Contest, Contest and Contest!

Whenever I login to my Facebook account , my notifications list is full of requests to “like my post on blah blah Fan-page in order to let me win blah blah contest..”! Couple of my friends are so much into this “Contests” thingie that the only purpose for them to login to facebook is winning the contest.

It’s a human nature to “Win” and today’s marketers are making the best out of this instinct. Bringing more “likes” to their fan-pages, shifting this responsibility to people by giving them a chance to win something, isn’t it a great idea? :-) I have seen the “likes” increasing exponentially, in a matter of a day, on pages just because of these contests.

Initially, the facebook applications were so addictive that kept the people extra ordinarily involved. Now, these contests have penetrated in our daily lives. Couple of days back, I went to “Stylo Shoes” and I observed how smartly they have increased their sales by giving 500 PKR vouchers to their fans through a contest on their fan-page on this 14th August. I personally, liked the strategy. The 500 PKR voucher will be valid only when you do a purchase equivalent of 1000 PKR. Smart, no? :-) The results were pretty obvious if any of you have visited the outlets lately.

But what results these strategies are putting in an individual life? Let me quote some of the examples. A friend of mine is so much involved in these contests that her husband says that she has lost her appetite, she doesn’t care for her health anymore, she wakes up in the nights in order to see how many likes her post has achieved till now. In short she has become a complete victim of this social networking disease, “like my post and help me win..!”

Even my own sister, she is fighting with me right now because I am showing a little reluctance for liking her post in order to win her a contest. I showed reluctance deliberately, wanted to see her reaction. A mild “No” really blazed her up and she started telling me that she has done a lot for me during the times when I required her help and now I am becoming selfish and not liking her post.

Ooops! It seems like the strategy that is producing awesome results for brands is somehow ruining the individual’s life and relationships too.

Do you know, she again looked askew at me for not liking her post,lol.

Finally..My 'Thoughts' are being heard by 'Me' :-)

"Blogging" is the most twinkling part of my "Wish-list" from the day I got to know about the concept of Blogging. Several times, I created profiles on different blogging sites but for some unknown reasons I never posted a single blog on any of them. Sometimes, I feel those "unknown reasons" are fear, lack of time, procrastination or may be something else. On daily basis there are several things that wander over my mind in search of some words and an opportunity to be converted into digital format but.. they were never lucky enough.


Today I didn't think much of anything and switched on my laptop, opened www.blogger.com and created my new profile. Right now, I dare to say, that I don't have anything particular in my mind, I'm just typing whatever comes into my mind. I believe, today "things in my mind" are having four-leaf clovers all around them :-).


I believe, sometimes we waste so much time in thinking and analyzing the things we want to do. We just become too busy to find out the "unknown reasons" for not doing something. In reality, these "unknown reasons" don't exist. We just , sometimes, don't have to think a lot instead start working immediately and follow  the "things in our minds".


If I dig more into my interest of blogging, I realize that I always love to share the things I know, with the people around. Sometimes, it becomes hard to shortlist those who are interested in grabbing the information and knowledge you have and those who are not.. So, the best option I could ever have for bypassing this shortlisting process is "Blogging". I will write whatever I feel is needed to be shared with people. Now it is up-to them whether they want to grab it or not. At least, I'm done with my part.


Don't forget to listen your "thoughts"... :-)