For the past few weeks I’ve been diving in deeper to see what Twitter contests are all about.  Having never run a Twitter contest yet myself, I wanted to dig in and see the specific types of contests that people are successfully running.  

Here’s what I’ve found:

Tweet an answer – This is where you ask a question (ex: Why should you win our $50 gift card?) and the users have to tweet using a specific hashtag that you provide and their response within the given number of characters. (ex: I’m stuck on the side of the road with no gas! #JSTDMakeMeaWinner) Winners are chosen based on creativity of the answer as decided by organizers.

Retweet to win – It’s as simple as it sounds.  You come up with the initial tweet and others have to retweet for a chance to win (you can also say ‘follow and retweet’).  Winners are chosen at random based on the list of people who retweeted.

Picture Contest – Users tweet a specific kind of requested picture for the chance to win the prize.  Again you choose a theme and a unique hashtag for users to provide in their tweet.  Organizers choose the winner based on creativity.

Fastest Answer – Instead of asking a question where they create a unique answer (like in #1) – you tweet a question where the fastest correct answer wins.  You could issue little prizes for this type of contest and run it more frequently.  That way people are following your page and checking back often to be the first to answer your questions as you post.

What you do you guys think of these methods?  Which sounds best to you?  Ever used any of these?