On an otherwise quiet Monday – weekly biz planning meetings, kid schedule juggling, yet another global Facebook change that has people up in arms – Eric Fulwiler dropped a little pick-me-up in our inbox.
Eric’s the Publisher Recruiter for Forbes.com Audience Development & Social Media, and also a sharp blogger outside of the Forbes world. He emailed to flag Forbes’ new Twitter Contest About Twitter Contests. (Thanks, Eric!) Forbes is truly embracing Twitter, with nearly 20 separate feeds covering everything from Asian markets to the business of sports.
What’s really cool about their contest is the lack of parameters. There’s no instruction on what the goal of the contest should be – you decide your own. Normally, creative limitation is a great way to spark innovation, but in this case, the brainstorming can fly free.
So here’s a general concept for all businesses to consider: Look at what you already do in your business, and see whether Twitter can help you put a new an interesting spin on it.
Every year, Forbes runs a Boost Your Business contest, with a $100,000 prize, and this year would be the 4th annual one. My idea is this:
Run the first two rounds of the
Forbes.com Boost Your Business contest through Twitter,
a la the Shorty Awards.
Have the votes that would normally be submitted on the Forbes.com site tweeted to @Forbes instead, and run a real-time leaderboard tracking the vote results on Forbes.com.
Considering that Boost Your Business is a small-business-focused contest, and that Twitter is a great and free platform (or low cost if you go with graphics, advertising, monitoring, and/or content development investments), Forbes can require that entrants establish a Twitter account, so Forbes can easily track and tally the votes, like so:
@Forbes I vote for @AllenVoivod of @EpiphaniesInc in the #BoostYourBiz contest
Forbes could also run a feed of the votes on its website, its Facebook page, and other online outposts as well to build awareness, track and enhance the conversation as it happens,
This idea offers viral exposure for the main Forbes Twitter account, and for the businesses participating in the contest. The Boost Your Business contest may have one official “winner,” but running the contest in this way creates opportunities for dozens, if not hundreds of businesses, to succeed.
How?
By exposing the competing businesses to thousands of potential customers, partners, ideas, suppliers, vendors, and word-of-mouth mavens through 140-character, socially-driven energy.
Small businesses are the engine of our economy, and every president, regardless of party affiliation, looks to small businesses to help bring the country out of troubled economic times. By expanding the vision of the Boost Your Business contest, Forbes taps into something much more powerful – and does well by doing good in the process.
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