PayPal Stories Archive

Using Promotions to Generate More Sales: Part 2
Find out how to get your promotion started:
 
Choose the Type of Promotion
There are many different kinds of promotions you can try. You just have to know your audience and figure out what will work best for them.
 
Hold a Contest
In a social media setting, people can be entered into the contest by either a quick registration on a website or social network page, or even by simply sharing the information about the contest. For example, on Twitter you could ask followers to retweet a link to your website or mention your Twitter handle (such as @AskPayPal), company name, or product to be automatically entered in your contest.
 
Host a Real-world Event
If you have a brick-and-mortar business, you can pull in people to your location with a special real-world event.
 
Such events are not hard to organize:schedule a date and time (perhaps after normal business hours) and bring people in for a special just-for-social-media-fans event.
 
Log on to an online event
Online events are becoming more and more common these days. These coordinated gatherings on the Internet can range from something as simple as a Google Plus gathering, where participants can jump onto a video conference call at a certain time and date, to a full-fledged multiday training seminar. For beginners, you might want to try a Twitter Chat or host a Social Network event.
 
Measure Your Results
The final task that you should be undertaking with your promotion, no matter what it turns out to be, is measuring the results of the event.
  • How many people entered your contest or showed up at your real or virtual event?
  • How did the social media tools work for you?
  • What were the re-sharing rates on the social media platforms you used?
  • How many visits did your landing page get?
 
Analyse these numbers carefully, because you will want to know what worked and what didn't work in your promotion. After all, if you're going to do it again, you'll want to do it better the next time.
 

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