Mint.com is encouraging people to follow the company on Facebook by giving away a free Apple iPad. The winner will be selected on March 17. Mint is the first company we've seen to capitalize on the current iPad publicity with a sweepstakes. The company is advertising the promotion on its blog page.
Mint is an industry leading PFM website with about 1.7 million unique visitors last month (see our previous blog entry here). The company is also a Finovate best of show winner. (Finovate2008 video here.) Mint is owned by finance software company Intuit.
Mint is using the social networking power of Facebook to promote its services. The PFM company has a public Facebook page (see screenshot #1, below), allowing visitors to become "fans" that can follow company news and enter user discussions. Mint currently has 51,000 fans.
The page provides a free public forum where Mint can not only promote its services, but also make announcements (the page currently supports a help-wanted ad for a Systems Administrator) and encourage user interaction (Screenshot #1).
Facebook revenues are primarily derived from targeted advertising on its user's pages. By making its own services free, the company draws in participants, increasing the value of its advertisements. Facebook currently enjoys more than 130 million unique U.S. visitors per month, according to traffic data from Compete. Companies that provide free services on their own websites, such as Mint, are a natural fit for Facebook's audience.
Mint's iPad sweepstakes capitalizes on Facebook features that share information across its social network. The promotion requires users to become fans of Mint's Facebook page in order to enter the contest. When I became a fan of Mint, everyone on my friends list was notified, complete with a link that leads directly to Mint's sweepstakes page (screenshot #2).
Mint is giving away two iPads. The contest allows entrants to name the person who referred them, with the referrer winning the second iPad. This means that the more friends you send to the promotion, the greater your chances of getting a new toy become (screenshot #3). And when your friends become Mint fans, all their friends are notified.
Mint's sweepstakes is being handled by Wildfire Promotions, which offers social media marketing campaigns based on Facebook and Twitter. Entering the sweepstakes takes the user seamlessly and almost invisibly from Facebook to a Wildfire page.
#1 Mint's Wall on Facebook
#2. The Sweepstakes Page
#3. The More Friends You Refer, the Better Your Odds (This is a Wildfire Page)
