Kobo, the eBook retailer, wanted to boost its Twitter followers. So last summer it decided to hold a contest on Twitter and see how many followers it could add to the 4600 or so it had at the time. It offered to give away three Kobo eReaders in a drawing among people who followed Kobo on Twitter.
People who tweeted a book recommendation with the @Kobo tag received additional chances to win. For example, if you tweeted “Just read Freedom and I recommend it @Kobo” you increased your chances to win.
Marketing Sherpa Blog recently analyzed the contest and its results. The marketing effort lasted 10 days and was promoted on Twitter (using software from Offerpop, which monitored its progress), by email, a homepage banner, paid search ads, and on Facebook. It ended the contest after the 10-day promotion, randomly picked the three winners and congratulated them via Twitter. More importantly, it achieved these results:
o 43.5% increase in Twitter followers
o Reached about 500,000 Twitter users with tweets related to the campaign
o More engagement with Kobo’s audience
Even better, the contest reaped those rewards at very low cost. That’s marketing efficiency.
