What better way to build up your social media presence and bring more awareness to your brand than through using a social media contest app? They’re a great way to turn potential followers into paying customers and help spread the word about your product or service.
A social contest is a promotion or campaign that is focused on your social media community. This type of marketing strategy can add a lot to your email marketing list in a short space of time, and help you build your brand through increasing your following.
What is the Best Social Media Contest App?
The best social media contest app is Shortstack. Shortstack is an industry leader when it comes to social media contests because it helps its users create quizzes, giveaways and landing pages as well as contests, which will most likely result in real leads.
Best Social Media Contest Apps (2020)
While they used to be done on Facebook by many different brands, they’re most commonly done on Instagram these days. If you’re interested in creating and running a social contest to help with your online brand, then you’ll need to know about all the tools out there that can help make the entire process a lot more straightforward.
Let’s review them all.
1. Shortstack
If you need something that encompasses everything you need all in one, we suggest you check out Shortstack. One of the best parts is that you can use Shortstack for many different social media platforms, from Twitter and Facebook to Pinterest and Instagram, so they’re great if you have your brand across them all and want to consolidate your campaigns in a way that makes them easy to host.
They have many different themes and templates to choose from, and they’re also really easy to set up so that you don’t have to be tech-savvy to implement their features. They also provide their clients with in-depth analytics, as well as verified voting.
You can also choose from different features to include in your campaign, from opting to offer extra chances to win if you refer a friend, or getting your entrants to include their email address in the sign-up process.
Because you can execute Shortstack’s contests across many different channels, this is a great option if you need to cover a lot of ground and require flexibility to do so. This all in one tool also has many different price points to choose from, so they accommodate for many different budgets. From $29 a month, they go up to $99 a month.
2. Vyper
We like Vyper for all of your social media contests because they can help you with many different types of contests. From milestone contests to viral contests, giveaways, and leaderboard contests, there’s not a lot that Vyper can’t help you with to get your social media campaign successfully off the ground.
We love that their contest builder is super easy to work with, and you can choose your template and theme easily to make it your own. They can also help you with other things, too, like pre-launch campaigns and even loyalty campaigns.
They have a free package that you can check out, to begin with, and their paid plans start at just $49 a month, which we think is more than affordable.
3. Agorapulse
While Agorapulse is mainly a social media management tool, they are diverse enough to offer their customers other features, too, like social contest tools. In fact, we think that running a social contest through Agorapulse is super simple and straightforward.
From photo contests to coupons, quizzes, and even sweepstakes, there’s a lot you can do to build the ultimate social contest through Agorapulse. As well as offering audience insights, team collaboration, message management and compatibility for Facebook apps, Agorapulse can also offer a detailed analytics dashboard, so you can learn all about your consumer base and who you should be targeting with your social contest.
You won’t be surprised to learn, then, that Agorapulse is best known for their reporting and analytics. Their prices start from just $79 a month and go up to $459 a month, so they have many different options to suit various budgets.
4. Rafflecopter
Rafflecopter is seen as one of the easiest and simplest ways to get your contest off the ground. There are a lot of individual brands out there that have made the most of Rafflecopter already, and they love how easy it is to set up. It’s only going to take you three minutes to launch a giveaway, and it’s super easy to integrate this with your existing website.
All you need to do is copy and paste the code that they give you, and you’re away. They even have a one-click integration system where you can apply it to all of your social media websites at the same time, which is going to give you maximum reach and awareness. They have many different options for you to choose from for your contestants, and they even come with a free trial.
Their basic plan has everything you need. However, if you want to benefit from their one-click integration feature, you may want to opt for their Grow plan that will cost $43 a month, or their Premium plan that will set you back $84 a month. They even offer analytics, and you don’t have to include their branding on the contest, so it’s completely yours.
5. Heyo.com
Heyo is both easy and intuitive. It helps you run many different social contests, from video and photo to sweepstakes contests. They also have some pretty attractive landing pages for them, too, so you can stay sophisticated and professional. They have a completely responsive software that is compatible with all different interfaces and devices.
As well as having a fast setup time, they can also use trending hashtags in your promotions, and customize your email templates as well. While they are mainly for Facebook, you can, of course, use them on any platform that you wish. When you use a social contest app like Heyo, you can get some pretty strong conversions that will turn into paying and even repeat customers.
Their basic plan will cost you $25, and their premium plan will set you back $199 a month. They even offer a free trial for seven days, so you can get a good idea of whether they’re a good fit for your social contest needs or not.
