I love a freebie as much as the next person, but I’ve got a love/hate relationship with free challenges. On the one hand, I’ve completed some that gave my business a massive boost and made me immediately sign up to what the creator was promoting. But equally, some took up far too much of my time for what I felt like I got out of it, and the ‘normal’ completion rates are so low.
So when I decided to run a free challenge recently, I knew I needed to do things differently!
“It was very low pressure but great value” – Rosie Diver
I didn’t run it in a group
The ‘norm’ is to run a free challenge in a Facebook Group (either an existing one or a dedicated pop-up one). I skipped that stage and ran it directly on my Page. That meant that:
- I didn’t have the extra work of setting up a group
- Participants didn’t feel that pressure to be active in a group
- One participant said that it randomly popped up on her feed – she previously knew of me, but didn’t really know me!
Of course, it also has its drawbacks. The big one being that you can’t control who has access to it, so the free challenge is no longer a mailing list booster. For me, that wasn’t one of my goals, so it didn’t matter.
If you are running a free challenge in a group, and need a hand managing that, give me a shout!
It only included one video
The ‘norm’ is to go Live every day, or potentially to share a pre-recorded video, and lots of them conclude with a longer Masterclass. Out of the five days, I only had one that was a video – and it was only 5 minutes long! That meant that I got feedback like this:
“I particularly liked (and was able to take part in the challenge because of) the fact I didn’t have to listen to videos. The one video was short and captioned. It really made it so much more flexible.” – Sam Robson
So why do we usually create so much video content for a challenge? Because it allows participants to see you, to feel like they are getting to know you, and to witness what working with you would be like. If working with you means sitting down with you and getting that 1-2-1 support, this is so important! For me, working with me means tapping into my knowledge.
“It definitely showcased the breadth and depth of your expertise.” -Rosie Diver
But did it work?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? To me, a successful free challenge is measured in a few different ways.
Did I get many sign-ups / completions? When I’ve run free challenges in groups in the past, I’ve had 30-50 sign-ups, but with only about 5 completions. This time, only 6 people took part, but 5 of them completed it! Realistically, it’s the people who complete it who remember you – so I’m counting that as a success.
Did my participants benefit from it? The feedback I got included that it made them “put their purpose into words” and “feel more confident about looking at their engagement rate and performance.” I’m definitely counting that as a success.
Did people sign-up to what I was promoting? Yes, I have made sales off the back of this challenge!
Ready to create your own?
Let’s get together via Google Meet for an hour and plan your free challenge in a way that works towards your goals, that allows you to show up as easily as possible, and that aligns with your business!
I help passionate small business owners with their social media so that they can create a powerful and supportive space to promote their business.
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