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Social media contests are a great way to get current customers as well as potential customers to not only see your brand, but also engage with you. One of the best ways to get people to recognize your brand is to throw a contest. While many think that giving away their product is enough to create a successful contest. This isn’t necessary the case, but by following the following tips, you can and will have a much better result.

Have a Clean Cut Goal

If you do not have a goal, your contest will not get off the ground. This is where most individuals struggle most and it is understandable. When contests are thrown, by giving away a service or product, it is assumed that people are willing to jump through hoops for the giveaway. That may have been the case when social media started, but with everyone doing contests on all platforms, the best chance of success is a goal.

A goal for a contest is simple. It is what you’re trying to achieve. Are you promoting a new product? Are you trying to reach new clients? Are you trying to capture emails? Do you want more followers?

Keep It Simple

Unfortunately, the goals tend to blend together. The mistake is that because owners are giving away their product or service for free, they feel like they should get the most out of their product. This is where you find contests that require a ridiculous amount of steps on multiple platforms. The more hoops, the less successful your contest will be. If you were entering a contest, would you like a post, follow 3-6 different accounts, sign up for an email newsletter, comment, and tag friends for a $25 gift certificate? Absolutely not. Would you do it for ultra exclusive, expensive sneakers? Probably, especially if you liked sneakers.

On the flip side of this, if you were told to follow and like a post for $25, would you do it? This is where you need to build a contest by doing following:

Choose a Platform

Choose a social media. Stick with it. If you’re doing an Instagram contest, don’t include Facebook. If it is Twitter, keep it on Twitter. No cross platforms.

The ONLY exception to the no cross platform is using a third party service such as Gleam.io. That allows you to connect multiple platforms on one coded section. The downside is you don’t get the natural engagement and reaction to contests on social media. You can have people share posts, but at the end of the day, it is a link versus a post or a tweet. This works best if you get plenty of web traffic or you don’t mind heavily paying for the service and ad money on the link.

Choose the Reaction(s)

Now that you have your platform, you can have some leniency on choosing the actions you want individuals to do in order to enter your contest. Here are some options for each platform in order to gain the most out of the contest.

Facebook

Facebook has rules when it comes to contests. This may seem tricky, but it actually allows for better engagement. Let’s get the rules out of the way.

As of July 27, 2015, these types of contests actions that are no longer acceptable under Facebook’s contest guidelines:

• Like one or multiple pages to enter
• Share a page on you or your friend’s profile to enter
• Tag yourself  or others in a photo to enter
• Share the post on your or your friend’s timeline
• Tag friends in the comments

Here is what you can do.

• You can host promotions on a custom Facebook app (similar to Gleam)
• You can ask people to like a post
• You can ask people to comment on a post
• You can ask people to post on a page
• You can ask people to message a page
• You can ask people to Like as a voting mechanism

What I would do is ask people to like the post and comment. Debating on the type of contest, I would definitely try to make it so people can use the likes of the comments as voting process. All of this leads to more engagement. Thus, it reaches more eyes on more news feeds.

You want to avoid doing trivia unless it is the type of question that cannot be Googled. Although, trivia means the contest is usually first come, first served. The downside to this is that Facebook’s news feed isn’t chronological. The way to circumvent this is to make it random choosing out of all the winners.

If you put a big enough prize or are ambitious, you can ask your followers for photo or video posts/comments.

Instagram

Instagram is more like the wild west when it comes to getting people to participate in contests. You can get people to do more as it is much simpler. Plus, the rules aren’t as strict. Contests usually go one of two ways or the combination of the two.

Standard Instagram Contest – Version 1

• Follow the account(s)
• Like the post(s)
• Comment and/or Tag X amount of friends

Standard Instagram Contest – Version 2

• Make a photo/video
• Tag original account
• Use the hashtag (must have a public profile to see as most likely not being followed)
• Likes/Views as a voting mechanism (optional)

Have fun with this because the sky is the limit. The only criticism I have is that when you have a contest where you’re requiring people to tag individuals, please let the prize include everyone that is tagged. This will really take the contest to the next level as it will really promote all the people tagged to enter as well to get more entries. Plus, it is up to the winner to choose who comes with them. Don’t have to require them to bring the people they tagged. You’ll find some people will just use an alternative account. No big deal. Also, be careful with giveaways. You could get overwhelmed

YouTube

Just like Instagram, it is just about the same with YouTube where it comes down to two types of contests or a combination of the two.

