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Consider the various campaign options and which ones will best help you meet your goals and objectives. ShortStack campaigns generally fall into the following categories:
Pro: Ease of entry allows you to build your email marketing lists quickly.
Pro: Contests allow for customer engagement through entry and voting. Plus, word-of-mouth marketing occurs when folks share their entries to help drum up votes.
Pro: Promote customer engagement and word-of-mouth marketing through sharing of outcomes.
Pro: Promote engagement through the creation of UGC (photos, videos, stories).
Pro: Build segmented lists based on your special offers and events.
Pro: Increase top-of-mind awareness of your products by making them front and center on your campaign.
You can customize your campaigns in many ways. As you create your plan, ask yourself which of the following options should be enabled or included:
Photo and video submissions
Do you want people to submit photos or videos as contest entries?
Photo and video galleries
Do you want to moderate entries before they appear in a gallery?
Text submissions
Do you want people to submit a caption, recipe, story, etc.
Referral points/extra entries
Do you want to reward entrants with referral points if they share a unique referral URL, which someone else clicks and submits an entry of their own?
Hashtag feeds
Do you want to pull in submitted entries simply by posting to Instagram using a specific hashtag in the post?
Downloadable content
(e.g., ebooks, white papers, etc.)
Discounts and coupons
Reservation forms
Newsletter signups
Event or entry countdowns
Surveys and polls
Testimonials
Publishing as a standalone landing page can:
Embedding to your website can:
Several elements will determine the date your campaign can go live, including:
Finalize contest concept
Campaign set-up
a. Considerations: artwork, copy, etc.
Campaign Testing
Campaign start date/time
Create promotion plan by EOD Write social media posts to be published during the campaign Write ads to be published during the campaign Write email messages to be shared at several points before, during and after the campaign
Publish campaign by EOD Time-based visibility settings will automatically start showing content at 8:00 A.M. on November 1 Send Campaign URL for published campaign for use in contest promotion — ads, emails, etc.
Final approval by EOD
Publish first posts on social media
Send list an email announcing contest
Analyze ad and social posting promotion efforts at least twice between these dates. Refine as needed.
Send email reminding people the contest entry period is coming to an end
End Date/Time
Select random winner
Contact winner via email
Contact non-winners via email
Winner announced
When collecting data, we recommend you set up forms with a small number of fields and collect only the most essential information. Most forms request:
However, you can add fields to request (or require) any information you want, such as a photo or someone’s age. You can also offer open-ended fields or make it easier for people to complete your form by using multiple-choice dropdown selections or radio buttons.
List field(s)
Allow people to choose a single answer from several options with radio buttons
Give entrants the option to choose one or more answers from a dropdown list
Text field(s)
Create a free-form text box to allow a written answer
List field(s)
Create a scale for people to rate your product or service with radio buttons
Let respondents choose from a set of answers using a dropdown
Text field(s)
Create a free-form text box to allow a written answer
List field(s)
Allow people to choose a single answer from several options with radio buttons
Give entrants the option to choose one or more answers from a dropdown list
Text field(s)
Create a free-form text box to allow a written answer
Media Upload field
Collect photo and or video submissions
Video URL field
Collect video submissions via links from Vimeo, YouTube or Instagram
Entry Description
Allows entrants to describe their entry
Entry Title
Asks entrants to provide a title for their entry
Text field
Allow individuals to write details without the limits of a smaller text field.
List field
Require users to choose a category for their reason for contacting your team.
ShortStack enables you to send participants autoresponders, follow-up emails and scheduled emails. We also offer additional marketing automation functions, like form integrations and automatic content display after form submission. As such, a part of your campaign planning should address questions such as:
IDEA: Send an autoresponder after form submission that includes:
IDEA: Use scheduled emails at various times throughout the campaign:
IDEA: Implement a follow-up email series where:
In addition to the scenarios above, you can use leads to:
Beyond form data, such as contact information, you may have additional KPIs you want to track. Be sure you know what these are before you launch your campaign so you have the appropriate tracking methods in place. Your KPIs might include:
After establishing your KPIs, determine how you will track the information. On our Pro Plan and higher plans, you’ll have access to ShortStack’s Advanced Analytics, which include:
Ensure your campaign reflects your brand. ShortStack allows you to customize the appearance of your campaign using our Style Panel.
Decide on appropriate fonts and colors for your campaign.
Choose appropriate images, photos and illustrations.
Do you have a brand style guide you’ll want to adhere to?
Will you add links to other marketing properties?
Have you seen promotions from other companies that feature elements you’d like to include?
Are there specific images that must be used?
How will you identify your company within the campaign, and where will you add your company’s logo?
Will you use a specific hashtag for your promotion?
Will you send autoresponders and/or scheduled emails?
Will you create a gallery of user-generated content?
When building a contest or giveaway for your brand, you’ll need to create a set of rules that abide by the regulations in your state/country.
Things to consider may include:
ShortStack offers a useful shortcut for you. Here’s a template you can use as a guide for writing your campaign rules.
In most cases, you will make this decision sooner in your online campaign design process. See Determine where you want the campaign to “live” earlier in this guide.
ShortStack will host your campaign. It’s up to you to determine where you want it to display. Options include:
As a result of running a ShortStack campaign, you’ll likely collect data and have the ability to track your promotion in real time via our analytics dashboard. We recommend:
Analyzing your campaign to see if you meet your KPIs will help you to measure the success of the campaign. It also helps to inform future campaigns. You can learn what went well with the campaign and where you can improve or update future marketing efforts to better reach your goals.
This helpful Getting Started Guide will show you exactly what you need to do to set up your campaign.
Prefer videos? We’ve got those, too.
If you still aren’t sure how to get started, please get in touch with the ShortStack customer support team.
We are available seven days a week to answer your questions and facilitate the creation of your promotions.
ShortStack also offers custom services. Our team of experts can guide you every step of the way and even build your campaign for you or your client.