8 Examples of “Win Great Stuff” Efforts To Drive Twitter Followers

Ryan Peal — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:12:04 +0000

Getting followers on Twitter for brands is an obvious new way to engage and entertain people (and of course raise awareness of products they sell). I’ve been watching a new trend over the past few months of brands using a new “tweet to win” tactic to motivate and encourage people to follow them on Twitter in exchange for the chance to win some big and small things – an easy way to build an active and current database, with people “opting-in” to actually hear from these brands. This isn’t for every brand (although I’m totally waiting for BMW or Mercedes to giveaway a car – you know it’s coming) but for some it can work very well. Here are 8 of some recent favourites – great to check out to see if this could work for you.

twtFM – Yesterday this new twitter app launched a way to win a new iPod Touch complete with Colbie Calliat’s new album (Breakthrough) and tickets to an upcoming show by checking them out and tweeting about it. With twtFM you can stream your favourite music using Last.fm mashed up with Twitter (worth check out)

Moonfruit – these guys who create do-it-yourself website building tools are celebrating their 10th anniversary, and doing it in style giving away 10 new MacBook Pro’s, one each day for 10 days. All you have to do is tweet using #moonfruit and a creative message and follow Moontweet on Twitter to see if you’ve won – nice! Still a few more days to win.

SquareSpace – also celebrating an anniversary (their 5th) with a Twitter giveaway is Square Space, makers of great software to create beautiful websites. They are giving away 30 new Apple iPhone 3GS, one each day for 30 days – anyone who sends a tweet with #squarespace is entered to win and of course you need to follow them on Twitter to see if you win. One more week to win.

Mr. Tweet – One of my favourite ways to find people via Twitter, Mr. Tweet, has regular giveaways of books and flash drives, T-shirts and more fun. You can obviously follow Mr. Tweet on Twitter and/or check out the Mr. Tweet blog to see what the latest giveaway. (Also, when you visit the blog scroll down to see the “live traffic feed” and you’ll see yourself visiting from your home town in the sidebar – nice added fun.

The Pro Designer – an easy one from these guys, you simply make a comment on their website and you are automatically entered to win a one-of-a-kind Twitter T-shirt. And of course you need to follow them on their blog and via Twitter, so a nice casual way to attract some new followers.

Buddy TV – this one was from a few months back, but simply offered fans a chance to win a new Sony Blu-Ray Disc player by following them on Twitter and tweeting a specific message about the competition – plain and simple.

Twitter Power – another one from a few months ago but a great example of an author who hosted a live show via UStream to talk about his new book, giving away bookstore gift certificates every hour he was broadcasting via Twitter when people tweeted a simple tweet about him, his book and the competition. Another one that was simple and to the point.

Mashable – one of the goliaths of Twitter really understands how to do “tweet and win” contests right – as evident by a book giveaway they recently did. To win people simply had to tweet a fun Twitter tip to @mashable with #twittertip included in the tweet. The most original, funny or creative tips, as judged by Mashable, won one of 5 books. And a few weeks ago did a similar contest to win passes to the “140 Characters Conference in NYC (people won by simply tweeting why the wanted to attend, using the @mashable and the #140conf in their tweet).

Creativity in Public Relations » mashable

8 Examples of “Win Great Stuff” Efforts To Drive Twitter Followers