Are Voting Contests Worth It?

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Voting contests seem fun by offering a little friendly competition and the opportunity to win a prize. However voting contests in particular can be frustrating and alienate your friends.

Online Voting Contests Are they Fair

In order to save your sanity, consider the following:

Do You Really Want to Win?

Ask yourself if the prize is worth the effort you might have to put in. You may have to remind your friends regularly to vote. It can be challenging to keep up with the competition, especially if they have a lot of friends online.

Duration and Voting Frequency

How long will this contest run and can you vote daily? If there is a long voting period, be considerate of your friends. While it may be tempting to ask for their votes every single day, it will get old very quickly if the competition is running for several weeks.

Incentives

Contest sponsors want voters to keep coming back and to tell their friends. Often you’ll find coupons or the opportunity to win a prize just for voters. Extra entries for sharing the contest with friends is also common. Incentives make it easier for you to promote the competition because it gives voters something for their time. It also is more appealing for the fans of the sponsor to take the time to vote. This is a great way to get votes based on merit alone.

Cheating

Be sure to stay away from anything that is obviously cheating like votebots or could be cheating such as offering giveaways for votes. Check the rules carefully and refer to the sponsor if you are ever in doubt before offering incentives of your own as it could disqualify you.

Likewise, if you notice anything that looks suspicious, don’t be afraid to say something privately. A large number of entries at once can sometimes be legitimate but can also be a sign of cheating.

Voting Contests Are Not Fair

Unfortunately voting contests often come down to a popularity contest. It is typically the person who has a lot of friends or access to a larger community that wins unless the sponsor heavily markets the competition. Keep this in mind and do not to take it personally if your prized recipe doesn’t win top honors or your child isn’t voted as the cutest.

 

If after reading all these voting contest pitfalls, you are still interested in entering a contest be sure to weigh your investment. You may decide that you’d rather invest your time in contests judged on merit alone or by random draw. They are certainly more fair and almost always less stressful.

13 Comments

  1. I’ve been thinking of posting along the same lines, and still may at some point. I hate voting contests. And I’m not overly fond of people I don’t know asking me to vote for something every time I sign on to Facebook.

    I realize they’ve done me a kindness by linking up to my site, so I usually vote, but it happens all the time, and it does get old. And it’s not fair to those who are playing fair either, and fair to me is people voting for who they really want to win, based on the criteria of the contest.

    I don’t enter them either because I won’t ask anyone to vote, so I know I’m already at a huge disadvantage. 🙂

  2. I have participated in an average of 2 voting contests a year over the last couple of years. It is SOOOOOOOOOO time consuming. And yes, I think people get annoyed. But I always return the favor if anyone ever asks me. I don’t see what the big deal is to take a couple seconds to vote for someone though. I think it is annoying when signing up for an account is required, but clicking on a VOTE button or liking a photo really isn’t a big deal.

  3. I stay far, far away from voting contests. There are entire blogs and contest forums dedicating to helping eachother vote for entries. With a community of thousands trading votes, it’s impossible to win fairly.

  4. I entered just one voting contest. I saw when it started, jumped in before most people knew about it. It was only one week long and I’d been helping friends out with their contests so I was able to pull in favors and won. I will not enter another one. ever. I don’t think they’re worth it.

  5. I entered a few vote contests for my photography but quickly learned that talent was not what won and that made me sad. I am not saying that I am super talented but the winners were often horrible and obviously either cheated or were social network big timers. I thought I was, but not enough to win. LOL After two of those such things happening, I avoid ANY contests that require voting. I don’t even bother.

  6. i dont think these type of contests are worth it because there will be someone paying for votes or cheating somehow.. thats just my opinion

  7. I wish they would do away with voting contests altogether because I’m always getting hit up to vote for this or that. Thanks for sharing!

  8. I stay away from voting contests as an entrant. I vote occasionally if someone has a cute photo or I just want to help out.

  9. that’s what ive always found to be true,,I like the contest where the sponsor picks the winner an its not a voting contest an everyone has one entry

  10. You make very valid points and it does get annoying to people after a while so it is good to check the run of these things!

  11. I have had many questions about these and I would have to agree with Vickie above. I would enter if a sponsor chose the winning entry,not by voting.

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