Scale-up your business awards success with these social media strategies.

If you’re serious about marketing your business, awards are a huge opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked. You may be thinking “my business isn’t ready to enter an award”, however you’d be surprised how many award categories there are just for start-ups. 

So what does this have to do with social media, I hear you ask! Admittedly there are some businesses who may be encouraged to enter an award, if they’re a finalist, they turn up on the day, have a photograph and that’s the end of it. But how many opportunities for publicity and profiling have been missed if you don’t shout from the rooftops every step of the way about being nominated, being shortlisted, becoming a finalist and maybe, and staying positive here…. winning!!

Which awards are right for you?

So let’s start at the beginning, check out some of the awards that are available for your business to enter, there are so many that are general and based on size or location of business, and also those you’ll find which are sector specific. Have you looked on social media to see which awards create the most noise? This may be the option for you because there’s a lot of engagement simply waiting for you to take part in. 

Once you’ve chosen the awards you want to apply for - check the costs involved. I’d advise only to enter those that are free (if there’s a charge to enter that’s a red flag to me), but further down the line, there will be tickets to purchase and outfits to buy - yes, even those virtual ones everyone is dressing up for! If you’re going all in, think of these costs as a marketing expense and then make that investment work for you tenfold by maxing out on your social media.

Get social

Start connecting with the awards themselves on social, and “stalking” others who’re taking part. Twitter is a great platform for this as you can easily trace connections and then find them on your other social media platforms. I’d suggest opening up a google sheet to add in the handles for each platform so that you’re not continually searching for people - yes, I’ve done that many times and I’ve learnt the hard way - you don’t need to!

Has a hashtag been set up for the awards you’ve entered? Did you know that if you search that hashtag, all the other users who have interacted with it can be found? (This is one for LinkedIn, instagram and Twitter as the hashtags aren’t effective on facebook). It’s a great instant way for you to track down and connect with everyone else who is involved with the awards in some way. Get following and interacting, creating your list on twitter and saving the handles to your google sheet.

If you’re daunted by the application process, why not enlist some help? We’re often not so good about telling everyone how brilliant we are, and worry about being seen to brag, so consider an award writer to help you through that.  They’ll listen to your story and showcase your award-worthy elements - you know you have them really, don’t you? 

Join the business awards community

Having been involved in awards on both sides, I know the organisers love it when businesses engage with them on social and will be happy to engage back - I’m not saying that will influence the outcome (!) but everyone wants a higher profile and, particularly when you’re a small business, it feels good to be part of something bigger. So use your social media accounts to let everyone know that you’re entering and become part of that award organisation’s community - there are some great networking opportunities to be had here and also you’re mixing with businesses who have the ambition to be something more, just like you - a melting pot for innovation and collaboration!

Once you’ve been shortlisted - and let’s have a positive focus - you may be given a logo to share. You can really go to town with that (and make sure it’s on the bottom of your email signature too!) and share on all your platforms. 

Have you checked who the sponsors for your event are yet? Particularly for any categories that you’ve entered, but why not follow and engage with them all and thank them for sponsoring. I’m sure they will be just as interested to find out more about you as understanding that you want to know more about them. Remember why sponsors sponsor - to get in front of more businesses like yours - they love the connection too. You now have some more social media handles to add to your google sheet!

Find the business journalists on social media 

Do you have local press contacts? Journalists mainly hang out on twitter, so that’s the place to look for them. Tag them and local news/radio outlets in your posts to get their attention. It may not fit their news story on that day but once they notice you, you’ll get more opportunities. Remember, don’t expect success with your first touch point, relationships take time to develop. Be prepared to like and engage with a few of their other posts too.

If these awards are forward thinking there will be a gathering to celebrate the next stage. The announcement of the finalists! You can see where we’re going with this can’t you? Let everyone know that you’ve been announced as a finalist - I know it’s not part of the social media strategy but write a press release and share your news to everyone.

With a period of up to a month (it’s not usually any longer) you’ll have the chance to mention that you’re a finalist again and again and tag in others (remember you’ve collected all their handles above?) to keep that momentum going up until the day of the event. Don’t forget to encourage other finalists along the way, show that it’s not all about you, but that you’re building others up around you. There’s a saying that you’re the sum of the 5 people closest to you - so ensure you are surrounding yourself with creative (and I’m not referring to artistic here, but people who find creative ways to improve their businesses), big-hearted businesses and you won’t go far wrong. 

Remember pictures, pictures, pictures for your content!

You’ll probably need to set aside the whole day of the Awards event to social media (as well as attending and taking part) but the visibility you will have built up for you,  your business and maybe your team if you have one, will attract attention to you. Potential new clients and potential new staff are attracted to award-winners, so use this positioning to your advantage. Please ensure you take plenty of images along the way! It’s easy to get caught up in the moment - some awards organisers will supply you with imagery but capture the feelings of the day, the emotion of did you win and being happy for those around you who have won. Video, video, video - these videos will be gold dust for you to use on the day and afterwards, how often do you get a nice image that pops up as a “throwback” or “on this day” - you can relive your experiences and success stories again and again! 

When you post all this activity on social media, you’ll find others congratulating you who you haven’t been in touch with for a while - ensure you respond to every comment, send direct messages to those who you’ve not spoken to for a while - have you tried the voice messaging options yet? Think about how flat a written message can be, yet if you’re excited, how infectious can that excitement be? People will love to be a part of that, even if only for a second and you know you’ll put a smile on their faces! 

How does it make you feel?

I saw a post on LinkedIn this week, where someone, who was not my connection, had posted a video to let everyone know she had been made an MBE! She was so excited and it grabbed me, as I’m sure it did many others. I couldn’t help but post in her comments, as she made me feel good - and it had nothing to do with me. Think about how you react when you see someone over the moon - unless you’re a cold soul, I’ll wager you have a little smile and it lifts you up, even if for a moment? Just imagine having that effect on all the people who see your video posts. You know, I reached out to connect with the lovely lady in question above and connected her to someone in my network, who I could see a perfect collaboration unfolding for …… I have a good feeling something amazing will come out of it.

So you’ve won!....or maybe you didn’t, but it doesn’t matter! It’s being there, sharing the space with all those other businesses that have been deemed finalists and putting yourself and your business out there that helps you grow. One of the challenges with entering awards is getting all your information and stories down on that application like where you’ve started from and where you’re aiming for, so it really makes you examine your processes, highlight places you could improve and think about your goals - all great business practice. 

Post-awards content for your social feed

You now have more content to use in your social media, you have your photos, videos, stories of how it all felt and engagement with all those other fabulous businesses, which you must continue. Any of these businesses - sponsors, other finalists or those simply following you on social - could be your next client, look after them well. 

So the next time Awards are mentioned to you, think about how you can capitalise on the marketing power they could provide to your business and also….. Stop hiding your light under a bushel and be open, loud and proud about the amazing work you do and be publicly recognised for it! 

I’d love to know if you have any further tips on how to maximise your awards journey, so please feel free to leave them in the comments below.

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