How to Run a Social Media Competition Using Brandwatch

Social media competitions are a great way to boost awareness of your brand but tracking one that goes beyond the simple "retweet to win" model can be tricky. Luckily, we're here to help.

People love a competition, especially when all that’s required is to hit a retweet button or tweet a hashtag.

But running a competition fairly isn’t always simple. Ensuring that competing hashtags are compared accurately (think about music awards that get handed out based on fan armies tweeting for their favorite bands) is important for your credibility.

Luckily, tracking hashtags in this way is made easy with a tool like Brandwatch. In this post we’ll take you through how AbilityNet have used this method to run their own competition.

The #Tech4Good awards

The AbilityNet Tech4Good Awards recognise people and groups who use digital technology to improve the lives of others and make the world a better place.

One of the most sought after awards on the night is the People’s Choice Award in which the public vote. Each of the projects nominated is given its own hashtag, and when people tweet those hashtags they are effectively voting for the project.

The AbilityNet team uses Brandwatch to keep track of who’s in the lead and the results count towards votes for the various projects.

Mark Gaddes, Digital Marketing Manager at AbilityNet, created a query in Brandwatch that tracks each of the hashtags. He’s setup various components that allow him to effectively monitor, measure and report the voting as it takes place.

“We expect tens of thousands of people will be inspired by and vote on the amazing stories of our finalists and the many ways that tech can be used for social good. Working with Brandwatch means we can track all of the of votes we attract for the People’s Choice Award.”

Mark Walker, Head of Marketing & Comms at AbilityNet

We were able to take a sneak peak at the top 10 projects so far:

Tech4Good awards: The current leaderboard

Current ranking	Project name	Description
1	CodeYourFuture	CodeYourFuture is a free 6-month software development programme that teaches refugees the skills they need to become an entry-level developer.
2	TapSOS	TapSOS is a non – verbal method of contacting the Emergency Services. Designed in a highly visual manner, TapSOS simplifies the connection process in most stressful situations, allowing the user to understand and process vital information quickly and efficiently.
3	Be My Eyes	Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.
4	WayToB	WayToB is a wayfinding app for people with a learning disability, an estimated group of 1,087,100 people in England alone.
5	Graham Gunning (volunteer)	Graham, who has a visual impairment called Retinitis Pigmentosa and travels with a guide dog, provided one-to-one training to people living across the west of Scotland who have sight loss to learn and develop their digital skills on mobile technology such as tablets and smartphones.
6	Seeing AI	Seeing AI is a free app from Microsoft that narrates the visual world for the blind and low vision community.
7	Moment Health	Moment Health was Conceived with the aim to connect mothers with tools and knowledge needed to sustain good mental health and recover from illness.
8	Digital Voice For Communities	Over the past 10 years, social enterprise Digital Voice for Communities has designed and delivered a wide range of media projects to support marginalised individuals and groups – helping them to find and express their own unique ‘digital voice’.
9	Small Robot Company	Launched in November 2017, the Small Robot Company is re-imagining farming in the robotic age. By providing a service of small, precise and efficient robots, they plan to plant, feed and weed arable crops autonomously, with minimal waste.
10	Relias – Zero Suicide Allicance	Interactive eLearning course ‘Suicide, Let’s Talk’ is a collaboration between Relias, Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust and the Zero Suicide Alliance. The mission: to reduce the incidence of suicide and the stigma of talking about suicide.

Data gathered 4 June 2018

As we write, there’s still time to vote so take a look at the projects and get tweeting!

And if you’d like to find out more about using Brandwatch to track your own competition do get in touch.

Gemma Joyce

Head of Content

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