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How To Run A Social Media Competition on Twitter and Facebook

Posted on February 11, 2023
British Digital Marketing 2023 Small Business UK SEO Freelancer England

Small Business SEO Prices – Somerset, Bristol and Remote UK Services

In this updated article we revisit a 2017 ‘How to run a social media competition”, as my business has evolved over the years my social media employment has decreased dramatically since I first started to use Twitter and Facebook back in 2009. Please do use this blog post to learn the tips I gained and below I will share with you how free social media accounts easily garner traction online, swelling your followers and resulting in a superior level of engagament and online reputation management of trust. Your first lesson is how to write your posts:

Engagement – Not Megaphone Broadcasting

No-one wants to follow a Twitter account if the tweets are “Buy my stuff! Buy my products!” with nothing else. I certainly won’t like a Facebook page or post if it’s not engaging or interesting to me. Something that does grab my attention is the word FREE or WIN A COMPETITION.

Another great way of engaging engagement with customers is to offer Fixed Fee SEO Services for Small Businesses. My clients love the way that everyone pays the same, if you’d like to learn more please do schedule a discovery call with me and let’s chat about your website.

Remote Digital Marketing Consultant UK Great British SEO Freelancer Nina Payne

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many businesses to adapt to a new way of working, with many employees now working remotely, the acronym “WFH” was bourne as a result. As a result, the demand for remote freelancers dramatically increased, including for SEO sole traders. Hiring a fully remote freelance SEO expert can provide significant advantages for small businesses that are looking to maximise their budget. I’ve been WFH since 2008, so my routine didn’t change at all, on my desktop computer I’ve added various web apps, including Zoom, Whatsapp and

SEO Lesson Consultation eCommerce Shopify WordPress Freelancer UK Google Analytics Expert Search Ranking ArticleOne of the main benefits of hiring a remote freelance SEO expert is that they can work from anywhere. This means that you are not restricted to hiring someone who is based in your local area. In fact, you can hire someone from anywhere in the world, as long as they have a reliable internet connection. This is particularly useful for small businesses that may not have access to a wide pool of talent in their local area.

In addition, hiring a remote freelancer can be a more cost-effective solution than hiring a digital agency. Digital agencies have higher overheads, such as office space and salaries for their team members. As a result, their rates can often be higher than those of a freelance SEO expert. By hiring a remote freelancer, small businesses can benefit from the expertise of an SEO expert without having to pay the high fees associated with an agency.

Zoom SEO Consultations – Flexible Appointments and Late Nights

Working with a remote freelancer can also provide more flexibility for small businesses. Freelancers are often able to work outside of traditional business hours, which can be a significant advantage for businesses that operate outside of these hours. This means that work can be completed more quickly and efficiently, which can help to save time and money. Read more about my Zoom chats.

The pandemic has also accelerated the trend towards remote working, which is still in place this year. Many businesses have realised that their employees can be just as productive, if not more so, when working from home. This has led to a boom in remote working, with many businesses now embracing this new way of working.

By hiring a remote freelance small business Digital Marketing SEO, start ups can benefit from this trend and access a wider pool of talent.

Furthermore, hiring a remote freelancer can help to reduce the impact of geographical limitations. Small businesses may be limited by their location when it comes to hiring employees or working with an agency. However, by hiring a remote freelancer, they can access a wider range of expertise from across the world. This means that they can benefit from the best possible service, regardless of their location.

25 Year Anniversary Social Media Competition Case Study

One of my long term clients Burnham Portable Toilet Hire celebrated 25 years of business in April 2017, a few months prior we met to brainstorm ideas of how to run a giveaway competition to raise their profile on social media combined with a giveaway competition.

Step 1: Write down ideas and a calendar timeline plan

Any small business owner knows the daily struggle of making money online in 2017, everyone is investing in SEO and Google page 1 is a tough cookie to crack, one way that’s free promotion is to use social media (I say free, of course this is a few hour’s work in reality).

