We like to start a user generated video contest. Any idea how to kick off this? Where should we get the news out? Are there any forums or blogs we should post the contest information with??
Running a contest can be a very effective way to engage people with a brand. Do be sure you want to run a video contest. Video's are a high barrier to entry for contestants. Whereas they create very fun content, they can flop. I have seen several video contests flop with under 10 entries even with a prize that was over $5,000. If you already have the site ready to go, consider promoting the contest on the following sites. Here are a few sites to list your contest. www.online-sweepstakes.com www.contestblogger.com www.contesthound.com (paid without reciprocal link) www.slickdeals.net Other ways to promote a contest include finding a topic that interests a specific group. For example, if you are making music videos, then music sites and forums might be a good place to start. Some of these forums are okay with you listing your contest there, and some are not. Facebook ads can work well for this type of thing as well, but you can experiment and test results. Another option, to which I am very biased , is to use www.ceehive.com to host your contest. It usually takes a few minutes to set it up. The site provides community judging, sharing of entries, awarding, etc.
I would create a promotional video for it and upload it to YouTube and Metacafe, giving it a catchy title. If you do a good job with this, I am sure that you could get a lot of traffic from them.
Team up with another sponsor of the contest. Example: You host the contest and provide a niche-market platform for the contest and someone else donates a prize. Have your other sponsor promote the contest to their current customer base, and you promote it within your own.
Email a bunch of bloggers in the niche of the contest. Some will post about it as news. Some will want compensation. The problem is that many will just ignore it if you don't mention compensation in the initial email, but if you do, then you don't have a chance to get free publicity, so you should probably just talk compensation to the top bloggers then let the rest of the emails really on the fact that if you email a ton of people, some will mention it.
Make it a funny viral video then email bloggers about it, and some will post it. Also post in forums and link to it.
Trying to get a good number of entries using only online marketing might well prove difficult What about mixing some of the online strategies above with some offline ones? For example, you could contact local schools and see if media students there would like to submit an entry? Or maybe contact your local paper and see if they would be interested in running a story on the contest?