How to Create a Photo Contest in WordPress (Step-by-Step)

Well-run photo contests are proven to drive big results across key metrics like social engagement, lead generation, and traffic growth.

For example, in a recent series of contests run by social media management platform Sprout Social, submission-based campaigns saw 60% higher social engagement rates than company‘s typical posts.

This guide will walk you through launching your own successful WordPress photo contest from start to finish using the latest tools, templates, and promotion strategies.

Let‘s dive in!

Step 1: Understand Why You Want to Run A Photo Contest

The first step is getting clear on your goals. Photo contests can achieve a number of objectives, including:

Driving social engagement

Photo contests fuel user-generated content which receives higher engagement across social platforms like Instagram and TikTok.

For example, Riddle, an online trivia platform, ran an "#outsmartme" photo challenge asking users to visually depict the company‘s trivia tagline. The volume of submissions led to a 437% increase in engagement rate vs. typical posts.

Collecting lead data

Requiring an email address or social follow to enter gives you an expanded lead list. Non-profit charity:water saw email list growth of 180,000 new subscribers via an advent calendar Instagram photo contest.

Earning backlinks and traffic

Ask participants to share contest links to help expand domain authority and referral traffic. Software company Coachbase ran a "Logos in Nature" photo submission campaign across social media which led to over 5,000 backlinks from contest microsites.

So first, decide on 1-2 goals like social engagement, lead gen, or link building that a contest can help fuel. Those objectives will inform upcoming decisions around contest platforms, promotion channels, prizes, and duration.

Step 2: Select Your Photo Contest Platform

While you can run a basic submission-based contest solely off custom web forms, dedicated WordPress contest plugins greatly simplify setup.

Some top contenders to consider in 2023 include:

RafflePress

The leading all-in-one contest and giveaway manager. Easy drag-and-drop customization matched with powerful features like fraud prevention, email notifications, and lead management.

Key stat: RafflePress contests see an average conversion rate of 30% with a quarter of contest visitors subscribing, following or checking out after viewing contest page.

Gleam

A sleek platform tailor-made for capture-based campaigns like photo contests. Focused feature set around gathering user data makes it easy to export email and contact info.

Key stat: Top brands have added over 100,000 email leads in just a few weeks using Gleam contests.

Wishpond

An end-to-end contest manager with deep social integration. Built-in collaboration tools allow you to bring clients and team members into campaign creation.

Key stat: Wishpond reports client photo contests and giveaways driving upwards of 15x ROI on platform subscription costs.

All these contest platforms offer WordPress integration, templates to launch in under 10 minutes, and the ability to tie directly into email and social channels.

Most supply either native form builders or integrations to accept user-generated photo submissions without needing external form plugins. Required entry fields, file uploads restrictions, terms acceptance, etc can all be configured to match campaign objectives.

Setup time will vary slightly across platforms based on the breadth and depth of configurable options available. As examples:

Once installed, the contest manager will expose shortcodes, embed widgets, custom APIs, and dedicated landing pages to collect submissions within your WordPress environment.

Step 3: Set Official Contest Rules and Terms

Before gathering a single photo submission, your official contest rules and terms should be published prominently alongside any contest messaging or entry points.

This serves the dual purpose of:

1. Communicating guidelines clearly to participants
2. Securing legal rights to use and display submitted materials

While seemingly mundane, establishing your usage rights is arguably the most critical component. You want to secure licensing to display, modify, reproduce, distribute submitted photos to support future marketing use cases.

Here‘s sample contest rule text:

By entering the contest, you grant [Company Name] an irrevocable license in perpetuity to publish, reproduce, distribute, and publicly display any submitted images across websites, social media, email marketing campaigns, and promotional materials owned by [Company Name] without compensation or permission. All photos must be originally created by contest entrant and not violate any third party copyrights.

When crafting rules, strike a balance between granting your brand broad licensing powers while establishing an ethical, legally-compliant contest. Though no purchase should ever be necessary, requiring participants to follow your social media profiles or opt-in to receive emails ensures you gain marketing value irrespective of contest outcome.

Photo submission guidelines and technical requirements (e.g. landscape images under 5MB in JPG format) should also be covered to set expectations.

Numerous templates and generators for common contexts like giveaways and nonprofit contests are accessible across contest management platforms should you need guidance.

With the rules formally published, you can now start collecting submissions worry-free!

Step 4: Promote Your Photo Contest

Driving awareness through consistent promotion is required to spur the initial momentum and organic sharing needed for photo contest success.

Pre-Launch Promotion

1-2 weeks before your contest start date, begin building anticipation by:

• Teasing the upcoming contest across social channels
• Sending an announcement email blast to your current subscriber list
• Recruiting influencers or brand ambassadors for additional reach into relevant communities

This gives participants time to prepare creative entries in advance of the submission period opening.

