Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!

Earlier this week a friend and fellow classmate shared a page for her grandmothers jewelry business, Paparazzi by Pat.  As someone who loves both jewelry and independent women, liking the page was a no-brainer.  Being a new Facebook page, Pat was promoting her page with a contest; for every 25 likes she received, she would choose one of her fans to receive a free piece of jewelry and I just so happened to be the days lucky winner!  Y'all...I'm not kidding when I say I'm fairly certain this is the first thing I've ever won. I consider myself a pretty lucky gal when it comes to my personal life so I just like to imagine the universe is balancing everything out by not letting me win any contests...ever.  Needless to say, I was pumped.  I chose this fabulous bracelet as my prize and received it in the mail today.  Seriously, it's fabulous.  And it'll look great for spring!

My Prize!

Running a contest on social media is a great way to get new followers and/or engage your current fans.  After all, who doesn't love free stuff?!  You can do something as simple as Pat did and draw a name or you can get more indepth and require likes, shares, and comments to be entered for a chance to win.  The possibilities are truly endless.  Your prize doesn't have to be elaborate or expensive either.  If you have a business that sells goods, you can offer a gift card or a free item from your store.  Even something as simple as giving away a $10 Starbucks gift card could do wonders for your page.  Like I said, who doesn't like free stuff?  Especially when the effort to enter is minimal (liking the page, sharing the page, ect).  Determine what you want to accomplish with your contest, choose a prize, decide how long you'll run the contest, inform your fans and you're on your way!  Just remember to always follow the rules set forth by the social media outlet you choose.