Standard YouTube Contest – Version 1 

• Subscribe to the account(s)
• Like the video(s)
• Comment

Standard YouTube Contest – Version 2

• Make a video
• Likes/Views as a voting mechanism (optional)

If you’re a brick and mortar business, this is much harder to pull off. I say that because for some industries, this works very well. For others, this is extremely hard. I wouldn’t focus on this for a restaurant, but if you had an online store, it could work well.

Twitter

Through having a blog, I have thrown plenty of Twitter contests. There are plenty of ways to run a contest.

• Follow
• Tweet
• Use a hashtag
• Retweet
• Likes as a voting mechanism

The best I had was from following and retweeting.

Clear Cut Rules and Regulations

When you are writing your contest post, you must make it absolutely clear. There has to be no uncertainty when it comes to this contest. Along with the platform and the actions, you need the following:

• Deadline with date, hours, and sometimes time zone
• All rules must be listed
• Any legalese that may be required
• The exact reward or prizes

For instance, did you know that when describing your “contest,” you should use the right terms.

• Sweepstakes is based solely on luck
• Contests is based on some form of merit
• Lottery is a paid prize drawing

There are a few statements that may need to be added to your post. This can change which is why I am just going to link you to the rules of each site listed.

• Facebook’s Promotion Guidelines
• Instagram’s Promotion Guidelines
• Twitter’s Promotion Guidelines
• YouTube’s Promotion Guidelines

Create a Nice Artwork or Video

You need to compliment your contest with something visual to grab the prospective individual’s attention. This will vary by platform, but you can do some awesome work with this. Please avoid putting text on the image though. This will cause issues with the algorithms of Facebook and Instagram. This doesn’t necessarily work the same with YouTube and Twitter for the obvious reasons. That said, make it pretty. This is advertising to prospective customers, not just entrants.

Target the Right People

This should be a given, but it can be easily forgotten. Make sure the contest is targeted. If you’re selling cars, you’re obviously not targeting children. With that same notion, if you’re a restaurant, you’re not doing a contest for the funniest comedy sketch on YouTube unless it is a commercial for the restaurant. You wouldn’t have a Halloween contest in March. Your writing should fit the people and the time. You get bonus points if you make it timely around a holiday or an event.

You need to remember that your your giveaway represents your business. While it is a giveaway, it is also an advertisement. What you are giving away is what you’re advertising. You need to make it look amazing. The whole collective of the perfect prize along with the perfect contest will lead to a ton of entrants and potential customers.

Come for the Contest, Stay for You

You have now created this awesome contest. You have the social media contest checklist filled out.

1. Platform
2. Actions
3. Rules
4. Legalese
5. Deadline
6. Good artwork/video

You need to hold their attention. You already expect people to undo everything you had them do when the contest is over. That is always a given. This is where you need to grab and hold their attention. Perhaps give discounts to everyone else who entered. Target them with content or products that will make them a customer regardless of winning or not. Don’t leave them hanging. If you captured their email, send them an email. You can work a whole sales funnel to pivot off of the contest, but that is another discussion.

Make Them See You

Now that you have made the contest, it is up to you to promote it. No more “if you build it, they will come.” You have to spark this fire. The bigger the spark, the bigger the fire may catch. That isn’t to say a small spark can’t result as a big fire, but it helps to advertise it. All of these networks have advertisement setups where you can boost engagement. This will easily help reach people who have not heard of you before to enter and potentially give you business.

I cannot believe I am writing another Shaping the Next Big Artist after going on a huge hiatus after the two months I wrote weekly articles. The reason that I am writing this is because I went on a whole rant regarding this topic. The response was so great that I had to write another Shaping the Next Big Artist article to share this with everyone else as I don’t want it to get lost down the Twitter rabbit hole.

The Question That Started It All

Let me give you some backstory with the Twitter rabbit hole and what sparked this all. It is some valuable information that I essentially appropriated from Gary Vaynerchuk, but have mentioned multiple times before in this article. I tailored it to DJ’s. This can be changed to producers for getting their music to labels and other artists. Use the same tactics as mentioned, but change some of the people who you are targeting.

The FPIA tweeted out the following question:

What is your opinion on getting a booking agency? Comment below, share your thoughts w/ us.

In my typical fashion, I answered the question both ways with a yes and a no, but I explained why. I said if you are a salesperson and can sell yourself as well as make sure you can get paid, it doesn’t pay for a booking agency. Regarding the need of an agency, if you’re unable to sell yourself and struggle getting your payment from bad employers, then you need representation. The downside is that you don’t get 100% of the payment, but you can be assured the money.

