We can’t miss it anymore, the holiday season is approaching. All around us, communications in this direction constantly remind us: St.-Nicholas and Father-Christmas are going on. For a business, it is important to take advantage of this time to get closer to customers and communicate with them. Don’t miss the mark and think about it when planning your marketing campaign for the next few months. 

Among the various communication activities applied, organizing competitions on holidays is referred to as the “must” of engagement strategies for your community. It’s actually a fun and fun way to remind your customers to think about you for their Christmas shopping and to strengthen the bond between your customers and your brand. 

Did you know that there is a lot of potential competition for your customers to win? Your creativity is your only limit! Let's explore different trends on the internet and social networks to inspire you.

How to properly prepare a competition

The first competition was organized. If you decide to get in touch at the end of the year celebration, you must get the whole business message. From October, gather your team to find different ideas for different activities during the holidays: communication on social networks, your place of sale, offers and promotions, ideas for competition on holidays, etc. 

Then, take a list of your resources to form the different prizes you have won for your competition. You can decide to win gifts with partners bought by yourself or made from your own resources: product boxes, movie tickets, travel, accommodation, vouchers, hoodies, tote bags, gift cards, samples, invitations to your exclusive event, etc. 

Finally, create a schedule with the various tasks you want to set up and the corresponding deadlines: create visuals for social networks, change the look of your site, create an email signature in holiday colors, create flyers. Be sure to distribute all these tasks among the different people in your team.

1.     Photo competition

Like the pictures of Facebook users! A publication will reach a lot more people if it is illustrated. Why not engage your customers and ask them to send you a memorable Christmas-themed snap? Draw lots for the winners or collect votes from your community to select their favorite pictures. 

This type of contest also lends itself very well to Instagram by creating a specific hashtag (#) specific to the contest. Internet users can post their photos to a story or to their feed using # so you can easily find them.

Some ideas : 

●      The most kitsch Christmas tree

●      The funniest snowman

●      The most beautiful Christmas fairy

●      Pictures of the most original celebration family

Advantages? It won't take you long to organize such a competition!

2.     Article competition

Ask your community to write a text on a given topic You don't have to be a great writer to come up with general ideas: 

●      The most original Christmas recipe

●      Your children's letter to Santa Claus

●      Your perfect Christmas holiday

Decide on a winner or let your community vote!

3.     Personality test

Thanks to various online platforms, it is easy to create more extensive competition (as a dedicated application on Facebook, for example, or on Instagram). By asking the Internet user to complete a questionnaire, it is possible to determine his "personality" and send him a suitable result. The winner will then be selected by lottery. 

Some examples : 

●      Which Santa are you?

●      Which Christmas movie are you?

●      Personalized gift list (based on your products among others)

The advantage? You collect valuable information about the participants.

4.     Memory

There is nothing more effective than a memory game. Everyone knows the rules, it doesn’t take long, you get involved in the game quickly and it comes endlessly! 

●      In Santa's hood

●      The pairs of Christmas socks

●      Christmas elves, Etc. 

This type of game must be created through a platform (and thus paid for) but since the engagement rate is very high, you will quickly recover your investment through the number of customer data that it will bring you.

5.     Quiz

Take the opportunity to win gifts for your customers by answering a few questions about your business or Christmas theme. 

●      Open Question (Participant must write his answer)

●      Multiple choices (participant must choose from a pre-established list of answers)

●      True or false

●      If you use a payment platform to create quizzes, it allows you to display a smaller form before or after the game. Participants register and you collect data.

6.     Survey

Whether the question asked is serious or not, the survey has the advantage of being very fast and it encourages participation because the result is displayed live. Internet users, therefore, want to tip the scales.

Some ideas : 

●      What was the best film, the best series of the year?

●      Battle: foie gras or faux grass, Santa Claus or Saint-Nicolas.

7.     7 errors

The rules are simple: 2 images, find the 7 (or 5, or 10) details that change from one image to another. Again, you don't have to go through payment platforms to run this kind of competition on holidays. But, apps allow immersion and a more inclusive customer experience (showing errors once found, pointing out formulas, etc.) and thus better memories of the moments spent with your brand.

8.     Puzzle

The best game of the competition! It doesn’t have to be too difficult, just hard-thinking games to bring the pieces back in the right order and interact with most participants with your brand. Choose a fun picture of your party with a Christmas sweater, your festive product, or a picture of your celebration logo.

9.     Timeline

Sometimes you don’t have to look too far to find an idea that works. Complete a simple sentence and increase the engagement rate! 

Consider sorting winter-themed phrases to stay themed.

10. Instant winner

Whether on your Facebook page or on your website, display a short form (last name, first name, and e-mail address) that participants must fill out directly to find out if they have won a gift. It is very simple and effective. 

Oops ... we said there would be only 10 tips. We offer you 5 extras!

11. Advent calendar

The current fashion is to offer your Internet users an interactive Advent Calendar. Gives a chance to win a gift every day. This means getting lots of gifts and 24 ideas to compete on the holidays ... Easy, take a mix of the top 10 tips by changing different networks (Facebook, Instagram, website, your newsletter, etc.). 

Another solution is to create your own Advent Calendar game in a dedicated app with a box to open every day. You will find various platforms that offer these services at a low cost.

12. Caption a photo

Find a funny or irrational photo, post it without context, and ask your community to come up with the best captions possible to describe it. Your customers and prospects will be able to use their imagination. Laughter is sure! 

You can choose the winner yourself or ask your community to like their favorite captions

13. Guess a weight

Create a package with your products, post a photo of them and ask your followers to estimate the exact weight. The nearest person will win the whole package. To help them, you can give some product weight-related formulas in the package. 

You can tell them that they are only allowed one entry or let them play as many times as they want, which will give you a higher engagement rate.

14. make a blind test

Why not organize a mini blind test? Pick a Christmas song or Christmas movie and make it guess on your social networks. The best is to designate a song that is not too well known but that can be found anyway. 

A little advice, do not play it during the chorus so that it is not easily recognizable on platforms. 

At the end of the allotted time, draw lots among the winners of the blind test.

15. Treasure hunt

Who doesn't like to find hidden treasures in childhood? Bring that playful spirit back to your community by creating a modern-day treasure hunt! 

The goal is to hide a symbol, an object or your logo on your website in Christmas colors and your followers are looking for it. Win one of your products first to find it. You can also decide that there are more winners if you can afford it. 

Announce this treasure hunt in advance, so that there is time to find as many people as possible before announcing the winner.