So every year, I like to touch base with last year’s Lumen Photography Contest 2014 winner and ask them a few questions about how they won and pulled ahead of the competition.  Our previous winners, Monique and Richmond, have been gracious enough to share their winning strategies, so read on below the break.

What was your favorite part of the contest?

Our favorite part of the contest was getting to reconnect with old friends.  Like others, we have hundreds of Facebook friends that we never get to interact with on a daily basis.  It was fun to see friends from all over the world come out of the woodwork to support us.  Made us feel very loved!

What was the biggest challenge?

The biggest challenge for us was getting anything done that did NOT have to do with the contest!  Staying focused at work and in other areas of our lives was a bit of a struggle.  We were constantly following the competition and checking for updates — definitely didn’t want to let up and allow another competitor take the lead!

What were your strategies to get people to vote for you?

• Send personal messages to people! We found that people were MUCH more willing to vote when you reached out to them personally.
• Post often and stay relevant in the newsfeed!  Every post doesn’t even have to be about the competition. Something as simple as posting a cute picture of you and your dog might remind someone to go and vote for you.
• Make people feel like they are a part of the competition too!  At some point we created a Facebook group full of voters and it honestly felt like we had an army behind us.  People really became invested in making sure we won.  It was kind of like all of us against the runner up—in a friendly, yet competitive way.
• Let people know WHY this competition matters to you!  For us, it meant saving us thousands of dollars on a wedding that we were mostly funding by ourselves.  We know that many of our friends felt that this was a unique way that they could contribute to making our wedding day a success.
• Asking people to set hourly alarms in their phones!  Most people are more than willing to vote, but often forget.
•  Post a cute photo and a creative [adventurous] idea!  Every vote counts!

Is there anything you would change in your strategy?

Looking back, we wish we would have started the Facebook group sooner.  It was a very efficient way to get updates and reminders out to a large amount of people all at once.  We also would have been more careful about the number of messages and wall posts that we did in a short amount of time.  A couple of days into the competition Monique was blocked from sending any personal messages because Facebook thought she was spam.  She was blocked for several days and it really slowed things down!  Be careful!

How did you keep friends, family, and acquaintances committed for the duration of the contest? 

• We kept things upbeat and humorous.  Lots of funny memes, videos, and songs about winning the competition were posted in our Facebook group for motivation. It really made the competition fun and engaging.
• Bribes [for friends, family, and acquaintances].
•  We talked about having a big party at the very end for everyone if we won.  That way people felt like we were all working towards a big goal of awesomeness!

Do you have any words of wisdom for this year’s entrants?

• Enter early!  This is a big one!  We were the first contestants to enter and got a nice lead that we were able to keep throughout the entire competition.

• Be on the lookout for Lumen Photography posts!  There might be ways to get extra votes if you pay close attention.
• Start a committee!  Might sound like a silly idea, but you can’t win this competition alone and will need help. Our unofficial committee consisted of a few really pumped up friends and family members who owned helping us get the word out.  It was really nice having people on call who could watch over the competition when we needed to attend important meetings, get sleep, or run errands and couldn’t be tied to our computers.  Work smart, not hard.
• Last, but not least: Good luck and HAVE FUN! We’re super excited to follow this year’s contestants!

 

Monique and Richmond

 

Well there you have it some tips from our Lumen Photography Contest 2014 winners.  If you read this, you have the inside track for winning this year’s contest.  The contest starts in five days; so, be prepared and get voting asap!  If you want to skip the contest and just work with us directly, use the contact page to shoot us a message and let us know.  Last but not least, keep an eye on our facebook for more updates as we get closer to the second of January!