One isn’t better than the other. Some people don’t have time to sell themselves. Others just aren’t up for the task. Many reasons, but the important thing is to realize that this doesn’t define you or show that you cannot do something. This just allows you to focus on your strengths and outsource your weaknesses so you can continue focusing on your strengths.

Follow Up Question That Sparked This Article

This led to the question by Mikey Barreneche to which I went on a long spiel on Twitter and decided that I needed to write the same information here to share with you. Mickey decided to challenge me on my statements by stating:

I don’t think a club would take a DJ serious if approached for a booking without an agency or management though

I disagreed with him, but stated that if he plainly walked up to a club, he would most likely (99.9%) not achieve success. Of course, you wouldn’t do this with any other career. Why would DJing be any different

May I ask how would you go about doing it?

— MIKEY BARRENECHE (@mikeybarreneche) July 28, 2017

I see this question asked frequently and I figured that I would make a new article that deals with this all. I will be pulling some of the same content you’ve read in all my other articles – Introductions to Making Contacts, Social Media, Basic Branding, Planning Your Moves, Websites, Fully Understanding the Power of Facebook, and Social Media Stinks. I am also going to reference Gary Vee on this one.

Steps to Getting Hired as a DJ

I do want to note before I write this, if someone is going to explain an anecdotal reference on why my method doesn’t work or why theirs works better, I don’t care. Reason being is that this isn’t a guaranteed method. No method is unless you open up a club by yourself and DJ it every night. That said, this will get you a good start. Also noting that this will work in just about any profession. The reason I am doing this for artists as this was originally posted on By The Wavs and I have proof it works for artists. Needless to say, replace DJ and other similar professions with your own.

Step 1. Figure out where you are

Where do you live? Are you in New York City? Are you in the middle of nowhere Oklahoma. Obviously, location matters. Home location isn’t an issue if you don’t mind travelling. If you need to pay for your travels because you’re an unknown DJ and haven’t convinced anyone to pay for your travel accommodations, you are limited. Needless to say, you need to know your area and the limitations you have set on yourself for travel. You wouldn’t try to get places in Las Vegas to hire you if you can’t get there by yourself. Lower your radius.

Step 2. Network your butt off

Everyone will always tell you it is about who you know. Get out there and know everyone. Clubs aren’t about just the person who owns the club. Follow everyone who works for the clubs, bars, venues, etc that are within your radius. Anyone that has a voice in that area, industry, etc. Follow the artists. Follow their management. Follow the PR companies. Follow it all. FOLLOW THEM. Follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and any other PUBLIC social media. Don’t go adding them on Facebook if you never met them and creep into their DM’s. Actually, don’t ever creep into their DM’s unless they invite you to. This is about setting up a circle. No one cares if this screws up your “follower/followers” ratio. Follow the owners. Follow the bartenders. Follow everyone in between.

Now that you follow them, don’t worry if they don’t follow back. That isn’t the point we’re going for right now. The point is to reply to their posts. Reply to everything you can add substance to. This means, if they are asking for an opinion, give it. If they are asking for anyone to help make a decision give it. If you can add to a conversation, reply. If it is to ask them to hire you or follow you, don’t even bother with this article. If you are always expecting a reply back, you are also asking for a bad time. The idea is to get your name out there in order to potentially set up a genuine relationship that extends farther past a professional relationship. You are providing value to yourself outside of your music. Who knows, you can make a friend off of this. I know I have through this site alone.

Here is a theoretical situation. An event coordinator lost his performing artist due to a sickness. They tweet out they are looking for someone. Considering you have been responding to their tweets on a solid basis and been providing some worth, there is a statistically higher chance they go to you because you’re familiar than someone random asking for the same position.

While you cannot base all your relationships off of that, there is always that potential. People help out others that they know. Make yourself known. No one cares if you aren’t the biggest. No one cares if you think you’re unknown. To them, you may be the next breakout star.

Step 3. Take gigs

Are you getting paid? Are there people watching? Are you able to do what you do best? If the answer is yes. Take the gig. Is it for some dive bar? Take it. Is it for a children’s party…well depends who the parents are. Remember, even professionals still perform at Bar Mitzvahs when money is involved. I hate that people say they won’t take gigs because it isn’t worth their time. If you are willing to get paid X amount of dollars, that is apparently what your time is currently worth. You need to earn your digs to get higher.

