Notes of Blondie Asian: Trying luck in Facebook - thanks to Think Tank Photo for winning experience

Think Tank Photo Facebook contest Airport 4-Sight Rolling Camera Bag

Working in Social Media and Marketing I got to know not only how does new on-line works and influences peoples' minds, thoughts and interests and drives actions, but also some hidden insights, that are not obvious to usual users of social platforms.

Literary being 8 hours per day in Facebook, I was very skeptical about all Fanpages contests, giveaways, competitions for most Likes and Shares. From simple pictures of cute babies with most "Likes" at communities pages for bored mums to almost junky spamming "Best deals" Fan Pages, all of them just wanted to get audience to spread the word in future or just combine database of people by getting access to their contact information and basic features. Using this database they could filter and target audiences spotting those, who are likely to buy their or partners' products. There were common cases, when that databases were used not only to promote partners, but were just simply sold to third parties for further usage. The rules are simple - by Liking and Sharing Pages we allow page owners to access our personal data and sometimes even our friends lists. Moreover, games and applications will ask your permission to post from your behalf on your wall, that will appear in News Feed of your friends...

Knowing all this, I never participated in contests, just because I never was 'game on' person risking my image in eyes of my friends for unknown prizes. I'm also not patient enough to spam my friends and family every day or even every hour trying to get the 'most likes' for my page, picture or post. Also not being lucky in general, I never won anything off-line and dropped idea to participate in any lucky draws long time ago. And last, I knew, that the winner is pre-chosen quite often, especially for big prizes, public media involved competitions and status image events.

So it was my position until last two days. And here is the story finally begins with me meeting friend Vincent at the conference for work. We bumped accidentally into each other that morning and set together in hall for opening keynote speech. As the talk went for another half hour, I noticed, that Vincent is simply sitting in his smartphone and Liking and Sharing numerous giveaways, hotel stays and other stuff - from cosmetic and toy sets to smartphones and weird products. I knew, that Vincent was flooding my News Feed everyday with all this "Liked and Shared" posts, so I went on and asked him, how often he actually wins, and surprisingly he said, that once a week. Well, considering 20 shares every morning, it's possible to have chance and get something back, but what would it be? Set of transformers, that I'm single girl, don't need at all... Or stay in hotel, to use which I need to buy flight tickets... Then I suddenly remembered, that couple of weeks back I saw, that Vincent won 'dinner for two' in high-end restaurant with budget of couple hundred dollars, and my thought was, well I wouldn't mind to have it as well. Then Vincent shared, that recently he got hotel stay, laptop, mobile phone, tablet, concert and movie tickets, jewelry, overseas trip, cash, vouchers with average win every week and big prizes every two-three months... With all this my ardor started to heat up, and all my thoughts were, why not me? But how do I get to know about all those contests. The answer was simple, just follow updates from Vincent and share and like all, that he posts. And he does exactly the same, getting updates in News Feed from friends, who participate in other contests. So word of mouth or literary News Feed actually works spreading information about pages and brands. Ok, that day I entered couple of contests, liking and sharing posts. I was selective and only choosen goods, that I'd like to have. Not being sure, how does it work, I also tried not to sound spamming keeping in mind, that my friends will see that re-posts in their feeds. So instead of "liked and shared" comments, I put some personal notes, explaining my excitement in case I get to win. I also kept in mind, that my posts are automatically re-posted in Twitter, so I even used hashtags, despite they were Facebook posts. Think Tank Photo contest was one those, I entered, as they were giving away four Airport 4-Sight Rolling Camera Bags, that are just perfect for travel junkies, who I actually am.

Winners of Think Tank Photo Facebook contest
Airport 4-Sight Rolling Camera Bag

Ok, next morning I got a message from Vincent suggesting to check Think Tank Photo Fanpage, as I won some prize from them. First, I couldn't believe in it and thought even so, there are thousands excuses not to give actual prizes to the end. I got a little bit worried, because the shop didn't have any representatives in Singapore, so almost with excuse I wrote to contact person, that I'm miles away from US, based in Asia, and how can I get my prize... And I couldn't believe my eyes, when in half an hour I got reply asking for my address for my camera bag to be shipped to me. I even had a nice chat with Simon, who managed the contest, and today morning I got mail from shipping company with my order number and link to track my shipment. All this is still unreal for me, but very exciting, because camera bag is really something I wanted to have with all my trips across Asia every two weeks, with my hobby to take thousands pictures on the go, from local buses in Sri-Lanka, three-wheels in Indonesia, fisherman boats in Vietnam... And my next trips are booked with Jakarta coming next weekend. What can be more exciting, than to wait and try my new bag?

After all, I enjoyed my unexpected luck and, I'm still amazed by amount of coincidence, that led to win. Did I change my behavior in Facebook? Definitely, yes. I started to pay attention to those posts of contests, that offer something I might want to have - consumer electronics, cosmetics, flights and hotel stays, dinners are in my list, but I still don't want to flood my friends News Feed with kids stuff or diet nutrition. I also noticed, that Think Tank Photo contest wasn't just "Like and Share without thinking" type, as they were continuously stimulating fans to participate by publishing additional posts about bags, that were given away. For example, Youtube video review from photographer Jim Fets, who was sharing his experience of using the bag. Stimulating questions on Facebook page also encouraged fans to think and answer, what they can put instead of camera into that bag in case they win. It was very interactive all the way, not just one "Like, Share and Forget". I found, that most of the people participating, already were not only fans of Fanpage, but real customers, who were sharing their consumer experience and attitude to find out more about new products and buy it. People were congratulating winners, so I didn't feel as they just took part in a random contest not even thinking about product or brand they are applying for.

Think Tank Photo Facebook contest Citywalker bag giveaway

After all, when I thank Vincent for bringing me luck, he asked me to reply his friend, who was complaining about spam and who was aggressively asking, when Vincent finally will win full house of stuff and stop spamming I put my five cents to defend my friend, and best advice I can give to all, who complain, is to adjust their News Feed settings, by choosing "only important" news from particular friend or even certain type of friends' updates you want to be notified about. I still don't appreciate spamming about nothing, but I'm going to try my luck and change for free my old school Nokia to something more trending. Also, just today morning I noticed new post from Think Tank Photo - they give away Citiwalker 10,20,30 shoulder bags, and this time the task is harder! You need not only to Like Think Tank Facebook Page, but also follow them on Twitter and to comment, which bag, you would like to get and why at Think Tank Photo Blog. Of course, my friend Vincent already completed the task, so did I, because it's never enough of bags for busy girls and it's all about luck, isn't it ;) Good luck! Contest is up until 9pm on the 9th of April.

And I definitely gonna update you, when I get my prize and try it for my trips. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile, check, how models prove power of Social Media, getting 'most Likes' at their photos. I was writing about it, when I was covering my first model experience with Noel Caleb Jonah fashion collection launch.

Update:

On the 16th of April, after lunch I saw huge boz on my table. OMG, I couldn't wait until everybody will leave the office and I finally opened the box, feeling like a kid unwrapping Christmas present! Thanks ThinkTankPhoto for a bag! I can use it for my endless trips around Asia... need to book tickets now!