Ongoing Contest Promotion

After the contest is live, maintain excitement levels by:

• Sending weekly email reminders to subscribers
• Posting select contest submissions to social media 1-2 times per week along with reminder CTAs
• Using built-in share options within platforms like RafflePress and Gleam that encourage visitors to virally spread the contest URL

Maintaining consistent visibility of your photo contest keeps entry momentum strong and gives latecomers a chance to participate.

Keeping Participants Engaged

In addition to raw reminder messaging, keep current participants hooked by:

• Spotlighting select photo entries on social media
• Sending mid-contest update emails on current submission volumes
• Offering referral bonuses or extra entries for sharing the contest link

This incentivizes contestants to return and check if their photo had been featured while continually expanding reach.

Step 5: Select Contest Prizes and Judges

The quality of prizes awarded directly correlates with higher contest participation and completion rates.

Some factors to consider when selecting prizes:

• Relevance – Offer desirable prizes tailored to interests of your target contest demographic
• Perceived Value – Prioritize prizes that hold significant clout and prestige over pure financial value
• Creativity – Think beyond just cash payouts and gift cards to spur excitement

If promoting photography and visual arts, popular prize ideas include:

• New camera equipment
• Photo printing gift cards
• Paid photography workshop or class
• Adobe Creative Cloud subscription
• Photo backdrops, lighting, or props
• Charitable donation to a visual arts nonprofit organization

In addition to determining prizes, decide on a fair judging methodology for selecting winners. Common approaches include:

• Panel of influencer judges within your industry
• Company executive team or other staff judges
• Random winner selection
• Popular vote via social shares

Having well-defined processes for picking top photos that aligns with contest goals boosts transparency.

Step 6: Collect, Evaluate and Display Photo Entries

With your backend submission workflows now fully built out within your chosen WordPress contest platform, focus switches to seamlessly guiding site visitors into becoming contest participants.

Some best practices here include:

• Embedding contest widgets prominently on key landing pages
• Linking to the submission form from high-performing pages and posts
• Adding dedicated contest category pages for taxonomy archives
• Creating standalone contest landing pages for maximum conversions

For example, you might setup a structure like:

Blog Post

Title: 10 Tips for Taking Better Product Photos

Description: Learn pro techniques to photograph your products. Enter our Product Photo Contest for a chance to get featured and win a prize!

CLICKABLE CTA: Upload Submission

This CTA would link off to…

Contest Landing Page

Title: 2023 Product Photo Contest

Description: Enter our product photo contest for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card! Just submit your best original product images by March 15th.

CONTEST WIDGET EMBED

The end-to-end path gives visitors relevant value through your content which builds interest that culminates in an easy call-to-action to become a contestant.

Once submissions start rolling in, make sure you stay organized!

• Download packs of images in bulk directly through your contest platforms at intervals for archiving
• If public voting mechanisms are enabled, track top voted entries automatically
• Use tagging, categories, or custom fields to group popular or relevant submissions
• Eliminate incomplete or invalid entries that fail to meet publication rules

This streamlines evaluation when it comes time for final judging.

To further leverage UGC entries, consider displaying select images in a public-facing gallery on your website. Platforms like RafflePress, Wishpond and Shortstack expose APIs to automatically build these.

Not only does this showcase creativity, but acts as free marketing when contestants share the gallery containing their work.

Just be sure gallery permissions are properly scoped in submission terms!

Step 7: Reward Winners and Repurpose Content

Once your contest concludes, complete the experience by:

1. Directly contacting winners via email or social channels on next steps for claiming prizes

2. Making a public post across website and social media outlets announcing the winning images and creators

3. Following up with a roundup email to all participants recapping contest success metrics aligned back to original goals and incentivize potential future contests

And don‘t let all the great UGC you collected go to waste! Repurpose top images into future blog posts, social content, and marketing materials respecting usage rights. Even contest entries that didn‘t place can find new life driving value long after.

Go Forth and Run Successful Contests!

Executing well-planned photo contests fueled by solid incentives and promotion is a proven tactic for expanding audience engagement and reach.

WordPress tools like RafflePress, Gleam and Wishpond matched with the comprehensive strategies outlined here will set you up for maximum submissions, lead capture and content gains.

Now that you know how to properly run a complete photo campaign from start to publication, the only question is…what visual assets would help your brand?

Collecting relevant, authentic imagery straight from customers and fans not only saves on content creation costs, but builds authentic connections with your community.

So set some goals, pick those prize winners judiciously, and go engage at scale!