When people who take off from their job go out, they may attend the dive bar you’re performing. They may like you and want to hire you. The owner may know other owners and help you out. There are lots of scenarios that could happen all because you are trying to claw your way to the top. You are now becoming a go-to guy in your radius of travel. All of those gigs will start to add up. Would you rather do that than deal with a cubicle job next to Janice who won’t shut up about her 5 cats and Carl who talks about a television show you never heard?

I absolutely loathe the idea of doing things for free for exposure. 99% of the time, that is nonsense. I can honestly say that if you sift through all the garbage, there are nuggets of opportunities that can come out of this. You will have to vet these opportunities before you go accepting, but I wouldn’t count out all free gigs.

Step 4. Join groups

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Soundcloud, and social media may make up a good part of the internet, but there are more to those sites and more sites out there. Join niche groups. Join forums. Join local associations. On Facebook, there is this group feature. Find active groups that relate to your niche and even that are somewhat relative. Groups, forums, etc. are great places where all sorts of topics are discussed. Maybe you need help with marketing. There are marketing groups that will help you. Maybe you want to work on composing, there are groups for that. They make great areas for like minded people to discuss topics. Sure, some topics may not relate to you at all, but they are filled with knowledge that is worth as much as gold.

Groups don’t have to deal much with you. Volunteer groups have people from all over helping out for great causes. Think outside the box. People who work in nightlife also do things during the day. They also contribute to society and do charities. This is a cynical way of doing charity for your own good, but you can help out others while networking.

I will give you my personal example. I am apart of a content creator group. The majority of people seem to be Instagram related and the topics follow. I have learned that there is more than meets the eye. There are contacts from many different companies that can connect you to what you want to achieve. To answer your question, I will not invite you in because it isn’t my place to do that.

Step 5. Collect all your content, organize it, and showcase it

This should be step 0 because I shouldn’t have to mention it. Although, this is for your sake, for your fans sake, and for your potential employer’s sake. Have a home base aka a website. With Soundcloud being a sinking ship, learn you cannot rely on other platforms for your fans. Social Media are great tools, but have a website. Keep every track, remix, video, photo, etc on your site. You will want to have them when Soundcloud becomes irrelevant or drops your account like a bad habit. You will want to have it to show how well you’ve progressed rather than going through the list of every reposted track you have because you wanted others to repost yours. You will want to have a site so people can contact you easier rather than handing out that official DJ gmail account you have despite the fact no one is trying to make any unofficial ones nor do they want to copy you.

Websites should be your interactive resume. They should feature your highlights, but also have your discography. You can make a website and use it to your advantage. Having a website means you have a better chance popping up on Google in the top of the ranks when people search for you.

Step 6. Have promotional material

There is nothing more frustrating than meeting someone and forgetting their name or their website. It is human nature that we forget things. Let’s not make you forgotten. Make up businesses cards. Stickers. USB drives with your logo, website, and your music in and on the drives. Yes, you are spending money, but this is for your career. You wouldn’t try and become a photographer with only a cell phone and refuse to buy a DSLR. These small things go a long way especially to those who still use these items. You may not use them, but they are still used very often!

Step 7. Repeat

Keep doing this. Soon your radius will get bigger. Professional DJ’s no longer have a radius unless it is self-imposed after not having a radius. The idea is to network and networking is key. Networking will allow you to showcase your talent and skills to the people that matter. It goes without saying that if you don’t have plenty of content, this article doesn’t apply. I am talking about people that are constantly grinding. They are putting out new tracks, mixes, EP’s, remixes on a consistent basis. You need music to do this. Keep working at everything else.

What I discussed here will get you jobs. It will take sifting through a lot of rejection, but if you are dedicated to your goal, that rejection won’t matter. Plus, you will make a lot of new friends and contacts. Help those friends out. They will help you. Your circle will continue to grow. Keep the grind going and be sure to post actual content while hitting up everyone. If you are doing good work, you will get recognized. These tips will just help you get recognized a bit faster.

On June 24th, at the Mays Landing Hometown Celebration I threw my first event ever – Car Smash 2017. The goal was to help market Kneble’s Auto Service Center Inc. while helping the community. As the focus of Kneble’s Auto for 2017 has been branding, I wanted to break the mold in representation of the shop while also doing something fun. The Mays Landing Hometown Celebration is one of four (or five) main Mays Landing events and as Kneble’s Auto is located in Mays Landing, this was chosen as a good fit. It was the first time that from start to finish, I had full control and responsibility. I want to say thank you for my parents, sisters, and friends for their help.

