Running a Meaningful Contest: Winners and Reflections

Last week I posted my half-way-point update on my Steemit goal. I am trying to stick to an aggressive blogging schedule for 100 days. With that post, I also announced a contest that sought to gather advice, hear feedback from my followers, and encourage others to set goals for themselves.

I had a great time reading the comments on my post and the posts from Steemians who set goals for themselves. From a business standpoint, I think contests or promotional campaigns are evaluated based on how effective the return is on investment is. I know I got some new followers through this contest. I know that I got some upvotes and resteems. But I am not coming anywhere close to "breaking even" on this post. And that is not a problem.

I come across a lot of "grab-bag" style contests floating around these days that pay out only what the post generates. Those are fine, I suppose. It just doesn't really jive with the kind of blog I want to have. I did not run this contest because I needed to get more back from upvotes than I am giving away. I ran this contest for three reasons.

1. I wanted to engage my followers and open a space for meaningful feedback.
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2. I wanted to keep myself accountable to my goal and to encourage others to create public goals.
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3. I like being generous.
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The last one is really important to me and I think it is easy to lose sight of. I know it is sad that I have to remind myself of this, but I truly want to actively pursue generosity for its own sake. This has helped.

Without further ado, here are the winners.

Category 1: What is your favorite post.

There were several great comments that really went into the details of why they connected with a particular post, so it was not easy. Nevertheless, I am selecting @ailenepm as the winner. She picked my Reckless Love post as her favorite. In her entry, she relates the concept of reckless love back to her childhood and expresses how difficult it often is to maintain that goal.

But, when things get tougher and problems pour in like rain, it seems that the love I feel for the people who matter to me, for my family for that matter is being reduced to a conditional love.

I couldn't agree more. Please look for 5 SBD (+.5 SBD resteem bonus) in your wallet! Congrats.

Honorable mentions: @drayhazz, @oyakhs4u, @lavanyalakshman, and @jakeybrown

Category 2: Set a goal for yourself.

There were only two posts under this category (If I missed any, please let me know), but they were both inspiring. The winning post is from @jakeybrown and can be found here. He set two really awesome goals for himself with his post. First, (which I'm totally jealous of) is to learn how to dance with his wife. With a one year old at home, they want to come out of hibernation and be more active while also having fun with it. I'm looking forward to tracking the updates. Second, he is challenging himself to a Whole30 challenge, which frankly is above my head a little. I don't have any experience with diets, but my understanding is that it is a pretty intense cleansing period where @jakeybrown will be required to cut out a lot of different types of foods. So be nice to him!

Please look for 5 SBD (+.5 SBD resteem bonus) in your wallet! Congrats and good luck.

Honorable mention: @ailenepm and her goals post

Category 3: Give me your best advice.

There is one comment that really stood out from all others in this category, and that is from @michaelluchies. From formatting suggestions, to vocabulary/sentence structure, to topics and titles, he provided me with some really constructive and instructive advice that has already started to influence my blogging. Consider these two excerpts:

On keeping it simple:

We want to learn and entertain when we read, but we do not want to break a sweat just to understand what it is that we're reading. Our mind wanders when something is complicated unless we're extremely dedicated to understanding it.

Regarding the focus of the blog:

Reading over your articles and going over your titles made me cringe a little bit because they are focused on you and not your reader … [E]very title and every topic should be about your ideal reader.

If you are also looking for advice, go check out the rest of the comment then head over to Michael's blog.

Please look for 5 SBD (+.5 SBD resteem bonus) in your wallet! Congrats.

Until next time, be blessed.

Sam

Image Source: Cool

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