With the recent Mega Millions up for grabs through the lottery, many had their hopes up to win the jackpot. I speak for many when I say we are all a little envious of the winner of 1.6 billion dollars in South Carolina.
Other than seeing the winning numbers on television, the next best place to look for the winning lottery numbers was online, and by online I do not mean the Powerball website. In fact, after the winning numbers were revealed the Powerball website was down. Social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook feeds were flooded with the winning numbers and reactions from non-winners.
Before the winning numbers were revealed, the lottery was a trending topic on social media. People shared what they would do with the winnings had their tickets been the lucky winner. In fact, the trending hashtag #powerball was tweeted more than 600 times an hour. Photos, posts, and conversations encouraged the 131,000 tickets purchased each minute in the days leading up to the announcement of the lottery winner.
A crowd favorite marketing trend based on an informal poll of U.S. lottery marketing directors is video. This means everything from animated GIFs to produced spots, to live streaming. Although tweets, Facebook posts, and blogs have an impact on lottery ticket sales, the ability of allowing consumers to witness the experience of playing the lottery may have a stronger impact on ticket sales.
Watch this video of a digital campaign that featured videos of novice lottery players scratching a lottery ticket in the Minnesota lottery.
The lottery’s best live promotional drawing to place at the Indiana state fair this past August. Players could enter a chance to win a pick-up truck by purchasing a five dollar lottery ticket. The winner was announced via Facebook live. The video had 80,000 viewers.
A big trend in 2018 U.S. lottery campaigns is to bridge the gap between in-store and social media. For example, the Hoosier lottery will offer more in-store help through ticket scanning as well as integrating its loyalty platform within its app. Using the app will be more convenient for the players and give them a second chance at promotional winnings.
If you want a better chance of winning some money through the lottery get on social media and stay updated on new promotions.