I have always been told that the first event always doesn’t go as planned and aren’t normally successful. It was determined to break this mold.

The Idea

I have seen car smashes online whether it was Facebook, Google, and YouTube. It always looks way too fun and essentially brings a crowd because they’re amazed by the carnage. I have suggested this in the past, but finding the right venue was difficult. This needs a crowd to really go off. It has a catch 22 where you want to do it more when you see a crowd. My parents thankfully had the vehicles. They weren’t originally interested in the idea until I showed them the videos and the crowds. Once I got their support, we started from there.

The Setup

I wanted to do this properly. I just didn’t want to announce and leave it there. We started talking to family friends who we used to bounce the idea off. They loved it and that is when talk started to spread. I wanted to have a theme and really make this a full experience from start to finish. I didn’t want people to think that this was just some half-assed event where you swing your hammer and then you’re done. I wanted to make them feel like they’re getting the VIP treatment regardless of the individuals paying a bit more than the normal games at this festival. After all, the proceeds were going to charity which is why we’re going big.

I initially wanted to give this a bit of a nightlife-esque feel. Here is what I envisioned step-by-step as seen by the celebration-goer.

Step 1. You walk up and you’re greeted to donate.

Thanks to a number of part companies, we had free swag to hand out. That would be a side draw outside of demolishing a vehicle. Who doesn’t like free stuff?

Step 2. You pay and enter “the ring of destruction” aka the area where the cars* are located.

We cordoned off an area where you could go smash a car safely and not hurt any individuals watching.

*I will discuss the plurality of the vehicles later.

Step 3. Grab your safety glasses and choose your “tool of destruction.”

We wanted some diversity in what you could do and smash the vehicles. Plus, I wanted for children to be able to do this without having to lift a sledge hammer as they wouldn’t be able to. We went with 4 sledgehammers, 2 normal sized hammers, one small hammer, 2 long crowbars, 1 short crowbar, 11 black cans of spray paint, 11 white cans of spray paint, 4 red cans of spray paint, 3 blue cans of spray paint, 3 orange cans of spray paint and 3 green cans of spray paint.

Step 4. You either get three swings or two minutes free-for-all. We were charging $5 for the three swings or $15 for two minutes free-for-all.

The 3 swings were with any “tool of destruction,” but the spray paint. We decided there was no real way to measure it besides time. During the swings or the spray painting, we would be filming you for a montage.

Step 5. Get your photo in front of the backdrop with your friends or family and the tools you used. This would be for Facebook afterwards as well as any future promotions.

The Start

Once we got the idea and the setup down, it was about moving forward. As I said, I refused to just do a text announcement. I wanted to go all out on this event. I created a poster. I messed around with a lot of ideas. I know I wanted to make a skull-and-bones type logo with a hammer, wrench, and a vehicle.

The First Car

In order for us to truly understand the car smash, we had to hold our own car smash to see what it was like. I sadly had not had any prior experience. Thankfully, we had a number of cars that we could use for the smash, the video, and for a test. I brought out a few friends and my cousin and we went to town on the first car. This is where we figured out pricing and how many swings. It was so much fun and exhilarating. It also taught us about a few potential mistakes that we thankfully avoided. It also made for great content for the original site. You can find the site here. We filmed the gif’s for this which people loved.

Step 1. Arrive at the Car Smash

Step 2. Choose your destruction plan

Step 3. Choose your tool for destruction plan

Step 4. Put on your safety gear

Step 5. Let the MAYHEM ensue

Major Struggle

Unfortunately, the first hiccup put a damper on a lot of things. Smashing cars can potentially be dangerous. Swinging around tools and smacking a car is not considered as totally safe. I get it. That is why we realized we needed insurance. Because this was through Kneble’s Auto, my mother took lead on this issue. We weren’t getting approved by anyone or if we were approved, the price was ridiculous. Days turned into a week or two and we expected this event to die there. By luck or resilience, my mother found an insurance company willing to insure the event at a reasonable cause.

Early Mistakes

One of the first mistakes I avoided was thanks to my cousin. As you can tell in the gifs above, the tools are a bit higher quality. The sledgehammer alone cost nearly $40 and that was for one. We were looking at Lowes and Home Depot for the place to purchase tools. My cousin, Kenny, recommended we check out Harbor Freight as they always have the best deals. We returned everything (but the spray paint and the caution tape) to Home Depot and went on a bit of a spree at Harbor Freight in two trips. Now we spent double the money at Harbor Freight, but we got 10 tools rather than three.

