Comping, like so much else in the world, has changed a huge amount recently.
Avid compers won't need telling that technology now plays a part in promoting some of the most exciting prize opportunities out there, and if you want to be part of the great online giveaways, you need to know where to look.
Compers will now that there are brilliant opportunities to win prizes from magazines & newspapers, through on-pack promotions and TV shows. But now, of course, there are also comps to enter online and, increasingly in recent years, on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.
If you've yet to join this social media revolution, you really might be missing out on a wide range of opportunities to enter competitions and win some wonderful prizes.
Companies and organisations often either promote their giveaways on social sites like Facebook and Twitter or even run competitions that are exclusive to these platforms.
Signing up for possible winnings
As the many people who now belong to Twitter and Facebook can attest, getting your account on either of these sites is super-easy.
Facebook, for example, only asks for some very basic information such as your email address and name before you are able to access the site's benefits. Again, for Twitter all you need is your email address and a username that you will be known by.
For Facebook, once you have joined-up, a great first move would be to start 'Liking' the pages of brands you're interested in and ‘Following’ them on Twitter. That way you're more likely to be one of the first to find out about any competition as soon as the company starts promoting it on its site.
These days you're likely to see the blue Facebook logo (a square emblazoned with a lowercase 'F') as a feature of many brand's adverts and promotional material. This is the sign that they're on Facebook.
But if you want to actually search for a brand on Facebook, the search bar at the top of the desktop version of Facebook (tech fans won't need telling that you can use the service on phones and tablets, too) is the best way to connect with brands you love and see if they have any current competitions up their sleeves.
Once you find a brand's page, double check it is the official presence of the organisation you're looking for and click the 'Like' button. Now the brand's news will come up on your news feed, so you're more likely to spot their comps once they're posted on Facebook.
Becoming a Twitter expert
Twitter is just as simple to use as Facebook, and another great place to potentially come across new competition opportunities.
You'll want to follow brands you like, and who you know regularly run great comps, so that their tweets will appear in your main feed. Use the search bar to find the brand, then look for the little blue 'verified account' tick to help you confirm you're looking at an official brand presence.
If you want to save a Tweet for later, try using the Favourite button, which will save it to your profile for future reference.
If you're not using sites Twitter and Facebook in your comping, you're missing a trick.
Adding these to your arsenal of competition tools, such as Compers News, and using them in the right way, can really help you in your quest to have the best chance possible of winning some of the fantastic prizes that become available in the UK week in, week out.
At Compers News we have produced two great social media guides which will give you lots of advice and tips to get started on both Facebook and Twitter – take some time out to have a look.
