21 Aug The Misperceptions of Sweepstakes Sweepers
There is a common misperception among the world of promotions that Sweepers – people who are work-from-home sweepstakes contestants – tend to lean toward the dishonest side of things and are participating because they are after the ultimate prize, whether they need it or not. I’ve developed this post to inform those that think this way of sweepers, and how their positions benefit brands.
The first thing to keep in mind is that, Sweepers or not, there are quite a few benefits for brands when running a promotion. When executed correctly, a promotion can increase brand reach, visibility, mentions and reputation exponentially. In the age of social media, if a brand does something exciting or different and includes something free and of value into the mix, it is likely to be shared and could even have the potential to go viral. The key here is execution.
The way a promotion performs is not only important to a brand, it is important to Sweepers as well. While a sweepstakes entrant may be persistent – especially if they are interested in the prize at hand –a true Sweeper is reading the rules with a fine-toothed comb to ensure that their entry will not be disqualified. Due to the large number of sweepstakes that they could be participating in, Sweepers have a general code of ethics that they use to keep each other in check and to help each other out. After exploring various message boards I distilled five rules of thumb for being a dedicated sweepstakes contestant.
- Install a form filler program like RoboForm to fill out forms quicker.
- For Twitter parties, use a tool such as TweetDeck to slow down tweets and avoid getting overwhelmed.
- Use SweepsCheck or something similar to insure that you don’t disqualify yourself by submitting an entry too many times.
- When using search engines, such as Sweepstakes Advantage, to look for sweeps, make sure to select the ‘search sweeps’ button.
- Always read the rules, and if you don’t want to read the rules, check the message boards for someone who has.
Overall, what all this boils down to is that there is a lot the world of promotions can learn from Sweepers: the prize matters, keep it simple, and everybody talks.
If you are interested in learning more about running a promotion or sweepstakes, reference our “Social Media Promotions 101: Contests, Giveaways, Surprise & Delights” blog post, or contact us if you need to chat.
