The great Twitter competition from the Twitter Experts

Competitions used to be a fantastic way of alerting your customers to a new product or service that you are about to launch, however do they still work? Even though we are in the middle of a pretty devastating recession, it seems everyone has the latest gadget and can afford to buy the best plasma TV so what could you possibly give away that people would care about? Do people even bother with competitions anyway? Well, it seems many people do and if you can add some value to it by giving something away that people actually want or is seen as valuable - you can really rope in the publicity and the customers. You can also be a little bit clever with your marketing and use new technology such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Many companies offer free gifts in return for doing something really simple, but what about giving away something with business value? Well, many small businesses are struggling at the moment and as we all know, when a business is on the ropes, the first thing the owners usually invest in is a new brand or logo, but would that actually 'sell'? I researched it and it appears it works - and how! Competitions are won and lost by the value of the prizes, but value is very subjective and if you can offer something that a company would very likely have to spend a lot of money on then you are likely to create a 'buzz'.

The service industry is an odd thing, it is intangible and most costs are invisible to the purchaser with the inevitable outcome that those with little knowledge think it is therefore extremely expensive. The news is littered with companies spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on re-brands, who can remember 'British Telecom' becoming 'BT'?

And so it seems that a great way to deliver value is to deliver something that provides an intangible value. This might sound flippant, but there is another way to think about this. Let's take the 'BT/British Telecom' example. At the time is looked like a ridiculous waste of money, however there have been huge benefits in its ability to be a global brand. Simply taking off the 'British' has actually allowed the company to thrive in countries other than the UK and it is now a global force rather than simply a national one. So, if you're thinking of offering a competition prize, consider something that will last longer than your average MP3 player or DVD, think of something that can actually provide value to a company far greater than the perceived cost of the service you give. But what about the method of delivery? What if you could reach all these new customers in a way other than the traditional 'write it on a postcard' style?

Well, new technology is really starting to kick in now and whereas most think that a mobile phone 'text-in' competition is cutting edge, there is a new type of customer that reacts to something else. If you want to be at the forefront you really need to use the latest technology and the very latest is the incredibly popular Twitter. As with all competitions, it can be used as a way of gaining more popularity, or in Twitter terms, 'Followers'. The reason being, the more people you have following you, the easier to market to those people. But you need to bear a few things in mind when doing it. Be honest

Social networks hate it when people try to bend the rules. You really need to be totally honest with people and say "We are trying to gain more followers". Don't try to explain it away as anything other than an attempt to help yourself. Sure, give people some benefit to joining and taking part in the competition, but don't make that the whole point of the message. Give a decent prize

Nobody really wants an MP3 player, they've all got them. Make it something that is low cost to you but has potential high cost to your customer. Intangible benefit usually comes with the greatest value. Keep people in the loop

The problem with Twitter is that your message is sent and then it goes away. You need to keep 'tweeting' your message in different timezones so as many people as possible read it. And there you go! Use these new technologies and you can vastly increase your reach, build a huge Twitter following and most importantly, sell more.

Andy Calloway is the director of SEO Training at Calloway Green Ltd, a web development and SEO consultancy in the West Midlands, UK. We provide a wide range of SEO services and search engine optimisation to businesses of all sizes.

Check out our Twitter Competition to see how you can win a new logo for your company, simply by following Chris Green on Twitter!