What should I do for my Twitter contest this Friday?!

Ben & Jerry's has given me 25 coupons for their new Flipped Out sundae product to give out to my Twitter followers in some sort of contest this Friday. I get to choose the format of the contest, but they suggest doing something like post a "flipped out" Tweet using FlipMyText or link to a "flipped out" remix song (whatever that is). Problem is, that's the type of Twitter contest they've been holding and I want to do something different.

If I had more time I'd turn some graphics upside down on my site and have some kind of scavenger hunt...

Ideas that include more traffic to my site are best I have to run the idea by them tomorrow!

 

I found some articles with general advice on holding Twitter contests, but as far as finding a way to make mine unique, so far the best idea I've had is to ask people to come up with a short rhyme involving the words "flipped out". Back to the drawing board...
http://www.socialsignal.com/blog/al...contests-build-followers-and-brand-visibility

 

A few things I've learned from this giveaway:

1. People view a non-corporate account giving out a branded item with a little bit of suspicion, and some didn't want to enter the competition for fear I would do something nefarious with their address. (In reality I wasn't collecting addresses, I just referred them to a special email address with my authorization to collect their coupon, Ben & Jerry will be handling their addresses.)

2. Some people are reluctant to do anything resembling work for a small prize like a sundae coupon. The successful ones among my fellow giveaway hosts were the ones that asked for something simple, like a retweet. The fellow who did set up a scavenger hunt type deal (like my original idea) had an even harder time giving out the coupons.

3. People don't read instructions, and expect their reward for getting half the job done.

4. People will follow your account because of the giveaway, but that doesn't mean they'll enter. (Mission accomplished, I think?)

All in all, it was a good experience, though I spent the better part of the day on it. It would be interesting to try it again same time next year and see if more people are willing to enter.

 

So basically, it sort of worked out?

 

Well, I managed to give away about 15 out of 25 coupons; I was expecting them to go like hotcakes considering I had about 50 new people follow me from my advertising the giveaway.