I have always heard of the scams that happen around in the blog contests, and most of the times, I felt that there might be some problem in the contesting entries which didn’t win and later complained.. but after being a part of something similar, the thinking has changed. We can call it a scam, or pre-planned marketing stuff which is still getting a good attention to those big brands involved. The brands here I’m mentioning about, are Indiblogger and Samsung, because it was a contest hosted by Indiblogger and Samsung was the sponsor, and it was unfair how many deserving entries didn’t win.
Here is what I actually learned after participating in a blog contest, dedicating time towards strengthening my entry, and in the end, seeing myself lose the contest to such entries which has fractions of quality, interaction to that of mine and a few others’.
Contest Rules are crap! Don’t follow them
Most of the contests have the rules that you need to follow, and a few rules using which they would select the winners. That is all crap. The way of selecting the winners is just a secret, nothing related to the rules that were shown while the contest was actually running. They don’t see how good the entries were, rather it is seen how well the entries might be useful for their future marketing. The contest rules can change any day.
> So, just write something, try your luck and don’t waste your time, you can win only if you are in touch with the contest sponsor or the host, or are luckier than the actual deserving entries.
You lost it? Don’t moan.. move on!
This is the stamp statement for anyone who lost the contest. However good your contesting entry is, you lost the contest because of some reason, and that’s it. Now don’t moan, don’t cry, don’t shout. Because, there is no one to reply. The sponsors and host have got a few sudden supporters, in the form of contest winners with whom you can’t argue because they are your fellow bloggers and a contest shouldn’t bring unnecessary issues between the bloggers.
Sponsors and host are the winners, bloggers aren’t.
You would keep fighting after the winners are announced, but slowly you would see yourself in a spider web where most of the fellow bloggers like you are stuck in the web and the big spiders sit aside laughing at you. The host got their earnings, sponsors got more than the fame they expected, so they won’t mind the blame game.. why? Because the bloggers fall for the freebies and automatically are dragged towards the supporting of the biggies.
The Brands have it in bold letters: “YOU ARE SCREWED. MOVE ON”
They conclude it by writing a long post explaining what happened, nothing of which would actually explain what you wanted to hear. But what is the next step? Nothing. We accept it, we aren’t that big enough to take any further step against such brands which run on the International level, and that being a contest and not a deal, just shut up and move on.
Participants are categorized. Fall into the Odd ones, you win!
Before the results were announced, I didn’t know that people were calling me a Tech Blogger, and someone else a story writer. And I didn’t know that being one of the many tech bloggers who fall into the same category, actually reduced my chances of winning. Had I written a post in my personal blog, saying that I was “God” and I create people, decide their date of death, all through my tab.. I would have won. Being a tech blogger was my mistake. This is what the comments in my post and the post on Indiblogger says.
Don’t want to complain? Don’t participate. Or be Careful.
As simple as it is. You won’t be guaranteed a winner, so better don’t participate. You can then sit aside and enjoy the fights by other bloggers later when the winners are announced. You won’t be a part of it. Still have the interest to compete with others in future? be careful.. just try your luck. Because contests like these won’t ask for your active participation.
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Frankly, earning from the contest is not my intention here. The tab that costs around $700 is coming for free. If I write some great content, and some promotion I would be earning the same in a few months through my blog’s earnings.. but the way Bloggers were used here was not right. It is still a suspense whether it was Samsung or Indiblogger who chose the winners, and Indiblogger can freely say that it was Samsung who chose the winners because the latter doesn’t have the ears to hear anyone.. and the blame from Indiblogger’s shoulder moves away. Well planned.
Coming to my brother’s winning in the contest, he deserved it. There was good interaction, good depth and relevance. But when people ask me why am I supporting others who didn’t win the contest, I’m a blogger myself, I have my own company and I had my own entry in the contest. I couldn’t win although I’m pretty sure more than 10 winning entries in the contest were less stronger than mine. If I have to ask him for support, he would do that because he too knows how well I dedicated my time for the contest. But here, support from anyone would go in vain.. because that’s what I’ve been telling from the beginning of the post – BIG BRANDS WIN!
6 Things to Learn from Blog Contests & Big Brands (Samsung, Indiblogger)