These photo and video contests seem quite popular, of all of a sudden. Why do you suppose so many marketers are choosing to brave the waters of social media and user generated content?

Because it works. And to illustrate that fact, here are ten reasons why video and photo contests are such a great marketing investment:

10. You Start a Dialogue With your Community

For many, a photo or video contest is their first foray into social media. The first time that they have publicly reflected any online participation with the public at large. And that can be a little scary. But when you consider that people will be vying for the attention (and prizes) of your company, and you have the option of moderating entries before they go live, there really isn't much to be afraid of. So give it a shot! It's a great way to start. Bonus Example: Barkbusters, whose photo contest was immensely popular with pet owners, and even got them some air time on a morning tv show.

9. It's Fun

If your contest idea is a good one, people will enjoy entering and collecting votes. What's more, you will enjoy seeing the submissions come in. The quality and quantity of entries may even suprise you. Tourism Vancouver's video contest (still live as of this writing) has collected some fantastic images of the city.

8. They're Good for Traffic and SEO

The kind of activity that photo and video contests attract are great for SEO. You get loads of new and returning visitors who have meaningful interactions with your site. The added traffic will boost your search juice.

For bonus points: Link people to other areas of your site from the contest page, and track their activity in your stats.

Jazz Sudbury's contest now appears on page one in a search for the festival, sending more traffic to the festival site for info, while simultaneously scouting talent who could win a chance to perform.

7. The Public Has Good Ideas

With apologies to your advertising agency, the best idea they could pitch to you this year would be to accept ideas and submissions from your community. A video or photo contest could yield some world class content that is better than you expected. You'll never know if you don't ask. Sex Panther, the hot new scent licensed from ther popularity of Anchorman, the movie, now has a plethora of excellent "spokes growlers" to choose from, after their fun video and audio-based contest.

6. It Gives You Plenty to Talk about on Facebook, Twitter

Often, your company blog, Twitter account and Facebook Page can go a long time with no updates. An exciting contest of this kind mixes things up, attracts new people to the fold, and provides you with many small 'wins' that you can announce. "Check out this great entry!" or... "Only two weeks left to vote..."

Contestants from Ypreneurgene.com and PropertyGuys.com have been lighting up the Twittersphere with their video contest, where the prize is a $100,000 PropertyGuys.com franchise.

5. You Look Cool

We're giving you permission to have some fun with your contest campaign. If your corporate website and marketing materials tend to skew towards the more 'functional' side (read: boring), then a contest gives you a chance to spread your wings outside of that stuffy box, for once. Splash some color into your campaign, and make it stand out from everyhting else you do. Make it looks as cool as you want. This stuff is meant to be fun and engaging, so pull out all the stops.

BCIT cut loose, had a bit of fun and got some great student video submissions with their 3BlogNights event and video contest.

4. You Make "Fans"

You already have fans. You just might not know it yet. A photo or video contest will reflect that community, and bring them closer to you. The ones who place as finalists, win prizes or interact directly with your company will be left with a positive impression. They will become brand ambassadors on your behalf.

From the author's own past: When I was 13 years old, I won a trip to Toronto to attend a (Coca-Cola sponsored) hockey camp with none other than Wayne Gretzky himself. Today at lunch, I ordered a soda with my fish my and chips. Can you guess which brand? (I promise to update this post with photographic proof of my meeting with His Greatness).

3. It Keeps Getting Easier

Each subsequent contest gets easier, for a number of reasons. First, you will have a better understanding of how people respond to contests. You may have thought of an even better idea for the next campaign. You also have a database of people who entered in the past, whom you can invite to participate again. You may even have design assets that can be re-used for future campaigns, limiting your costs to start another contest.

Launch Party Vancouver has used Strutta to power the last several startup competitions, using video, popular vote and judges. Each time, they get a larger number of submissions, votes and views- as more and more community members already have voting accounts, and know exactly what to expect.

2. Find Out More About Your Customer

With the option of adding survey questions or customer-specific contest requirements, you can ask and obtain more information from the folks who enter your contest. Choose carefully what you ask, because each form makes entering a little bit more difficult. But there may be questions that your marketing department would love to learn: ie. zip code, profession, preferred breakfast cereal. If you're on the ball, you'll also ask for permission to send updates about your company, or about future contests.

1. 'Free' Marketing

Yes, this is number one for a reason. There simply is no better way to spread the message about your campaign than to have the masses do it for you. And if your video or photo contest has a popular vote element, people will be climbing all over themseves to spread the word on your behalf. Think of all the tweets, Facebook wall posts, and personal emails to uncles and aunties that will bear your name and brand. When you look at it that way, it's easy to see why contests (especially those with user content and popular vote) are such a great marketing investment.

Family Video's "Hotel for Dogs" photo contest generated an average of over 100 votes per entry among their top vote-getters, creating a voting frenzy among proud pet owners. This month, Family Video published a new contest- this time it's a movie review video contest. They know from experience that with a fun and topical contest, the community will do a lot towards spreading the word about the campaign.

Contests are a great marketing tool. Like any other tool available to you, it can be extremely effective when handled properly. If you reflect on the above list, you will likely realize your own reasons why contests will make sesne for your company. And that's the beauty of a contest promotion- it can be very unique and specific to your message, be fun and engaging for visitors, and still accomplish your overall marketing goals.

We hope this helps you see the value in using contests in your marketing, but we understand if it doesn't answer all of your questions for you. That's where we come in.

Contact us at 1-877-477-5717 so we can chat about how to make a contest part of your campaign.