ShortStack: Valentine's Day Social Media Contest Ideas | Martech Zone (2024)

Valentine’s Day is almost upon us, and it’s time to roll out those Valentine’s promotions!

Over half of consumers plan to celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, on par with 52% last year. Overall, consumers plan to spend $25.8 billion to celebrate Valentine’s Day, on par with last year’s spending and the third highest in the survey’s history.

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You should schedule some timely social media campaigns as you ramp up your efforts. ShortStack is an affordable Facebook App and Contest platform for designers, small businesses, and agencies. ShortStack developed this infographic with some great Valentine’s Day Facebook contest ideas… it’s a great list that still stands the test of time.

Valentine’s Day Contests to Gather User-Generated Content

• Who’s your Valentine’s Contest? Ask fans to post photos of themselves with their pets, kids, or significant other.
• Valentine’s Day Craft or Decoration Contest – Ask fans to upload photos of their best homemade Valentine’s Day decoration.
• Valentine’s Day Video Contest – Ask fans to do a short (e.g. Instagram) video that sums up their ideal Valentine’s Day date/celebration.
• Show the Love Photo Contest – Ask fans to post photos of themselves interacting with your product or business.

Valentine’s Day Contests To Gain Insight From Customers

• Sweet Treat Recipe Contest – Entrants upload their favorite Valentine’s Day-themed recipe with a photo.
• Storytelling Contest – Ask your fans to share stories about how they met or proposed to their significant other.
• Love Letter Contest – Ask your fans to write a love letter about your products or services.

Valentine’s Day Contests To Engage Fans and Followers

Social media is a great place to ask questions to garner responses. Try any of these Finish This posts on Twitter or Facebook:

• Finish this: “The best love song ever written is ______”
• Finish this: “The most romantic movie is ______”
• Finish this: “The most romantic date I’ve ever been on was ______”
• Finish this: “If my life were a romantic comedy, it would be ______”

Have your followers pick a winner through the number of likes, or pick a random winner!

Valentine’s Day Contests to Get Repeated Engagement

• A Product-a-Day Giveaway – line up prizes for each day of your giveaway.
• A Promotion-a-Day Giveaway – reveal a unique promotion code for a discount or free shipping that expires at the end of each giveaway day.
• A Combination Giveaway – Share products and digital prizes (coupons, discounts, promo codes) throughout your multi-day giveaway.

Most of these contests are hosted on your brand’s social media accounts… some on your customers’, fans’, or followers’. If you want to collect data from the contest quickly, use a comment/like importer tool, or host the contest on a platform like ShortStack.

Either way, offer up a prize your fan base will appreciate, and they will LOVE you. If you incentivize sharing, increasing their chances of winning, they’ll love you even more.

Host Your Valentine’s Day Contest On ShortStack

ShortStack is a great platform to plan and execute your social media contests, including:

• Comment to Enter Contests – Use ShortStack to instantly pull in all the comments made on your Facebook and Instagram posts. Entries include the commenter’s username, the comment they left, and a link to the comment. Use our random entry selector to draw one or multiple winners, then announce the winners on your Facebook Page and Instagram profile. Plus, you can also pull in post Likes as entries on Facebook.
• Branded Hashtag Contests – A hashtag contest is the simplest way to gather user-generated content (UGC), increase brand awareness, and reach a new audience. It’s easier than ever to feature moderated UGC on your website, and anyone can use a hashtag to participate in your contest. And people who participate in UGC campaigns are more likely to become customers.
• Twitter Retweet or Hashtag Contests – Allow fans to participate in your contest without ever leaving Twitter. Ask entrants to post to Twitter with their unique contest hashtag, and those posts will be collected in ShortStack as entries. Every post will spread the word about your campaign, increasing your brand’s exposure.
• Instagram Mention Contests – Allow fans to submit to your contest without ever leaving Instagram. Simply ask entrants to post to Instagram and include both your unique contest hashtag and the @mention of your Instagram business profile, and those posts will be collected in ShortStack as entries. Every post will spread your unique hashtag and Instagram profile via an @mention, increasing your brand’s exposure.
• TikTok Video Contests – Fans of TikTok know how fun it is to create and share videos on the platform. Now, you can get in on the action and ask contest participants to submit a TikTok video via your entry form to enter. This allows you to collect valuable UGC and lead information, like email addresses and names from entrants.

Plan Your Valentine’s Day Contest Now!

Video Overview of the ShortStack Platform

Here’s the infographic that details the Contest Ideas for Valentine’s Day:

Disclosure: We have an affiliate link for Shortstack.