Glass, Glass, Glass, Glass. Glass was a mistake from the beginning. We learned that very, very quickly when we were testing what smashing a car was like. We wanted to know if glass was a good idea. Spoiler alert: it looks cool, but it isn’t cool when you get hurt or when you have to clean up.

The Charity

From the moment we got the approval of insurance to the event was about two and a half weeks tops. We needed to choose a charity. I wanted the FoodBank of New Jersey for the sole reason that it was local, but big enough that others can appreciate. I felt that if it was too big, most people wouldn’t care. I applied for the approval to use their name and such, but didn’t hear back originally. After a few days of wondering, we heard back and it was good to go with them.

The Art Direction

After messing around with different idea designs, I went with an OBEY-esque look made famous by the founder, Shepard Fairey. Although, I didn’t finish this poster until after the first struggle and finding out the charity because we didn’t have all the details. Prior, it was just the logo idea rather than the poster design.

This poster ended up being the main focus for the rest of the art. As you see at the top of the page, I used it for banners on Facebook as well as a few advertisements. It also became the front of the t-shirts that were created and sold. Big shout out to Lucky Dog Custom Apparel for taking the poster and turning it into a great design as well as the awesome back. Plus, their screen printing is top notch. Hands down pleasure and they came in clutch (which I’ll explain why below).

Since I used my sister as a model for the gifs and because she wanted to model a little bit, we did some promos for her. It started with a poster. The intention was to create a bad-to-the-bone look for her similar to those in zombie movies mixed into a wrestling or boxing vibe. We came up with this poster.

Needless-to-say she didn’t like it very much because she didn’t like the image I used. After revisiting the whole modeling with my friend Russell, we used these images for Facebook advertisements.

Marketing Strategy

This was the first real event that I have promoted outside of Facebook. I say that as in college we did hang posters for some parties. I guess that can be considered some experience. This was still somewhat of a new adventure for me. I wanted to have a decent marketing budget, but not go overboard. Before breaking them down, I’ll list everything I did.

Pre-Event

1. Print 60 posters that I showed above and hung them up around Mays Landing.
2. Posted frequently on the Facebook Page.
3. Made a few memes and posted them on the Facebook Page.
4. Make an event page on Facebook.
5. All types of Facebook advertisements.
6. Make a website landing page.
7. Created two video trailers.
8. Took over Kneble’s Auto’s weekly show.
9. Posted on NJ.com Events, AC Weekly Events, ShoreNewsToday Events.
10. Went on Facebook Live.

• The posters were as shown above. After realizing very quickly that 99% of the corporate stores weren’t going to let me hang up a sign, I went to all of the small businesses around town. I went to all the restaurants, stores, and every place that I could think of. I would say that just about all of them were receptive and very encouraging about the event especially after they heard it was for charity.
• The idea was to keep the car smash relevant with the customers and those who like the page.
• The memes were a result of me having fun with the footage from the videos. I saw some pages pull it off and I thought it was interesting. I must say the creativity makes it a bit more difficult to come up with something on the spot. I feel like this content was better as it was original.

• Facebook event page was a must. Facebook does a great job with notifications to individuals when posts are made and such. Plus, it gives reminders about said event in the notifications. Although, they don’t usually have a good representation of numbers. Engagement is a better way to gauge it, but even still.
• Facebook advertisements was the main outlet for advertising. I focused on three outlets when it came to advertisements – engagement, video views, and event responses. Everything was monitored and tweaked to how people responded towards the ads and the pay per engagement.
• The website landing page was quintessential. As this was a small time event, it didn’t require a whole website. Everything including the contact form could fit on one page. It was tweaked when need be.
• Here are the two trailers I made to hype the event. It was originally going to be one, but I have been wanting to mess around with my video skills.

• My mother’s video segment is highly regarded and loved by all. I didn’t want something where people wouldn’t watch because she wasn’t in the video. A bit of clickbait involved, but she loved the idea and was fully onboard. I gave it the “hacked” feeling.

• I am unsure who actually checks them out, but seeing as it was free, I posted on NJ.com Events, AC Weekly Events, ShoreNewsToday Events. I believe I saw two visitors from AC Weekly, but that may have been me.
• Went on Facebook Live. It is about getting up and personal. This is not about just marketing, but documenting for everyone. This was me talking the day before the event as we were setting up.