Here’s our timetable as an example:

  • 4 weeks before the anniversary date we met in person and decided that the competition should run for 12 days
  • 3 weeks before the anniversary the business owner wrote about the highs and lows of running a business for 25 years. This was written both with humour and in an engaging manner – as opposed to “We are great buy our stuff” – and published on their blog
  • This blog post was shared on Facebook and Twitter and Google+ to start traction (remember Google plus?)
  • 2 weeks before, a prize was decided, so rather than a free company product or service in this case a £50 Amazon voucher to a Twitter follower and a £50 Amazon voucher to a Facebook ‘Liker’. The company hires out portable toilets and showers hence the decision to go with a generic one-prize-fits-all giveaway.
  • 1 week before – Using the free design site Canva it took an hour to design from scratch 2 creatives, one for Twitter and one for Facebook. Note: I have zero design skills, but managed to create something straightforward using their drag and drop template software.
  • Launch date: T’s and C’s were agreed and written out in a new blog, so that entrants could abide by them, for example no friends or employees are allowed to enter, however current clients and the general public are. Be careful when writing your terms and conditions, be thorough and it’s not rude to take inspiration from any other company who has/is currently running an online competition. As long as you avoid copy and paste, writing out unique content, you’re good to publish.
  • A promotional Tweet was pinned to Twitter on 10th April 2017
    How to run a social media competitionOn Facebook it was a pinned post too on the same date

Step 2: Case Study, Gather Data, Write down the number of followers before you started and compare to the volume of followers when the closing date rolls around.

 

24 hours after launch day, we ended up disabling email notifications from Twitter as there were hundreds of retweets and hundreds of new followers – yes the client was over the moon! This was a strong result the first day after the launch on 11th April 2017.

How to research SEO keywords using ChatGPT for Google Long Tail Search Phrases best SEO freelancer UK Nina Payne How to get a Featured Snippet Write content GoogleMoney talks, and not every business has 4 figures a month to hire a team of developers, instead opting to hire a sole trader, experienced internet users know how to automate online tasks, working smarter and not harder, saving time during the process, here’s what I did:

To automate the competition retweets we opened a free account with Paper.Li, connected with Twitter and setup a twice-daily automatic tweet using the hashtags #competition (There are serious compers on Twitter) and to track the valid entries we decided to use the hashtag #BPTH25 which was an acronym for the business name of Burnham Portable Toilet Hire plus the 25 for the anniversary.

How to run a social media competition

Facebook competition tips

Step 3: Engage with your audience

Online marketing tips HOW TO RUN A SOCIAL MEDIA COMPETITON

On Twitter we ‘loved’ a fair amount of tweets in person, in reality, we didn’t have the time to personally reply and thank over 200 people who followed us and individually respond so we used If This Then That to thank new followers during this competition period as you can turn this off at any time.

Choosing a Random Winner on Twitter and Facebook

Facebook: On the competition post, use the facility to see all of the people who have ‘liked’ the post (which counts as the entry) and choose a random profile.

Twitter: Search for all tweets containing the competition hashtag #BPTH and randomly choose one account. Below is the lucky Twitter winner thanking us for the vouchers!


@Burnhampth Thank you for my Amazon gift cards ♥️ Happy Anniversary  pic.twitter.com/KZEWgU65l1

— Deb Grogan (@debg1802) 27 April 2017

If This Then That – ITTT – Connect and automate alerts, blog posts and social media

How to research SEO keywords using ChatGPT for Google Long Tail Search Phrases 2023Here’s more free tools that I use for myself and also for my clients, using ChatGPT AI as a tool for generating headlines, writing a blog article and connecting your CMS system with ITTT. It’s great for connecting WordPress, Twitter, Google Drive and thousands more platforms.

Hiring a Remote SEO Freelancer – eCommerce Business Advantages of WFH since the Pandemic

There are many advantages to hiring a freelance SEO sole trader over a Digital Agency. The flexibility that I offer means that you are my priority and I can work around your schedule. The personal attention that you receive ensures that your questions are always answered in a short space of time. As I’m working from home it’s logical to remind you that I’m able to provide a more cost-effective solution. Together with my Google Ranking case studies on eCommerce sales, you can trust my expertise with Magento, WordPress (WooCommerce) and Shopify you feel confident in the services that you receive.

British Expertise and Specialisation: Why UK Freelancers May Be the Better Choice for Start Ups when compared to overseas, cheaper providers

Are you a young start up? Hiring a remote freelance SEO expert can provide significant advantages for small businesses that are looking to maximise their budget. Remote freelancers can provide the same level of expertise as a digital agency at a more affordable price, and they can work from anywhere, providing more flexibility for small businesses. With the trend towards remote working set to continue, hiring a remote freelancer can also provide access to a wider pool of talent, regardless of your location.

