Social media contests can help provide exposure for a builder’s homes as well as increase website traffic and grow an online audience. More and more home buyers are using the internet and social media to help them make decisions throughout the buying process. Therefore, it’s important for you to make an impression in the places they are doing research. One way to do this is by creating fun and enticing social media contests to engage buyers. Here are some contests any home builder can implement into their social media campaign.

“Name That Community”Contest: This is a creative and bold contest implemented by David Weekley Homes.  Here’s the idea: If your company focuses on community builds, ask followers to help name a community that is in the works in a specific area. Provide a short list of potential community names or ask followers to submit their own creative ideas.

This contest would have great success on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Google+. Creating a landing page for this contest requiring users to choose or submit their idea while providing minimum personal information is best practice. This will give you the details needed to qualify the follower as a lead.

Instagram Sold Home Contest: Instagram is a network interlinked with images. It’s hashtag system works like Twitter’s to sort relevant images on the network. Many Instagram contests focus on having followers post images relevant to a specific hashtag. For example, this National Geographic contest asks followers to submit their Images of the Untamed Americas using the hashtag #untamedamericas.

Home builders can use this same tactic on Instagram by creating hashtags that include the company name and the subject. For example, John Doe Homes could start a contest asking for images of their new home owners in front of their homes with a sold sign. They could then tell participants to tag the picture on Instagram with a creative hashtag like, #MyDoeDreamHome.  These pictures would show other potential buyers how happy your home owners are, bringing awareness to your company, communities and homes.

Twitter Creative Hashtag/Slogan Contest: Check out this contest idea from KFC. The fast-food company was offering a scholarship to the person with the most creative response to a tweet using the hashtag #KFCScholar. Here is one of the responses they received.

The same tactics can be used by builders. Builders can ask followers to respond to an image or hashtag explaining their opinion on the topic or why they deserve to win the prize. Builders can also provide an image and ask followers to reply with their own creative hashtag for a chance to win a prize.

These are just a few ideas builders can use to create social media contests that will engage and inspire followers to visit your site. Creating fun contests that provide an incentive for followers can help your company gain valuable brand awareness and exposure for the beautiful homes you build.