Using An iPhone Reward For Viral Purposes

[juliemarg]

A few months ago I had some suggestions from forum members to hold a contest to generate traffic. I've thought of a way that I think will work for me.

It's going to run until the 4th of July and I'm going to give away an iPhone. Contestants will write a short review of their favorite restaurant/hotel/club/tour/etc. and submit it to me, cross posting on their own site with the anchor text I provide. I think I'll get some good new suggestions plus a big bunch of links.

Can anyone advise me on the details I may have neglected to think of with this idea?

Do you think it will work?

[Chris]

julie, i changed the title of your post because i wanted to use it in the newsletter and, well, because it looked a tad spammy... that's what made me click in here in the first place. i came in ready to delete the thread.

;)

[thorfjalar]

There is some hickup in reaching this post from the newsletter title.

But in regards to the idea, good one. How are you going to decide the winner, choose one at random or have readers vote? Perhaps the one with most "diggs" (or other social bookmarking/voting) at end of competition wins!?

[juliemarg]

I haven't figured out the details and I'm hoping that some of the smart people here will have some suggestions.

the digg idea sounds intriguing -- I've got to figure the logistics.

a person writes a review, posts it on their site, emails it to me, I post it on my site. I should have a special category tag for contest submissions so people can look at all the entrys.

What if someone submits something that doesn't fit in -- like a nomination for Applebee's (no offense to Applebee's but I don't think of it as something I'd recommend)

[Jerry]

I'm not sure that discriminating on the review by using your own personal bias (Applebee's isn't the world's best, but it's also not the worlds worst.) Is the way to go. You should definitely post any review that is in the spirit of the contest, and politely tell anyone rejected (Unless it is obvious spam) the reasons why they were not included.

My personal suggestions would be:
A] use a panel of impartial judges.
B] use a user voted poll on your site.

I don't suggest digg or other sites simply because results cannot be verified to any degree of accuracy

[juliemarg]

thanks for your input Jerry.

btw, love you blog. that chicken thigh and mushroom dish looks yummy.

[OneMoreBite]

I came in to hear about the contest idea, then got side tracked by Mr. Seat of the Pants cooking guy. Now I'll be there for hours printing recipes. ;-) Just shows why it's smart to include a signature!

Chris, I didn't think the title was spamming at all. This is a forum for marketing ideas and it was specific that the idea was a contest. You likely have pretty sensitive spam radar though.

The contest idea is good, but I wonder how many thousands of crappy posts you'll have to wade through? Hopefully someone who's had experience will post soon.

Kathryn