20 Simple Contest Ideas Proven to Promote Your Business

Are you looking for simple contest ideas to delight and excite your target audience?

Running a contest is an excellent way to boost brand awareness and generate quality leads for your business. Yet, it isn’t always easy to come up with contest ideas that will engage your audience.

That’s why in this article, we’ll share our favorite simple contest ideas so you can get started quickly.

Let’s look at how to create a simple contest before we start.

How to Create a Simple Contest

There are many ways to create a giveaway contest for your business. You can run a giveaway via social media, on a giveaway site, or from your business website.

Hosting your giveaway from your website is one of the best approaches because you can use giveaway tools to make the process easier.

RafflePress, for example, is the best giveaway plugin for WordPress. It lets you create any giveaway contest from your WordPress site without a complicated setup.

You can start with a giveaway template, then add your prize details, and entry options, and embed your giveaway on a distraction-free landing page. Even better, the drag-and-drop giveaway builder is a breeze and offers pretty much every entry action you can imagine, including:

• Social media sharing
• Social media following
• Newsletter subscriptions
• Website promotion
• And more

Follow this step-by-step guide to create an online contest with RafflePress.

Easy and Simple Contest Ideas

Now let’s look at the best simple contest ideas you can use to grow your business.

1. Surprise Random Followers

One of the easiest and simplest contest ideas is to pick one of your followers and surprise them with a free gift. It’s a totally unexpected gesture that shows your audience you value their support.

You could turn this into a regular, monthly contest where anyone who registers for your giveaway is automatically entered into your prize draw. That way, it takes minimal effort for them to take part.

Here’s an example of this type of contest in action from WPForms. Every month they post a new giveaway for their members to enter.

By using RafflePress to run their monthly giveaway, they can embed the giveaway widget right inside their WordPress website. Then it’s merely a case of sharing the giveaway page URL to encourage users to register and enter.

2. Comment to Win

Another simple contest idea is to run a comment contest and choose a winner randomly from all commenters.

Ciro UK ran this type of contest on Twitter where users had to leave a comment using the hashtag #tomatotuesday.

While this is a great way to drive tons of Twitter engagement, they could make their Twitter contest easier to manage by hosting it on their WordPress site with RafflePress.

With RafflePress’s “Grow Your Twitter Following” template, you can create a Twitter giveaway with actions to boost your Twitter profile automatically. By default, it includes the option to follow you on Twitter and tweet a custom message.

You can then use the “Leave a Comment” action to encourage users to comment on a specific tweet. Just paste the tweet’s URL and tell visitors to comment to enter. After, ask them to post their comment link to verify they entered.

Taking this approach makes it easier to see who entered your contest correctly and choose a winner. That’s because RafflePress keeps track of giveaway entries inside the plugin.

3. Simple Photo Contest

This simple contest idea is a great way to collect user-generated content (UGC). Just ask your customers to snap a photo that highlights your product or service and get them to share it.

You can choose the best photo as the winner or pick one at random to keep things fair. This type of contest is an excellent way to engage your existing customers, and it also promotes your brand to new potential customers.

RafflePress has an easy giveaway action to make photo contests like this super-easy.

Just host your giveaway on your WordPress site, and use the “Submit an Image” action to allow users to submit a photo.

4. Photo Voting Contest

You can make your photo contests even more enjoyable by letting your followers decide the winner for you. It works in 2 stages:

First, run a simple photo contest, as we described above, to create a winner shortlist.

Then once everyone has shared their photos, you can create a second contest, asking people to vote for the winner.

This is where RafflePress’s “Polls and Surveys” action can help.

Simply upload a photo grid of the shortlisted images, and ask people which one is best. They can then submit their favorite through the giveaway widget.

The photo contest winner could receive your grand prize, whereas you could pick a random winner for a smaller prize for anyone who voted.

5. Short Video Contest

Video generates a lot more interest on social media than images, so running a short video contest can skyrocket your engagement. It’s also an excellent way to boost YouTube likes and followers. For a chance to win, you can ask people to film a quick product review, testimonial, or even a funny home video.

Then they can upload their videos to a video hosting website like YouTube or even Facebook Live and post the link in your giveaway widget.

The “Invent Your Own” giveaway action in RafflePress is a great way to do this. You can edit the action title to “Post a Video” and write a description asking people to share their video link to enter.

6. Check-in to Win Contests

If you have a physical location for your business, you can create an online contest asking people to check-in on Facebook for a chance to win a prize.

This is a great way to boost your Facebook page’s visibility to new people and engage your existing fans.

You can ask participants to take a screenshot of their check-in post and upload it to your website via the Submit an Image action to verify their entry.

7. Product Customization Contest

Do you have a product that’s easy to customize and make your own? If so, why not run a customization contest? Ask your fans to customize or personalize your product and upload the result via your giveaway app.

You can then offer a prize to the most creative or original idea or ask your fans to vote for their favorite.

8. Simple Trivia Contest

This simple contest idea is one that any business can create.

Run a trivia contest where the correct answer wins. If more than 1 participant has the right answer, you can randomly choose a winner from valid entries with RafflePress’s random winner generator.

But, make sure the answer isn’t too easy; otherwise, people can Google to find the answer in a pinch. You should also ensure the question is related to your business to keep people focused on your brand.

