With an increasing number of musicians using video content to boost brand exposure, hosting virtual contests makes a lot of sense.

Online competitions are a wonderful way to collect user-generated content (UGC), increase your social media following, and boost website traffic. Additionally, UGC will give you extra content for your marketing activities, which, in turn, will help you draw in more potential clients.

How to Host a Virtual Contest for Your Fans

1)   Establish Clear Goals for the Event

It is impossible to host an effective virtual competition unless you are clear about the purpose(s) it is meant to serve. Establishing clear and transparent goals helps you measure the success level of the event.

For instance, you could host a virtual contest to:

• Increase website traffic
• Grow your YouTube channel
• Build a podcast audience
• Drive sales for your new release
• Grow your newsletter audience
• Increase social media following

Pick a goal that is consistent with your marketing and business objectives. Running profitable internet virtual contests is much simpler after you have a plan.

2)   Survey your Fans for Ideas

How you organize your online video competition will depend on your target audience. If you don’t understand what your target market wants, you can’t include a giveaway item or activity that would excite the participants.

Ask your fans what kind of award will make them ecstatic before launching your virtual contest. You could send a survey to the recent buyers on your site, or conduct a poll on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

3)   Offer Tempting Prizes

Like we just discussed, contestants will not bother entering your competition if the prizes are not desirable enough. In order to host a successful online video competition, pick a big reward that will draw a lot of participants. When choosing the prizes, do not forget to incorporate the suggestions you gathered from polling your audience.

A few good examples of gifts, awards, and giveaways are:

• Free CD of your upcoming or latest album
• Free merchandise
• Free tickets to your next live event
• Gift certificates and cards
• Coupons or discounts
• Prize bundles
• Cash prizes

The more relevant and attractive your prizes are to your fans and audience, the likelier they are to be enthusiastic about the contest.

4)   Create a Buzz

Build interest among your followers in your creative video contest before launching it. Making a buzz about your giveaway makes people want to enter and increases the likelihood that you’ll receive more entries once the contest is open.

The greatest strategy to raise interest is to regularly post teaser posts on your preferred online video platform.

For instance, a week before your contest launch, you could start talking about the competition in your regular video content. 3-4 days prior, you could create a dedicated video covering your contest and what it is all about. Make sure to conclude your video with a call-to-action, encouraging customers to sign up.

Wrapping Up

To sum up, a virtual contest is a great way to spread the word about yourself and your music, increase your web and social media presence, and boost audience interaction and engagement.

To learn more about marketing yourself as a musician, please feel free to check out some of the other blogs on our website.

Summary:

A virtual contest is a great way to increase your web and social media presence, create hype around an upcoming launch, and interact with and grow your audience. To host a successful virtual contest, you need to establish your objectives for the event, conduct surveys among your target audience, offer appealing gifts and giveaways, and create hype around the event.