Ten Tips for Holding Video Contests
May 6, 2007 by Mike Abundo
Filed under Computers
Kevin Nalts joins a lot of video contests, and he’s seen some really bad ones. Here are his ten tips for holding better video contests.
1. Lose the giant grand prize.
2. Recognize that your target (video creators) aren’t strictly motivated by cash.
3. Not every brand is right for a contest.
4. Choose your partners wisely and avoid a disposable website.
5. Promotion is where most contests fail.
6. Fish where the fish are.
7. Know that good creators evaluate a return on their time investment.
8. Consider identifying some known video creators and asking them to “seed” entries and promote the contest.
9. Be mindful of the fact that people will scan the posted entries to make their determination about entering.
10. Timing is everything.
Marketers looking into online video should heed his advice. Having tasted power after generations wasted away in front of the idiot box, online video creators won’t always drink the corporate Kool-Aid.
I assume you’re talking about contests where the people actually create the video specifically for the contest?
Even though you’re probably not talking about this, I’d like to add an observation I’ve made about multimedia (incl. video) journalism contests. The videos that end up winning in the judges’ minds are usually not the same videos that are wildly popular with regular old viewers on news organizations’ sites.