During the Event

1. Snapchat Filter for the whole event.
2. Intended on going on Facebook Live.*

• I love creating custom Snapchat filters and I had to make one for the event. Here is the version we ended up going with (shown in video form).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pizDYqRDi5Q&feature=youtu.be

• I have to put an asterisk on this. I had intended on going on Facebook Live, but I didn’t anticipate the slowness between individuals and the fact that I had to either record on my DSLR, go on Facebook Live, or handle the participant by myself. Needless to say, Facebook Live didn’t seem ideal.

Post Event

1. Facebook Post thanking the volunteers and the sponsors.
2. Intended on posting photos of those participating.
3. Montage post mini movie.
4. Facebook advertisement.
5. A press release about the money donated.

• It took me about a week to get the post out, but I wanted something that includes everyone. I wanted to thank everyone that came out. I also wanted the video done. The video took a bit longer than anticipated, but I wanted something perfect. Here is the Facebook post.

• I wanted to do some photographing of the event. Once again, the lack of volunteers working made this very difficult. Plus, I feel like in the end, video dominates.
• As shown in the Facebook post above (and the YouTube video below), I created a video highlighting all of the volunteers and individuals that participated. I can say for sure that everyone that was videotaped was included in the video. I loved that we had the Mayor and former Mayor featured as well.
• The Facebook advertisement was essentially the full post I did above, but without all the links as Facebook made it weird to boost the post. It also included the video.
• The press release (at the time of writing this) has not been done. We were in touch with the press who said he was getting in touch with the Food Bank. We haven’t heard back yet.

What Fell Short

I cannot say that this event was an overwhelming success. I am happy it turned out well. I am happy we raised money for the Food Bank. I am happy that something that I came up with was seen from start to finish. I understand that I am being super harsh on myself, but here are my criticisms of my own event.

Location. Location. Location.

I believe that my number one issue was location of my event. The car smash really relies on eyes. It is sort of a catch 22. You get people by other seeing people on it. It will snowball. It never got that opportunity. Let me explain with some visual help.

You see, it was expected that being up front would benefit us as everyone would see it as they walked in. Here is why that didn’t necessarily work.

• The sound wasn’t as loud as expected. Yes, we were slamming hammers into metal, but the sound didn’t overshadow the natural noise nor music. With that knowledge now, we don’t have to be in the corner of the event anymore.
• The front isn’t as visible as you’d think. Despite the fence not being completely covered, it is still hard to see through from a distance.
• We were told people would walk past the car smash to enter the event. This turned out not the be the case because of the animals, paintball, and the car show.
• Our tent was behind everyone else’s tent. Thus, we saw no foot traffic and it was hard to see the cars all together.

If we were located in the center where the sand was, we would have been a spectacle that essentially couldn’t be avoided and in turn saw much more foot traffic and eventually more participants.

Cost.

This was a personal mistake that wasn’t really understood until we were in the middle of the event. This event was a cash only event. I thought I had figured it out by charging:

• $5 for 3 swings.
• $15 for 2 minutes free for all.

This would change if you bought a t-shirt.

• $15 for 3 swings and a t-shirt
• $25 for 2 minutes free for all and a t-shirt

The issue I ran into is making change or the amount of cash people had on them. I should have figured it out to make it easier for individuals. This also runs into another issue.

Swings.

This is so silly and the fact that we tried to prevent this ahead of time really made me laugh at this scenario. We purposely tested this with a few people as you read. There were certain variables that we didn’t intend on.

3 Swings

The idea behind three swings was something of more of a taste of what to expect. This was meant for solely sledgehammers rather than the smaller hammers or crowbars. Also, I expected people to not just hit the same spot over and over. Essentially, the three swings wouldn’t take 10 seconds, but rather they would take their time.

The opposite happened.

Two minutes was more ideal, but the issue was that people didn’t want to spend $15 as that’s an odd cash amount. Plus, this allowed people to use the spray paint which they loved.

Photography.

This was an idea that I had that was a bit more overzealous than I intended. I had created a purchased a backdrop. The original idea was to corral people into the area. They would hit the car. Afterwards, they’d bring their tools of destruction to the backdrop, take a photo, and either leave or watch. This never came into fruition as the setup wasn’t completely conducive for the setup. Thankfully, we are able to use it for future events.

Location, Demographics, and Awareness

This one was out of my hands. I was hesitant about mentioning this, but it is apart of what we went through and it could help those in the future.