If you are not in a position to pay for Digital support, yet feeling overwhelmed with all the tasks you need to complete, I’m going to share FREE apps that are popular around the world. From a personal viewpoint, I have overwhelmed in the past, the biggest takeaway was creating an old fashioned written list on a post it.

Every morning write down what tasks you’d like to complete, and arrange them in order of priority. Decide which ones are not firefighting and able to roll over to the next day. Personally, I set Google Calendar reminders throughout the weeks and months to remind me to nag clients, to poach an expiring domain, or even to take the cat to the vet. Here’s other time-saving web apps that can help you work smarter, not harder.

First up is Trello. This web app is great for organising tasks and projects. You can create boards for different projects and add tasks to them, assign deadlines and even collaborate with team members. Trello is easy to use and can help you keep track of all your tasks in one place, you can activate reminder emails and there is a free version too.

Next, we have Canva. If you need to create professional-looking designs, but don’t have the design skills, Canva is the web app for you. It has thousands of templates and design elements that you can use to create anything from social media posts to business cards. Canva is user-friendly and perfect for those who need to create designs quickly with zero photoshop skills. Here, I’ve just described myself,

Third on our list is Hootsuite. This web app is perfect for managing your social media accounts. You can schedule posts in advance, monitor your mentions and even track your social media analytics. Hootsuite can save you a lot of time and make managing your social media accounts a breeze.

Fourth, we have Xero. If you need to manage your finances, Xero is the web app for you. It’s a cloud-based accounting software that can help you keep track of your expenses, invoices and even payroll. Xero is user-friendly and perfect for start-up businesses that don’t have a dedicated accountant.

Last but not least, we have Zapier. This web app can help you automate repetitive tasks. Zapier allows you to create workflows that connect different apps and automate tasks between them. For example, you can automatically add new leads from your website to your CRM. Zapier can save you a lot of time and help you focus on more important tasks.

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SEO Freelancer Somerset Small Business, Sole Trader Start Ups

It’s a common misconception that all tech professionals possess interchangeable skill sets. In reality, thinking “Oh, Nina knows IT” has a unique set of skills and knowledge that they bring to the table. For example, an SEO specialist may not know how to fix an iPhone or design a logo, and that’s perfectly fine.

To understand why an SEO specialist may not have the skills of a logo designer or a website developer, it’s important to understand the different skill sets required for each specific role and a unique set of skills and knowledge that apply to the task(s) you are looking to complete.

Let’s start with a logo designer. Logo design requires creativity, an eye for detail, and a deep understanding of branding, from hex colours to font choice. A good logo designer will be able to create a logo that is not only visually appealing but also conveys the right message to the target audience. They will also have a deep understanding of typography, colour theory, and graphic design principles to craft a stand out logo which conveys your business within just one or two seconds.

On the other hand, web devs (website development and coding) requires a completely different skill set. A website developer will be proficient in programming languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. They will also have experience with CMS – Content Management Systems, or simply put, website builders like WordPress and WooCommerce, and a hands-on understanding of web hosting and server management. Website development also requires a good grasp of user experience (UX) design and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) for Google ranking.

Then there’s my niche with SEO. Although I’ve built my career on ranking websites in search Engines (including Bing and Yahoo) it’s a specialised skill set that requires a deep understanding of search engine algorithms and how they work, together with networking international SEO champions online to be kept informed on when new algorithm updates are released. All SEO specialists will be proficient in keyword research, content creation, and on-page optimisation.

Also known as off-page optimisation, techniques like link building and social media marketing do mean there’s several areas to master. A freelance SEO specialist should have a keen eye for data analysis and the ability to number crunch, data mine and create strategies based on Google Analytics and Search Console data that will improve a website’s ranking beyond reach of other online businesses who don’t have the budget available to hire a Digitally minded individual. Many small businesses and start ups don’t have unlocked budget to allocate to online marketing and try their best at DIY SEO.

So, while there may be some overlap in skill sets between these three roles, each role requires a different set of specialised skills and knowledge. It’s important to understand that just because someone is a tech professional, it doesn’t mean they know how to do everything. It’s a good business decision to understand the importance of the role of a professional with the right skill set for effective website management.

Understanding the different skill sets required for different tech roles is essential for businesses looking to hire the right professionals.

While an SEO specialist may not be able to fix an iPhone or design a logo, they bring a unique set of skills to the table that are essential for improving a website’s visibility in search engines. It’s important to recognise and respect the diverse skill sets that tech professionals possess.

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