This blog post addresses two sweepstakes issues I rarely discuss: how being the Contest Queen can be a detriment to my winning and how marketers sometimes can be biased against contestors. It’s why I always tell sweepers to do two things:
- Never use giveaway words such as sweepstakes, win, prize, etc., in your contest email address or social media handles.
- Make random posts and videos in between contest entries.
ENTERING SOCIAL MEDIA SWEEPSTAKES
As social media matured, I began winning less and less if I entered using my Contest Queen handle. The marketer in me knew why. The sponsors didn’t want me to win. The optics aren’t optimal if a sweepstakes teacher wins, or worse, the misconception of sweepstakers prevailed. ‘We are greedy and do not buy anything.’ (I have a white paper written years ago by ePrize outlining how Sweepers Are Good for business, so I know it is truly a misconception.)
Anyway, even though I knew this was a problem, I already have two accounts for everything as I separated teaching (@ContestQueen) and managing sweepstakes (@IdeaMajesty). Still, the thought of adding a third set of personal accounts made my head hurt.
My tipping point was in 2021 when I entered a half dozen sweepstakes on TikTok. I didn’t win a single one. The last one I entered had only a handful of entries and seven prizes, which meant everyone should have won a $1000 gift card. I didn’t win. I knew what had happened. I then made personal accounts on every single platform. Just as I had separated my businesses on social media, I separated my business from my personal posts.
The proof was in the pudding. In the first contest I entered on Twitter as myself, I won. The same with TikTok. It solidified my confirmation of the fact that marketers were disqualifying me because of my sweepstakes social media profile/account.
HISTORY
In 2005, I said I would never enter another voting contest. I won’t rehash the fiasco, but the long and short of it was I was neck-in-neck with another contestant for a big prize, and it got ugly. I gave up because I didn’t like the energy of the entire event.
In the end, I learned it’s not the best entry that wins. Sometimes it’s the person with the widest net or the one willing to cheat in some way, such as buying votes. (Not in that specific case, but yeah … people sometimes cheat to win. Sad, but true.) Therefore, I recommend no one enter voting contests.
Then, every few years, a voting contest comes along, and I can’t help myself …
VOTING CONTEST
Recently, a local radio station launched in my region called Shameless Self-Promotion. The prize was right up my alley. The person with the most QR code scans (votes) wins a billboard in the city, and they would get to take over the radio station for the day. You know my first order of business would be to host a radio contest!! I thought it would be a good way to promote the hobby and my books. (Well, the title of the contest is shameless …)
Early in the contest, one morning, I qualified. WOO HOO! I got my QR code that afternoon and started asking for votes. I did note the contest rules were a bit thin. There is no indication of how many times a person can scan or how they are tracking the entries. So I asked all my sweeping buddies to scan away and to please share with their friends.
LOST
The morning show DJs called me off the air the following Monday and asked how I got so many votes. I said, “I have a lot of friends.” They Googled my name while they were speaking to me and said, “I know who you are.” Right then, I knew I wouldn’t win, so I put on my marketer’s crown and advised them to run a contest better.
WINNER
The winner was a woman who owned a local dog shelter. I am sure she got a lot of votes, but the optics of her winning makes so much more sense for the radio station, and I bet her shelter could really use the PR boost. I was happy for her, but that’s definitely the end of my entering voting contests. Even if I enter as myself, one Google search derails my potential to win.
Do you enter voting contests? What has your experience been?
I’ve entered voting contests 2 or 3 times in the past, but NEVER AGSIN, it’s not WHO HAS THE BEST PHOTO etc, it’s who has the most friends or who can buy the most votes!!
The one and only time I entered, a voting contest, I lost. There was only four contestants and it was a creative one to use a certain liquor company’s logo. The prize was a trip to London. By far, my entry was the best. I’m not bragging. I’m a former art teacher and I took the time, interest and effort to create a beautiful entry. If not mine, there was another contestant that did a pretty decent job too. The woman that won? Her entry consisted of a photo of her kids playing in a water fountain! It should have been disqualified due to the image children in a liquor sweepstakes. In her entry, she gushed about how she was a former contestant on a TV cooking competition. Again-had nothing to do with the competition. I knew (up to the last week ), that I had by FAR the most votes. What was most vexing is that the last week of the competition, they HID the numbers of entries. It was an “up and coming” marketing company running it. A complete disappointment. I would’ve been happy if the man had won. But this woman’s entry didn’t even follow the most basic rules. I told myself never again.
I am so sorry. Yes, you should have won. That is the dark side of sweepstakes. Companies don’t always follow their own rules.
Very disappointed with those results – voting contests seem to be v political