Optimize Your TapKat Sweepstakes Campaign for a Mobile Donor Base
It’s undeniable that mobile devices have become a mainstay for donors accessing the internet. Here at TapKat, we see around 55% of all donations come in through mobile devices (as opposed to desktop entries), and that means that it’s more important than ever for nonprofits to have a mobile-ready campaign to promote their TapKat sweepstakes!
So what exactly does it mean to be mobile-optimized, and how will it impact the way your nonprofit approaches the promotional aspect of your sweepstakes? There are four main ways:
Ensure that your sweepstakes site is mobile-optimized (TapKat takes care of that one!)
Send out mobile-optimized dedicated emails,
Check that your website is mobile-optimized,
Create social media imagery with mobile platforms in mind.
Let’s take a look at some specifics.
Strategy #1: Ensure that Your TapKat Sweepstakes Site is Mobile-Optimized
This is the easiest strategy, because we’ve already done it for you! Our team of software engineers has put considerable thought into the mobile layout of each TapKat sweepstakes site to create a great experience for donors, whether that’s on a desktop computer, tablet, or Smart phone. Our sweepstakes sites are designed so that a donor will learn about your prize, your nonprofit, and quickly and easily make a donation to your cause.
We’ve done extensive testing to make sure that our sweepstakes sites are cutting-edge, easy-to-navigate, and beautiful to look at. You may notice little tweaks to the site now and then, as our team is continually looking for ways to improve the usability, effectiveness, and appearance of the TapKat sweepstakes sites.
Strategy #2: Send Out Mobile-Optimized Emails to Your Donor Base
We’ve written a lot about the importance of email marketing during TapKat sweepstakes campaigns. In our experience, email is still absolutely the most effective way to raise money, and that’s why we encourage our nonprofit customers to plan to send out at least one dedicated email per month of their sweepstakes, more during the initial launch, flash contests, special promotions, and during the final weeks of the sweepstakes.
It’s easy to optimize your emails for mobile if you use a service like Constant Contact or Mail Chimp. Usually these services will have a “preview mode” where you can see exactly how your email will appear on a desktop and a smart phone.
As you’re drafting up emails, make sure to use this feature and imagine what it will look like from the donor’s perspective. On the mobile version, are the images correctly ordered, and does the text make sense? Sometimes you might have to make small adjustments here and there to make sure that everything looks as great as you want it to.
Strategy #3: Check Whether Your Website is Mobile-Optimized
This step is really important! First, make sure that your TapKat sweepstakes is mentioned on the home page of your website (more on that here). This is an easy way to capture the attention and donations of folks who are casually perusing your website.
Next, it’s time to make sure that your website is mobile-optimized. The easiest way to find out is to navigate to your website on your phone or tablet. Does it look sleek, make sense, and is it easy to navigate? Great! Then you’re all set.
If your website looks clunky, as if it weren’t designed for a mobile device, then there’s a little work to do. Talk to your webmaster about steps you can take to make sure that your site looks great on desktop and mobile devices. If you use a website builder like Squarespace or Wix, this is fairly easy to do — Wix will even let you see a preview of the website on mobile, and you can move content blocks as you need to.
When your website is mobile-optimized, and you have your sweepstakes featured on your home page, you’re much more likely to see web visitors click through to your sweepstakes site and make a donation.
Strategy #4: Create Social Media Imagery with Mobile Platforms in Mind
These days, most people access social media on their mobile devices rather than desktop. This means that when you’re creating imagery for social media, you must think about how it will look on a small device. Things to consider:
Make sure the text is large enough to be read on a mobile device,
Keep images focused (ie., avoid collages that will make each image smaller),
Use the best images you have on social media to show off your prize and capture donors’ attention!
Meet Your Donors Where They Are
Many people, especially younger people, access the internet via mobile devices these days. It’s a very good idea to take mobile optimization into consideration in almost everything you do related to promoting your TapKat sweepstakes.
Remember: the more people that know about your sweepstakes, the more money you will raise, and the more new donors you will attract!
Ready to get started with a TapKat sweepstakes? Create a free account here.
