You have seen it before.
It is this one post on your feed that is getting a lot of action. Everybody, from your next door neighbor, to your long lost cousin, is liking, reacting, and sharing that one post.
When you click on it, you find out what it is – a contest for the best comment where the winner will get lots of prizes.
You may probably think it is a waste of time for companies to hold contests like this, but truth be told,  it is one of the best ways to get that holy grail of social media metrics – engagement.

Every like, every reaction, every share (or regram/retweet) will put a brand closer and closer to capturing the hearts and minds of social media users anywhere. Plus, it helps that content with great engagement, is viewed favorably by the algorithms that govern social media. For more insight on engagement, here is a great article on how to change your likes into conversions.

One concept to expand this further is the use of leaderboards. A regular update on who is leading makes it a real competition, spurring would-be contestants to give it their best shot.
Leaderboards also give it a community feel. Would-be contestants would also see what the other contestants are doing and would be free to reach out to others, giving them an opportunity to collaborate.
So the new question how do we execute leaderboard style competitions to get maximum returns?

1) Ask For Likes- But Do It With Style

The most important weapon in social media copywriting is the finely crafted Call-To-Action. It is basically directing your social media user to perform a specific action with one of your properties. Usually, it is mostly asking them to click a button, or in the case of a contest, asking them to submit their entries.

Also, it can be used to ask for page likes and post likes (or whatever social media action that is similar to the two). The problem with asking for likes however, is that it makes your brand sound desperate. In general, you want that Call-To-Action for likes to be as subtle as possible.

The exception to the rule is when it is a contest. The reason is that since you are technically giving away something of value, your viewers are more than willing to “pay” you with an obligatory fee of a like.

But why ask for likes in the first place? Because a post with high engagement (likes, shares etc.) is more likely to be featured in social media feeds. With higher visibility on feeds, more and more people would be enticed to join the contests.

2) Earn User Generated Content
The other holy grail of social media marketing is earned content. These are branded content that your fans create on their own. This allows your brand to have unique expressions across different viewerships and is very valuable.A contest is the perfect avenue to ask for earned content. For example, if you are a seller of high quality clothes, you could ask for the most creative shot of a user wearing your clothes in an unusual or interesting place.

Since a contest will generally mean that the contestants will put their best foot forward, you will get quality content as submissions which you can use to spread awareness of your brand.

The best work then gets featured on your page and your leaderboard, which encourages people to make even better content to be featured, and thus creating more earned content for your brand. It is a cycle that pays for itself over and over again.

Another interesting way to use earned content is to find great stories about your brand. The way you fulfill a user’s need is great marketing.

3) Know Your Target Audience

It also pays to tailor fit your content to your audience. You do that by having an intimate knowledge of how your market thinks. By using tools like Facebook Insights or Google. Analytics or listening tools like Kissmetrics, you can get a general picture of how your users behave. That way you can tweak your content for your market.

Another way is to ask your users in a survey what they want. That way you could create incentives that your audience would love to have, and get them submitting more quality content.

When you have quality content that is targeted for an audience, you can send it to your specific market. This way, you can streamline your contestants to feature content from users who are your target market. This makes the effect better and likewise helps you make a great first impression.

4) Keep Their Eyes On The Prize
Connected to the above point, a successful contest has a great rewards system. Without something at stake, your users would not be inspired to move up the leaderboard.
An example would be how online games are taking advantage of great gameplay. By streaming live games on a global scale with a cash prize of let’s say, a million dollars, users all over the world would  tune in to watch the games and cheer on super users. This in turn makes users want to do more to move up their own current rankings.

5) Share And Share Some More

Making your content shareable is an absolute must. The thing about human nature is that people like to show off their achievements. Bragging is something that people like to do on social media and adds a certain social media cachet. Getting a new rank in the leaderboard can be an event by itself and be shareworthy.

Got second place on an online poetry slam? A novice poet would want to announce that to the whole world. Create a shareable “badge” or “trophy” that he could post on his own timeline. This in turn means that you also capture the viewership of that particular social media user.Each share means a potential foot in the door for more people to see your content.

6) Involve Your Subscribers

Of course, never ever forget your core market. In fact, your subscribers are the ones who should have access to exclusive content and get first dibs on any contest you will be running. They should be able to readily view leaderboards and see the content generated by super users.

This way, you expand your current fan base because of the contest, yet you get to keep your loyal fan base as you continue to grow. Newcomers joining your contests will find reasons to become subscribers themselves because of the special benefits you offer.

7) Use Great Content

It also helps that content you produce is created beautifully. This gives an idea to your would-be contestants of what you are actually looking for. This peg would set the tone of what their entries should be, and you can reward great content similar to your own, with better incentives.

This reinforces brand values across the board. With great content all over your target digital media, you will attract better audiences – audiences that could be impelled to make a conversion.

8) Remember That It Is A Mobile World

Make the contest as mobile-friendly as possible. Nearly all digital users have already transitioned to mobile and hampering their ability to join your contest using their mobile gadgets will be a disadvantage to you. Your leaderboard and your actual contest must be optimized for mobile use to get the most engagement.

Even better is to make it into a mobile application. An application that shows leaderboard standings and allows users to submit entries would be a great way to capture a market.

9) Partnerships Are Awesome

Partnerships that are relevant to your brand are a great way to increase participation. For example, your partner could provide one of the incentives for the leaders. You could offer discounts or free loot for winners of the contest coming from your partner.
That way, you do not have to shoulder all the costs associated with the contest, while your partner gets the benefit of added social media mileage.Plus, partners will impart some goodwill, especially if you are partnering with a well-known brand.

10) Use An Emailer
Email is an almost forgotten tool that is still very powerful. First, you can update your email subscribers with movements on the leaderboard. You could also inform them of the contest beforehand and entice them to join with a coupon or a free entry into the contest. You get on the ground running with people entering the contest before you launch a full-fledged social media campaign.

Another interesting thing you can do is send gamified experiences via email. This could provide you more possible leads for your leaderboard contest, which in turn, gives you more potential conversions.

CONCLUSION
Leaderboard contests are a great way to get more engagement on your social media platform. Each new entry into the contest is a new opportunity to reach a target audience better. This is great for online businesses because social media is a perfect avenue for contests.Use leaderboard contests to your advantage. The more your users create great content, the better it is for you to spread awareness of your brand.