Running a competition on social media is a great way to diversify your content and keep your community alert and engaged. 


But before you set up your competition, it is important to remember that each platform has specific rules about running competitions as well as different target audiences. 



If you would like to run an organic competition on EIT Food's core channels, please reach out to the EIT Food social media team via socialmedia@eitfood.eu well in advance (at least 6 weeks) to discuss your plan and how they might be able to support you.


If you want to run a competition on your own regional or partner channels we advise you to review your chosen platform’s terms and regulations and set up a plan before running it. You can go ahead and kick off your competition without the social media team’s approval, but feel free to send your plan to the EIT Food social media team if you have any questions or doubts.


If you want to run a paid competition on EIT Food's core channels please follow the digital advertising process. Please keep in mind how you intend to announce the winner, especially if the competition is not in English, as you will not be able to announce it organically on the core social media channels. 


Do you need something more than just a competition to gain visibility for your initiative? Try an EIT Food campaign


How do I plan my social media competition on EIT Food´s core channels? 


Send your plan to socialmedia@eitfood.eu before launching so that the social media team can review and approve it. Please keep your chosen platform’s terms and regulations in mind and go through the following checklist:


1: What are your goals?

2: What is your budget?

3: What are you aiming to achieve by running your competition? 


A few examples:


- Boosting brand or product engagement.

- Increasing social following.

- Growing email/news notification list.

- Encouraging community engagement.

- Generating user-generated content.


4: What is the prize(s)?

5: What is your competition entry structure? 


With your chosen platform in place, you can then determine the entry requirements. Entering a competition can be as simple as sharing or retweeting a post to encourage more entries and brand awareness, or following certain social accounts and using a hashtag to track entries.


6: What is the length and frequency of your content?


The length of your contest should depend on the value of the prize. A large prize will sit in the back of people’s minds even after they’ve entered. However, if you leave it too long you risk losing the urgency that will convince people to enter as soon as they see the competition - it’s good to find a balance.


7: How often will you run the competition? 

8: What is your content and copy?


Prepare the copy for the post and any visuals you are looking to use for the competition in advance. Keep the copy short and make it easy for viewers to understand the full scope of your competition (the prizes, requirements for entry, and terms and conditions). Make sure your visual(s) is/are on brand. Before creating your visual, take a look at EIT Food’s brand guidelines.


9: How will you announce the winner? 


Let us know how you are planning to announce the winner/notify them and what you’d like them to do after winning the prize (e.g. send us a private message via the platform that includes their contact details, reach out to us via email, etc.). Please also send the copy for the winner announcement.


If you are looking to run a competition in a language other than English, please also include a translation of your copy.


Once you have sent answers to these questions to socialmedia@etifood.eu, the social media team will let you know once your plan has been reviewed and approved, or whether they recommend any changes. 


To find out more about how EIT Food uses social media, go to: What is social media and how does EIT Food use it?

This article was last reviewed in October 2021 and will be reviewed again April 2022.

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