At the company’s office, the small marketing team watches engagement figures plummet and webiste traffic decline as summer approaches. Frustrating though it is, this situation is common: brands see a drop in engagement on their platforms during this period. Summer competition ideas con compensate for this decline.
Summer offers unique opportunities to re-engage audiences. By adapting their marketing strategy and proposing fun, relevant content, brands con maintain the link with their community and prepare for the return to school. In this guide, we’ll be sharing summer competition ideas to liven up you summer audience and turn this period into a growth lever.
Summer: a key period for engaging your audience
Summer is perceived as a slow period in digital marketing. Yet this season represents an opportunity to strengthen the bond with your audience. Brands can take advantage of fun mechanisms such as competitions. These interactive formats make it easier to capture and hold the attention of your community, enven during the summer months!
A less connected, but still receptive audience
With people going on holiday and work slowing down, they are spending less time on traditional channels such as email or websites. On the other hand, they remain active on social networks such as Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, where they share their moments of relaxation. Our summer competition ideas, which are easy to play and share, enable brands to capture the attention of their audience where they are (and even expand their audience) while adapting to their new uses.
A change in needs and location
During the summer, consumers’ desires change. Generally speaking, they are looking for entertainment, offers tailored to their holidays and light, interactive experiences. What’s more, their location varies, from beaches to mountains to international destinations, which changes the way they consume and interact with brands. By offering games adapted to this period (such as a holiday photo competition or instant wins on summer products, etc.), companies can remain present in the minds of their community while meeting their expectations at the time.
Keep in touch with ideas for summer competitions to prepare for the new school year
While some brands slow down their communications in the summer, those that continue to engage their audience are ahead of the game for the autumn. A well thought-out competition not only increases brand visibility, but also collects new qualified leads, builds loyalty among existing customers and generates traffic to points of sale or websites. What’s more, a gamification strategy in July-August eases the transition to more commercial campaigns in September, when the audience is back and more available.
5 mechanisms and summer competition ideas to stimulate your audience this summer
Summer is a great time to engage your community with interactive and entertaining competitions. Gamified marketing, or the use of games in communications, is perfectly suited to consumers’ summer expectations and behaviour. Here are five effective formats to use to boost engagement and achieve your marketing objectives this summer.
1. Instant wins to capture the attention of your audience
Why adopt it?
This format is based on the principle of immediate reward: users find out instantly whether they have won (or not) after taking part. Easy to set up and ultra-fast, Instant Win is perfect for capturing the attention of a mobile audience, especially on mobile phones.
Marketing objectives
- Boost awareness of a product or a summer offer
- Générer du trafic en magasin ou sur un site e-commerce (en distribuant des coupons de réduction)
- Build community loyalty with an instant, engaging experience
Practical advice
- Offer prizes tailored to the summer season (holidays, beach accessories, vouchers, etc.)
- Define strategic time slots to maximise engagement (e.g. late afternoon when users are returning from the beach)
- Limit the number of entries per day to encourage users to return regularly
2. The Quiz to engage and educate your community
Why adopt it?
Quizzes are fun, interactive ways of capturing attention while conveying information about a product or a theme related to your brand. They are ideal for raising awareness in an engaging way.
Marketing objectives
- Increase engagement and time spent on your site or application
- Collect qualified data by segmenting participants according to their responses
- Interactive discovery of new products
Practical advice
- Opt for a holiday-themed quiz
- Add a challenge with a scoring system or a draw among the correct answers to make the experience more captivating
- Encourage sharing by offering extra chances to participants who share this summer competition on their networks.
3. The Wheel of Chance to generate traffic to your points of sale
Why adopt it? Easy to play, the Wheel of Fortune attracts a wide audience thanks to its fun aspect and immediate gratification. It’s based on a random mechanism that creates excitement for participants.
Marketing objectives
- Stimulate interaction with the brand
- Increase traffic to a site or point of sale (by distributing vouchers, for example)
- Build customer loyalty by rewarding the most active customers with exclusive offers
Practical advice
- Ensure a good balance between attractive prizes and consolation prizes to maintain interest
- Go for a colourful design to reinforce the fun, summery look
- Link the wheel to a lead-gathering or opt-in mechanism by asking participants to enter their email address before playing the game
4. The Photo contest to animate your brand community
5. The Summer Calendar to build audience loyalty
Why adopt it? Inspired by the Advent Calendar concept, this summer competition allows participants to try their luck every day for a given period. It encourages recurrence and creates a daily rendezvous with the brand.
Marketing objectives
- Build audience loyalty and encourage regular visits to a site or application
- Maximise data collection by encouraging repeat participation
- Extending the commitment throughout the summer period
Practical advice
- Offer a variety of mini-games every day (quizzes,
Summer is an ideal time to stimulate your audience with competitions tailored to consumers’ summer habits. Whether you’re looking to boost brand awareness, build customer loyalty or generate traffic, the mechanics offered by Socialshaker make it easy to create and share your gamified campaigns. Remember to adapt your prizes, visuals and messages to the summer environment to maximise the impact of your summer competitions and maintain a strong relationship with your audience, even during the holidays!
