Free stuff? Yes, please. Everyone loves winning – so what better way to get fans excited about your music than having contests?
Why should I have a contest? There are tons of exciting reasons why you should hold a contest for your fans. Most importantly, it’s a way to get the word out about your band and your music. It also gives you a chance to have a little fun with your fans and engage them in a new, creative way – changing it up a bit from the standard weekly newsletter. If the contest is fun and fans enjoy it, they’ll end up letting their friends (and hopefully your future fans) know… “Hey you’ll never guess what band X just did for a contest!” You’ll have new fans and more EPK hits before you know it.
What kind of contest should I hold? There are many ways to go about creating contests that are mutually beneficial for both your fans and your band. How? Try creating a contest where fans have to send e-mails or Facebook messages to “X # of people” linking to your EPK in order to be considered for the prize. They can either CC you on the e-mail or take a screenshot of them sending messages out as proof. You can even give your fans a template e-mail out to make things easier. Then – give the prize to whoever tells the most people about your music, or put everyone into a random lottery.
What should I give the winner? The next part of the deal is the prize. This is where you can get creative! You can give the winner a CD or a t-shirt…but what if they’ve been your fan for a while and already have these things? Make it an exciting prize so more people want to participate. You want examples? Sure. How about writing out the lyrics to the winner’s favorite song and signing it? Or, you could film a video of your band singing a song of the winner’s choice and put it up on YouTube. Or, you could call the winner and chat with them for a little bit. The best thing about all of those options? They’re free or extremely low cost – and take just a few minutes of your time to create. These unique prizes will get people excited to take part in your contests…and they’ll keep checking back in the future to see what you’ve got in store next.
