Are Twitter Contests Winners for Businesses?

A few days ago, I heard some friends talking about trending topics on Twitter and they said they were surprised that #moonfruit had made it to a top spot.  No one had ever heard of it, and it seemed that it was the result of a contest in which a Macbook Pro was being given away. Just hearing about it, it sounded like one of those too-good-to-be-true contests that abound on the Web.  But today, The Wall Street Journal, clarified things a bit for me.

It turns out, that #moonfruit, a building company, really was giving away 10 Macbook Pros and that the contest actually increased trials of their product three-fold and paying customers by 20%.  I’m a strong believer the power of Twitter to communicate with customers and raise brand awareness, but I was amazed by this concrete example of its ability to generate revenue for a small business.

So, have you tried a Twitter contest for your company or organization?  Here are some tips:

• Choose a prize that fits your brand image (and that people really want)
• Make it easy, keep instructions simple and hashtags short (for easy RTing)
• Continue to engage new followers after the contest is over

Let us know how Twitter contests have worked for you!