6. Wishpond
Wishpond was built and designed to grow your business for you, and as a result, they have many different contest options and marketing tools for you to choose from. We love that they can be used for many different platforms – although they are ideal for Facebook. They have features like daily entry voting, customizable forms, and referral rewards, too.
It’s super simple and easy to get started with Wishpond, and they have many different templates and themes for you to choose from. They even come with a WordPress plugin, so that you can host contests on your blog as well as your social media platforms.
Their real-time reports are available and accessible through their dashboard, and you can even track their campaign metrics, optimizing it for the highest conversion rate possible. When the contest is over, you can download the analytics to an Excel spreadsheet where you can easily go over them. Their detailed demographics is definitely something that sets them apart from the rest.
Their basic plan is $49 a month, which we think is great value for money, especially because of the additional features you get like reporting and analytics. Their most expensive plan will cost you $199 a month, and again we think that if you have the budget for it, this is good value for money. They offer all potential clients a free trial for 14 days, which is more than enough time to figure out if they’re a good fit or not.
7. Gleam
This robust social contest app is going to be able to hold all of your online contests up without experiencing any issues. Whether you want to grow your social media following or you want just to get more email leads, Gleam can make the entire process stress-free.
They have a drag and drop feature, which makes it easy to add new entry methods, and they have 20 different entry methods to choose from, making each contest nice and diverse. One of the best parts of Gleam is that it just takes one click to use them. You don’t even have to copy and paste anything – it’s all done within their app.
With Gleam, you can build powerful competitions that are going to give you a great chance of growing your online following. They have email and social integration features, as well as a WordPress plugin. They even verify all actions and track them, so you don’t have to waste any time going through all the entrants to make sure that they qualify for the prize.
The best part of Gleam is that they are super flexible when it comes to their plans and price points. This means that you won’t have to pay for anything that you don’t use. Each feature has a separate price point, so you only choose what you need. They also have a free plan so that you can check out what they’re all about before committing to anything.
Their paid features start from just $10, but if you want the full package, this is going to cost you $97 a month. We still think that they’re great value for money, no matter what you can afford at this time. We’ll even let you in on a little secret – you can save as much as 24% if you subscribe to their annual plan.
8. Woobox
Woobox is the kind of platform that can offer coupons and sweepstakes with your social contests. They can also help you with other features, too, like landing pages, interactive games, and even polls. Woobox can help you on many different social media channels, from Pinterest and Instagram to Facebook and Twitter.
It’s super easy to get started with Woobox because they have a ton of ready-made campaigns that you can choose from. With their easy drag and drop tool, you can combine the elements of your brand with one of their templates effortlessly.
As well as having customizable designs, they have automation options as well, campaign optimization, and a WordPress plugin. Once your contest is off the ground, you can get busy checking out their real-time analytics. They also offer mobile-friendly options, too. Any of their paid plans come with unlimited social contests, so you can make the most of having your brand online.
We love that Woobox offers a free package, that offers unlimited campaigns, but limited features. Their next plan up is going to cost you $37 a month, and their most expensive one is $249 a month. Just like Agorapulse, these guys have many different price points available to suit all different kinds of budgets. Every plan except for the basic plan is an annual, one-off payment.
FAQs
What is a Social Media Contest?
A social media contest is something that you set up through your social media platform so that you can bring more exposure to your brand.
A lot of the time it’s a giveaway, which results in your audience receiving either your own product or a product that you endorse. Again, it’s a great way to get your name out there, and create a bit of buzz about your brand.
Why Should You Use a Free Trial?
It’s always advised that you make the most of a free trial when you can. This is because you never know whether a company is going to be able to follow through on their promise or not, but if they have a free trial you can check it out and get a pretty good idea of how they work and what they’re offering.
It’s important though that you never share your credit card information with companies for a free trial, and if they ask you for it you should avoid it completely.
Are These Companies Safe to Use?
When we review companies like this, we think that for the most part they are safe to use. They are especially safe to use if they don’t ask for personal details like your password etc.
Be aware, though, that not all companies are safe to use, so you’ve got to make sure that you can find out as much about them before you commit to anything. You never know what their true intentions are, so it’s vital that you look out for the red flags.
Final Thoughts
To increase general awareness around your online brand, creating a social contest is one of the best ways forward. When it comes to online marketing, it’s all about picking the right tools – and a social contest is going to go a long way in terms of brand awareness.
As you can see, there are many different social contest tools to choose from. Some offer comprehensive features that you can combine and integrate with your existing marketing strategy, while others are simple, yet effective, so you don’t have to spend too much time planning it.
Whatever you end up choosing, know that we only have featured the best of the best on this list, so you know that you’re in good hands no matter what. Happy brand growing!
