Capture Industry-Focused Business Ideas through Social Media Contests
Anyone who cares about growing within a specific industry knows the importance of fresh ideas. Whether it’s a progressive tech niche, healthcare, or politics, breaking new ground is important. The question is, how do you find a viable idea that can work for your industry? And should you actively look for it or just do what you do, waiting for that special “aha!” moment?
If you explore the stories of successful investors like Elon Musk or Robert Kiyosaki, you’ll discover that they are always on the hunt for brilliant ideas. Thousands of companies around the world organise hackathons and startup pitching events to accelerate idea generation. Let’s explore why idea hunting matters and how social media can help you collect game-changing ideas.
Reasons to capture business ideas
The success rate of your business depends on the quality of solutions and products you provide – that’s a no-brainer that doesn’t need to be explained. But how do you keep the quality standards high? Is it possible for a company to be an industry leader even though it hasn’t been implementing any new solutions for years? The short answer is no. Technology is making things change quickly in nearly every industry. Therefore, ideas that resonate with the external world are what your business needs to stay afloat.
Here are the main reasons why being a proactive business leader pays off:
- Your company is attractive for investors. Especially if you represent a young and ambitious startup, finding a viable business idea shouldn’t be a big deal for you. What’s really problematic is attracting investors who can help turn an idea into reality. So here’s the hack: start a social media contest focused on business idea generation and get potential investors involved. Since business angels are always looking for good ideas, you can quickly turn a simple online activity into a platform where meaningful connections happen. What’s more, social media contests for generating business ideas help companies skyrocket brand awareness over a short period of time.
- Your client base expands faster. The idea behind this trend is really simple: the more solutions your company offers, the more people will be interested in it.
- You have more chances to succeed as a serial entrepreneur. According to the research, experienced entrepreneurs with a good track record are much more likely to succeed than newcomers. In other words, the more you try and experiment with different business ideas, the better chance of success you have.
How to run a social media contest to generate ideas
We’ve developed a basic action plan you can follow and customise, depending on the platform you use.
Pick a channel
If your intention is to reach out to broad audiences with a fun visual contest, Instagram might be the perfect fit. For instance, you could launch a 10-second video pitching event where users explain their startup ideas in 10 seconds and post videos under a specific hashtag. Facebook competitions might work better if you focus on commenting, or you can promote a business idea contest that runs on a dedicated platform.
Identify contest goals
Your contest strategy should have a mission behind it. What will you do with the ideas your contest collects? How will the participants benefit? What’s the payoff for a contest winner? The possibilities are endless. Based on the objectives, it will be much easier for you to define target personas, decide on a budget, and establish a time frame.
Choose a theme or set some thematic limitations
Once you’re done with building a skeleton, you can start thinking about how to fill it. The key recommendation here is stick to one direction rather than going with a broad “startup idea” concept. This will help you connect with the target audience and make the outcomes of the contest useful within a specific industry. A good idea could be dedicating your event theme to a problem that needs to be solved. Social Business Idea Challenge – a contest focused on refugee help – is a good example of this.
Ensure compliance with the platform
Particularly if you’re running a cross-platform contest, you should be very careful with promotion regulations, as they are not the same for different social media channels. Ideally, you should have a compliance plan for every platform you use.
Pick a worthy prize
A prize that is relevant and can be aligned with the needs of your target audiences is an important motivating force. The best strategy for choosing a contest prize is simply getting into the shoes of people who develop business ideas. Professional growth is definitely what stands behind the majority of applications in business idea contests, so the best thing your prize can do is help them grow. Here are some ideas that could work for you:
- Tickets to a famous conference
- Participation in an accelerator or hackathon
- Meeting with an influential industry leader
Craft a promotion plan
Paid ads, blogging, email, or word of mouth — there are many channels that can help you spread the word about a contest. The main rule is looking into the places where your target community is particularly active. For instance, if you need to attract investors, it might be a good idea to target local industry-related media sources. Once you’ve picked the channels, create a schedule of promotional activities with the biggest focus on pre-event marketing. This will help you get people involved and participating.
Conclusion
Getting business ideas through online contest management can be a major advantage. Considering that social media is a go-to place for broad audiences – from investors to startup owners – Facebook and Instagram can be ideal platforms where bright ideas are born. If you want social media to work some magic for your business, think through one specific problem relevant to your target industry and build a targeted idea contest around it.