. Luckily there are video submission platforms like Vloggi that take this pain away.

Secondly, make sure all the participants have signed a content assignment, essentially a legal document that assigns rights to reuse over to the brad. Again, Vloggi has this feature built in, but if you are running yourself, make sure you have a lawyer review your terms and conditions.

Read more about downloading and re-using user-generated video - what marketers need to know

Also look for a video submission management platform that allows you to favorite and tag entries so you can start making collections and folders of the best entries. Allow all your marketing team to tag all the videos with relevant keywords so that others can easily find them in the company video library.

If lead generation is your primary goal, then you may want to opt for bespoke video submission management platforms like Vloggi that ensure that all content has rights permissions included and allow marketers to download comma-separated values (CSV) files of all entries including email addresses and possibly social media handles. The advantage of using platforms like Vloggi for lead generation is that every submission can also collect an email address, which can then be used for remarking and direct outreach.

There are a few different ways to measure ROI for brand advocate lead generation. One way is to track the number of leads generated relative to the amount of time and money spent on acquiring and cultivating advocates. Another way is to track the conversion rate of leads generated by advocates. And finally, you can also track customer lifetime value - that is, the total revenue generated by a customer over the course of their relationship with your brand. By tracking all of these metrics, you'll be able to get a clear picture of the ROI for brand advocate lead generation. And in most cases, it will be very favorable!

Video contests are becoming more and more popular as a means for lead generation and also to source amazing user-generated content (UGC) that can then be repurposed across multiple marketing campaigns. If you’re thinking of hosting your own video contest, make sure to download our free eBook on how to run a successful crowdsourced video campaign. It includes tips on everything from choosing the right prize to promoting your contest across social media. Good luck!

 

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