The Hometown Celebration was held at Lake Lenape East in Mays Landing, New Jersey. For those who are familiar with the lake, you would know that getting there isn’t difficult, but it isn’t easy for first timers.

As you can see on the map, the main way (as there are technically many ways to get there) to go to the park is via 13th off of Cape May Avenue (Route 50) which has a speed limit of 30-50 mph (depending where you turn). There was no sign that the festival was happening. Being that the park is a bit back off the main road, it isn’t like people can see what is going on and just stop out of curiosity.

The marketing for the Hometown Celebration consisted of posters which I hung up in addition to the car smash posters, a big sign at the corner of Cape May Avenue (Route 50) and Main Street (Route 40) at War Memorial Park, a few Facebook posts, and only one paid ad. Being that Mays Landing / Hamilton Township is one of the biggest cities in New Jersey, I didn’t believe this was sufficient. I can accurately say this as the majority of individuals I talked to about the car smash was unaware about the Hometown Celebration.

The biggest issue I brought to the attention of the Hometown Celebration committee was the lack of represented demographics. I explained that they were only appealing to young children and their accompanying families. It isn’t meant for anyone else whatsoever. While we made the car smash available to everyone, certain parents felt that this wasn’t appropriate for their kids regardless of others being before them.

What I Can / Will Change

Being that this event can be treated as a learning curve and being that I have a number of criticisms, I also believe I have some solutions to improve for future car smash events.

Items

As noted, I bought a ton of stuff for this event. Shirts, hammers, crowbars, etc. All of this was fine besides the spray paint and the t-shirts. While the spray paint didn’t make up a big part of the budget, the shirts made up about half of the budget. The good news is that we returned the leftover spray paint. We did sell some of the shirts, but we have a ton of leftovers. Thankfully, I didn’t put any date on the shirts specifically if this scenario arose. I am ecstatic that we changed (thanks to my mother’s suggestion) the t-shirt count from 250 to 125. Still took a hit, but great for future events.

Next time, I won’t buy as many shirts nor spray paint. The amount of tools was perfect because as predicted, I felt like one or two hammers would eventually break. One sledgehammer handle shattered.

The Fence

I didn’t really put much effort into the fence, but this became an area that we would improve upon next event. We had tubes and cones that would surround the cars and we used caution tape. They didn’t hold up well against the wind. I would purchase some high stakes that we can hammer into the ground and then create a more stable fence.

Swings

In any future car smash, I would remove the whole 3 swings opportunity. If I had to do this again, I would have the choices of:

• 1 minute free for all
• 2 minutes free for all

Three swings wasn’t enough to justify the cost in my opinion. I want the most bang for your buck (pun intended) especially since this is for charity and we’re not cutting margins. This would also allow for anyone to use the spray paint since we have a variable (time) to measure.

Cost

This is the hardest part of it all. Ideally, I would do it:

• $10 for 1 minute
• $20 for 2 minutes and a t-shirt

I suggest that not because I am trying to extort the prices, but basing it off of the currency people carried. $20 bill is most frequently carried bill. $5 is not. $10 is what seemed like the second most carried bill. This way, we can essentially justify dropping $20 for two minutes as you also get a t-shirt. The profit margin for both would come out to approximately:

• $10 for 1 minute
• $13 for 2 minutes as the shirts cost ~$7

That would be so much more ideal. Although, that margin could be higher if you have more shirts made up. I was trying to cover the cost of the shirts and make a profit to donate from the shirts. This really depends on your preference and the socioeconomic climate of the area you’re holding your event.

Venue

After some significant thought, I do not think that in the near future that the Mays Landing Hometown Celebration is ideal for future car smash events. This was a hard decision, but the results do not warrant the cost nor the effort taken place. We were hearing a lot of chatter and great things revolving around the car smash leading up to the event. This chatter even provoked us into using two vehicles because we thought we would have to accommodate the extra attention. Between the lack of proper demographic and our location, we weren’t as successful as we wanted.

Result

I want it to be absolutely clear that I would hold this event again. Running a car smash whether it is incredibly popular or not is a lot of fun. It did wonders from a branding standpoint as everyone was talking about it and Kneble’s Auto. That said, this would work wonders in a more appropriate venue. I had a blast planning and working on this event. It seemed surreal that it was over after planning and coordinating. While I didn’t hit my fundraising goals, it brought a newfound sense of enjoyment and plenty of knowledge. We have everything we want and need to move forward for a better result!