Step #4: Set-Up Your Contest

Owned by Kat Harlton
Last updated: May 06, 2021
6 min read

This Article Is For:

  • All users who have 'Promotions' permissions

  • This is applicable to all SoCast Themes

Creating a new contest is similar to creating a page or blog.

Content Area

  1. Go to Website > Promotions > Contests > All Contests > Add New Contest > Choose A Template

  2. Add Title: This is the title of your contest.

  3. Use one of the following editors to add content and design to your contest:

    1. Back-end Editor: This is a visual preview of your contest page. When creating a new contest page, you won't have any content elements. You may add from a large selection of 'elements' available.

      1. Add Element: Click or drag the 'Add Element' button to add content elements to your contest page.

      2. Templates: Click the 'Templates' button, here you can either load a previously made template or save your current page as a template.

  4. Classic Mode: This editor works similar to a Microsoft Word document. Complete with a toolbar and 'kitchen sink'

    1. Visual: Content editor that allows you to create, edit, and format your blog content in a view similar to that of a word processor.

    2. Text: Editor that allows you to create, edit and format your blog with custom css & html

 

Excerpt

Excerpts are optional hand-crafted summaries of your content that can be used in your theme. 

  1. Scroll down to the bottom and find the ‘Excerpt’ box.

  2. Enter the text you would like to have displayed in the contest list widget.

  3. The excerpt will also be used for the preview text in social posts (e.g Facebook preview). 

  4. The excerpt box also controls what is displayed in Google, and other search engine results.

  5. As a reminder, if the excerpt box is empty, SoCast automatically creates an excerpt using the first few sentences of the blog post.

 

Entry Actions

Configure the individual settings for each entry action. Customizable entry action options can be used to tailor your contest formats and goals. Drag to re-order the display of the entry actions in the contest registration widget.

  1. Click ‘Add Entry Action’ to add an action that is required by your listeners in order to enter the contest.

  2. For more on ‘Entry Actions’ see: https://socastsrm.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FAQ/pages/2530181192

 

Notifications

Configure the notifications that are sent to staff for this contest. The default notifications are inherited from the contest settings.

  1. Notify On Contest Entry: Choose ‘Yes’ or ‘No’. Sends a notification when an entry is received for this contest.

  2. Additional Emails to Notify: Enter one email address per line to send notifications for this contest to, e.g. user@email.com. These emails are in addition to the default emails configured in the contest settings.

 

Publish

  1. Preview On (Desktop): You can preview what your contest will look like on the website

  2. Preview On (Mobile): You can preview what your contest will look like on the mobile responsive version of the website

  3. Status: This is the status of your contest. (Ex. In “draft” mode, “published” mode etc.)

  4. Publish: 

    1. To publish your contest to the site immediately click the Publish button

    2. Click edit to schedule a date and time for your contest to be published.

  5. Expiry Date: Choose a date & time for this contest to expire. Once expired, it will go into ‘draft’ mode.

  6. Visibility: Who can see your contest. From the drop down choose one of the following:

    1. Public: Contest is visible to everyone who visits your site

    2. Members Only: Contest is only visible to users who are logged onto the site via the SoCast membership too.

  7. Save Draft: To save your Contest and NOT publish it to the website, click the Save Draft button.

 

Entry Period

Configure the entry period for this contest. These dates will be inserted into the rules template for this contest.

  1. Entry Start Date: Date contest signups start 

  2. Entry End Date: Date contest signups end 

 

Contest Categories

In the right column, under the “Contest Categories” section, select the name of the category you want this contest to live under.

  1. All Blog Categories: Displays all available categories that you can post to

  2. Most Used: Displays the categories most frequently posted to

 

Rules & Restrictions

Configure the rules and restrictions for this contest. (e.g minimum age, location etc) The default rules and restrictions are inherited from the contest settings.

  1. Click ‘Configure Rules’ button

Contest Rules

  1. Default Legal Country: The country whose laws these contest rules are subject to for this contest.
    Can be inserted as template text into the rules template.

  2. Legal Entity: e.g. ABC Broadcast Group, XYZ 101.5, etc. The legal entity presiding over this contest.
    Will use website name if not provided. Can be inserted as template text into the rules template.

  3. Location: e.g. City, State, or Province. Entrants must be a resident of this location to enter this contest and confirm that they meet this criteria when registering.

  4. Minimum Age: Entrants must exceed this minimum age to enter this contest and confirm that they meet this criteria when registering.

  5. Rules Template:

  6. Once done, click ‘Save’

To finish creating your contest you will need to go back to all contests > into your existing contest

 

This is where you will add the 'featured media' for this contest. The featured image that is uploaded here, is used for all social previews/posts and is displayed in contest Lists. The featured media is displayed at the top of the post page. Media should be at least 200px by 200px

If you do not add a featured image, we will display the station/account logo.

  1. Set Featured Media: To set your contest’s featured image, click 'Set Featured Media' and choose an image from your computer, the media library or the stock image library

    1. Crop Thumbnail: click this button to crop your featured thumbnails, and follow the instructions in the pop-up window

    2. Edit Original: Click this option to edit the original image. A new window will open with the image in the media library system, for you to edit.

    3. Change: Click this option to change the image

    4. Remove: Click this option to remove the image

  2. Post Page Image Placement: Choose one of the following: (If you don’t set the featured image, no image will show up with your contest listing.)

    1. Full Width: will display the 'featured media' image full width across the top of your contest

    2. No Image: will display the 'featured media' image in contest lists and social posts, but will not display it within your contest content.

 

Minisite Header

  1. Select a minisite header that appears above the body of this contest to navigate between a subset of pages or links, e.g. program or sponsored content, etc. Minisite Headers must first be created under Website > Website Structure > Minisite Headers.