Social Media #Winning Case Study: MegaTron

by Jason Unger, Founder

Yes, that’s me. Don’t ask.

I’m a sports guy. I love watching and playing, and over the past few years, I’ve participated in several fantasy leagues. Fantasy is great because it allows people from all over the world to connect over a shared interest, and have a lot of fun at the same time.

Some friends and I decided that we wanted to start a fantasy football league, but make it a little more exciting than what’s normally done. Usually, each fantasy participant puts in a set amount of money, and at the end of the season, the top winners split the pot.

We wanted to take it a step further.

We thought it would be fun to create a tribute system where, at the end of each weekly matchup, the loser had to pay tribute to the winner at their request. Some of this year’s tributes included delivering homemade dinner, singing What Does the Fox Say?, and creating a personal workout video.

While I’ve had my fair share of wins this season, there have also been some good losses – and that’s where MegaTron comes in.

After suffering a recent loss, the winner demanded I dress in a MegaTron costume and go shopping in a local grocery store (If you don’t know MegaTron, he’s the bad guy from the Transformers). While humiliating, it did make for a pretty funny video.

After shooting the video and sharing it with the rest of the league, I thought it would be the end of my MegaTron days. But, a few weeks after, that same grocery store started a Facebook contest in honor of their 40^th anniversary. They wanted shoppers to share a creative photo of themselves in the store, and the entry with the most likes would win a $500 gift basket.

Lucky for me — I already had a great photo to share.

I quickly uploaded my MegaTron photo to their contest post and started my social media campaign. The contest lasted for four days, and it was really between me and one other entry. I’m happy to say, MegaTron came out on top and I am now the excited winner of a $500 gift basket.

In order to win this contest, I honed in on the power of social media. Here’s what I did to win, and how you can make sure your social media message gets through:

1. Share the Post with a Personal Message
   My first step was to share the original post from the grocery store with a personal message (read: plea), explaining the situation and asking people to like my photo.
2. Send Direct Email
   While Facebook is great, you need to focus on some other methods of advertising to really get the message across. I sent a direct email to a group of people, with a direct link to the Facebook post, asking them to help spread the word.
3. Talk it Up in Person
   You can’t just hope people respond online; reach out to them in person or over the phone and ask for their help.
4. Don’t Give Up or Get Complacent
   For a while, it looked pretty dicey if I was going to win. I was down 30 likes at one point, but I kept going and didn’t give up hope that I could win. When I was ahead, I knew we couldn’t stop reaching out to people; the other entry would continue to push, so we had to, as well.
5. Engage Influencers
   Work with the people you know who will be happy to help spread your message, Ask them to share it and get their friends to, as well, if you know they’ll help get the word out, and give them a good reason to (read: I’ll share the prize with you!).
6. Entice People with a Reward
   Give people an incentive to do what you’re asking. In this case, I offered to share the full (incredibly embarrassing) video on Facebook if I won.
7. In the End, Give Thanks
   In this particular case, I called in a lot of favors and asked for a lot of help from a lot of people. With social media, it’s easy to forget that these are real people you’re connecting to online – especially if you don’t often (or rarely) see them offline. So be thankful for your relationships, and thank them for their help.