How do I run a best-of/readers choice contest?
Below are the simple step-by-step instructions to running a local Best-Of or Readers-Choice contest on your website. If you are looking to run a photo or essay contest on your website you're in the wrong place, you'll find the tutorial here.
Here is a video overview, you can scroll down for a written overview.
A couple of things to note about running your Best-Of contest:
- Only listings in the directory can be voted for i.e. if a business wants to win they must have a least a free listing and this process won't let voters choose "people" i.e. best waiter, bartender, etcetera however you can combine this directory based voting with a ballot to get the best of both worlds
- People must be signed in to vote
- You will be able to export the results and see who voted for which listings
- You'll create the categories (the categories used in the directory itself are not used) and the message a voter sees after voting - encourage them to share and vote for other favorites
- You should create an article that explains the rules/process and then links both to the directory for people to vote and to /places for people to register to be eligible to win - encourage people to promote themselves by sharing their listings on social media and via email
With that preface complete, you can start building your contest. Only Site Admins are able to create or administer these contests and do so by clicking Manage > RCA Contest > New Contest.
Once you click New Contest you can configure your contest details. Like everything with our system, we try to keep configuration to a minimum simply enter the information like you see below and you're done. The contest overview will appear on every listing in the directory during the contest period you select however the vote button will only appear on listings in eligible categories.
Keep in mind that you will want to craft a simple article to include instructions and pertinent links for easy sharing to social media and promotion.
After your campaign is created start promoting it to local businesses to help them understand their roll and how they can promote themselves to increase their odds of winning.