9. Guessing Game Contest

Similar to the giveaway above is a contest that requires people to guess the answer to win. This is a great way to test your fan’s analytical powers and give them something fun and exciting to do.

For instance, you could fill a large jar full of jelly beans, take some photos from different angles, and ask users to guess how many are inside.

The winner with the correct guess could win the whole jar.

Try to keep the guessing game relevant to your brand. For instance, if you’re a beauty brand, you could fill a jar with individual eye shadows. Or, if you’re a sports brand, you could use golf balls.

10. Product Suggestion Contest

Want to grow your product line but don’t have any new ideas? Why not let your customers decide what you make next.

Run a giveaway asking users what products they’d like you to offer, and reward the best idea with a prize. You could even award the winner with the specific product they chose.

If you want people to use their creativity, have them design the product themselves, and submit the image to enter your contest.

11. Fun Caption Contest

A simple contest idea that’s almost always guaranteed to give your followers a good laugh is a caption contest.

Caption contests work by sharing an image with your audience and asking them to write a caption. You can then reward the best caption with your grand prize.

12. Easy Fill in the Blank Contest

Here’s another simple contest idea anyone can enter for a chance to win. A fill-in-the-blank contest is a simple sentence or phrase with a word missing. Users have to guess what that word is to complete the sentence.

This type of contest is super-easy to create with RafflePress.

Just add an image of your phrase with the “blank” to your giveaway widget’s prize image section. Then use the “Answer a Question” action to ask users what their caption is.

13. Do it Yourself (DIY) Contest

This simple contest idea is sure to get the creativity flowing, especially if people can use your products in DIY projects. It’s also a great way to get people to demonstrate things they’ve learned from your online courses or webinar.

Just ask people to upload a photo of their completed DIY project for the chance to win a prize. The prize could be a high-value gift card for your store or materials to help with their future projects.

You can even turn this type of contest into something requiring more effort by asking users to film their DIY as a tutorial. Then you can highlight the winning entry on your website and promote it on social media.

14. Refer a Friend Contest

Refer-a-friend contests are a fantastic way to encourage word of mouth marketing for your business. They work by requiring people to share your giveaway with friends for a chance to win your grand prize.

The more people that enter your giveaway, the more that people will see it and also enter. This can significantly improve your contest’s reach and introduce more people to your business.

Check out this article to learn how to run a referral contest.

15. Multi-platform Social Media Contest

Another way to get your giveaway in front of your target audience is to host it on your website and promote it on multiple social media platforms.

With social media contests like this, participants can then perform actions such as:

• Visiting your Facebook page
• Following you on Twitter
• Watching a YouTube video
• Posting a message on LinkedIn
• Following you on Pinterest
• And more.

As a result, you can grow your social media followers on more than 1 social network while driving traffic to your business website.

16. Logo Redesign Contest

Want to give your brand’s logo a refresh? Then get your fans involved and ask them to design a new logo for the chance to win a prize.

Participants can upload their design via your contest widget, making it easier for you to draw a winner. To secure more giveaway entries, you can ask them to share the contest on social media.

If you like, the grand prize could be seeing the winning logo in use on your website and online real-estate.

17. Seasonal Holiday Contest

Many brands use seasonal contests to generate excitement for holidays like Christmas, Easter, and Black Friday. At these times, people are usually looking for great deals, so a giveaway is a fantastic way to scratch that itch.

The nature of your contest depends on the season. Here a just a few holiday-themed contests you can run for your brand:

• Best dressed Christmas tree contest
• Easter bonnet contest
• Summer recipe contest
• Halloween costume contest

You can use RafflePress for all of these simple contest ideas. Just ask people to upload their photos via your giveaway widget to enter. Yet, make sure the giveaway prize you offer is worth the effort.

Here are some more summer contest ideas you might like.

18. Selfie Contest

A selfie contest is one of the best ways to promote your brand on Instagram and other photo-based social networks. They require asking participants to snap a selfie and share it for the chance to win a prize.

Typically, people would share the selfie in their Instagram stories or other posts on social media. But this is often messy and confusing.

Instead, host your selfie contest on your WordPress website and get people to upload the photo direct to your website. That way, you can see all the photo submissions in 1 place instead of hunting for them on social media.

You can still promote your contest easily on social media. Just publish your contest on a giveaway landing page and share the link with your audience.

19. Blog Post Writing Contest

If you want more people to talk about your brand online, why not host a blog post writing contest? Participants have to write a blog post about your chosen topic and publish it on their websites to enter.

This is an excellent solution for brands looking to promote their affiliate program, and it’s easy to implement with RafflePress.

Simply use the “Write a Blog Post” action and tell users what you’d like them to write. You can then ask them to post a link to their published blog post to qualify.

You can learn how to run a blog giveaway here.

20. Sports Event Contest

Is there a big sporting event coming up like the Super Bowl or Olympics? If there is, you can use the event to run a sports-related giveaway contest. 

You can ask people to:

• Predict the winner for the event
• Guess which team will score first
• Predict who will get the most gold medals
• And much more

After the event, you can randomly choose a winner from all the correct predictions and show the winners right inside your giveaway widget.

There you have it!

We hope this article helped you find some simple contest ideas to inspire your next giveaway and promote your business.

If you’re dreading the thought of contacting your contest losers, check out this guide on how to email non-winning giveaway contestants.

Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to follow us on YouTube, Twitter, and Facebook for more great tips and tutorials.