Social Contest at the 2014 #LLSMC

In my last post, I discussed lessons learned from our previous social media conferences. This post is about a contest LIMRA and LOMA will conduct at our next social media conference, August 20-22 in Boston, MA. Let’s see if the contest will be a success, or something to file under the category of “lessons learned” for a future post. Either way, I will be happy to share what we learn along the way.

The idea is simple. People will compete to see who can create the best social media post, given a set of rules we will communicate at the conference. “Best” will be determined by the raw number of likes / shares / re-Tweets. We will have three winners, who will each receive copies of Randi Zuckerberg’s books Dot Complicated and Dot. Since the contest will be held together by a hashtag, the eligible platforms will be Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. By the way, this contest is separate from the #SilverBowlAwards.

We will communicate the rules and hashtag for the contest on Wednesday, August 20 as we open the conference and again on the morning of Thursday, August 21. The contest will close at 7 am ET, on Friday August 22. The winners will be announced prior to the closing panel on Friday, August 22. Entry time will be determined by the time-stamp on the post.

The purpose of the contest is to both help unleash and demonstrate the creativity of the financial services industry in the context of social media. Entries can include text, pictures and video; will need to promote financial services; and should demonstrate knowledge of what is currently happening in social media.

To prepare for the contest, participants should:

• Set up an account for the contest or designate a personal account to be used for the contest
• Review current trends in social media
• Decide what concept, service or product to feature
• Identify resources

Social media use by financial services companies has clearly evolved over the past four years. Let’s see how far we have come.

Your feedback is welcome. If you have any ideas which can help us run a more successful contest, please use the comments section below.

I hope to see you in Boston, August 20-22 for the 5 annual Social Media Conference for Financial Services! Details and registration information are available here.

Yours truly,

Stephen

PS: For more information about the conference keynote presenter, Randi Zuckerberg, and her books, Dot Complicated, and Dot, visit her website: https://zuckerbergmedia.com/