You created a campaign and you want it to be shared by as many people as possible? Exploit the potential of Facebook to generate participations in your game or contest. Discover below our best advice to make the most of Facebook and make your Qualifio campaigns go viral!

How to optimize my Facebook Page?

The first step to maximizing the number of participations in your campaign is to customize your Facebook Page.

1. Your Call-to-Action button

On your Facebook Page, you can add a call-to-action, which will be located at the top right of your Page. It’s very easy to do: just click on “Create call-to-action“, then pick a button from the list.

In the case of a Qualifio campaign, we recommend that you choose the “Play Game” one.

Tip: Create a link between your call-to-action and your cover photo and encourage people to participate!

This kind of button strongly encourages your fans to click and participate in your game, quiz, contest, personality test, etc. In addition, statistics about the number of clicks on this button are available in your Facebook account, so you can easily assess its impact on the number of participations.

2. Your cover photo

The second thing you can do on your Page to encourage your fans to participate in your campaign is to customize your cover photo. Make them want to play: put your prizes in evidence, do something creative, etc. This cover picture is the first thing your audience will see when they visit your Facebook Page. It is therefore important to customize it according to the campaign itself or the message your want to promote.

Tip: Facebook has recently made it possible to upload a cover video on your Business Page. The video has to last between 20 and 90 seconds, video loop is on, and the sound is disabled by default. Be among the first ones to use this new feature on your Page in order to attract more participants!

3. Your Instant Replies

When someone starts a chat on your Facebook Page and sends you a first message, you can decide to set an automatic reply. Used wisely, this feature can help you invite your fans to participate in your campaign or contest while they’re waiting. E.g. “Hi Paul, thank your for your message. We will get back to you as soon as possible. In the meantime, discover what type of tourist you are in our personality test!”

4. Pin a post to the top of your Page

If you’re looking to reinforce your message and its visibility, use the “Pin a post” feature. It will keep the said post to the top of your Page’s Timeline. As long as it stays pinned, this post will be the first thing visitors will see on your Timeline. Now all that’s left is for you to create an awesome post that will make your fans click! To pin a post, click on the grey arrow on the top right corner of that post, and select “Pin to Top of Page“.

If you want to read more about Facebook Page and tabs personalization, read our complementary article:

How to organize or rename Facebook Page Tabs

How to optimize my Facebook posts?

Once your Page has been optimized to encourage and redirect your fans to your Qualifio campaign, it’s time to look at your posts. How can they be improved to boost participation in your campaign?

1. Get your timing right

Check at what time your reach is the most important and schedule your posts accordingly. This will increase their impact. In your Facebook page’s Statistics, you can easily track the time of connection of your audience. You will then be able to publish your posts at the optimal time.

Here’s how to access to your Page’s Statistics.

2. Create the sense of urgency

Regularly remind the end date of your campaign. The time factor encourages people to participate: “Only two days left!”; “Our contest ends tonight!” This will allow you to avoid procrastination and to create a sense of urgency!

3. Make your posts creative

Using images systematically brings better engagement from your audience. This rule also applies to posts about your campaigns! Customize your visuals for social sharing in the Virality step when you create your campaign.

4. Announce the winners loud and clear

Whenever possible, try to build your campaign in waves. For instance, you can announce one winner every day of the week. This will reinforce the credibility of your contest and the feeling of “I too can win!”

How to attract even more participations?

You want to generate even more participations in your campaign? Don’t just promote your campaign to your fans. You should also target people who don’t follow your Facebook Page but who have (or might have) an interest for your brand, or your products and services! Here are some approaches:

1. Sharing is caring

Use virality! Word-of-month can be powerful, even on Facebook. Offer your fans the possibility to get a bonus (a further chance to be successful in the ballot, for example) by sharing your campaign on Facebook. You will increase the number of participants in your campaign. This kind of feature is easily configurable in the Virality step of the Qualifio Manager.

Another way to encourage virality with Qualifio is to create a user-generated content contest and promote it on social media. These campaigns have a great advantage: participants submit their picture, video, or text. Then, they will mobilize their network so that their friends vote for their submission. Guaranteed success!

2. Sponsored posts

The reach of your posts is limited to your fans. Nevertheless, paid posts and Facebook Ads are simple ways to multiply impressions on your content outside of your online community. Since the targeting criteria are easy to use, this method is accessible to everyone. Moreover, you choose (and set a limit to) your budget. Don’t overlook Facebook Custom Audiences, which will allow you to do better targeting, e.g. by send a different message to your members than to registered visitors of your mailing list.

3. Facebook Groups

This free option also allows you to broaden your reach, so that your fans are not the only ones to participate in your contests. There are so many Facebook Groups, with each of them being created around a specific theme. Look for Facebook Groups with similar interests. Request to join groups (whether private or public) with keywords related to your target. Once you’re in, you can freely share your post to promote your Qualifio campaign. If you can target the right groups (with a strong interest for similar products, for instance), this technique won’t be seen as intrusive advertising.

• Which one(s) of the following Facebook activations do you use?