Organize a Video Contest to collect audiovisual content generated by your users that you can display in a public gallery and additionally enable voting to help viralize the contest. Users will be able to upload any video format from anywhere: their mobile phone, tablet, share YouTube videos, Vimeo, videos they shared on Instagram, or TikTok.

The tutorial is organized as follows:

1. Overview

2. Create the promotion

3. Video Contest configuration

4. Gallery configuration

5. Voting configuration

6. Participant registration system

7. Fraud control system

8. Sending emails to participants

9. Customize the design and complete the setup of the contest

10. User management and statistics

11. Manage and announce the winners

1. Overview

The Video Contest application allows you to organize an online contest to obtain user-generated content, which you can display in a public gallery and enable voting to help viralize the contest. The Video Contest will allow you to:

The Video Contest application will allow you to organize an online video contest to obtain user-generated content that you can display in a public gallery and, additionally, enable voting to help viralize the contest. The Video Contest will allow you to:

• Customize fully the registration form with the data you want to gather from participants.
• Accept any video format: participants can easily upload their content from their devices or participate with videos they have already published on YouTube, TikTok, or Instagram.
• Publicly display the videos uploaded by users in the contest gallery and enable the voting system so that the videos can be voted on.
• Manage and moderate all videos uploaded by users to control which videos appear published in the gallery and are valid for the contest.
• Create the prizes and decide how you want to determine the winner(s) of the contest: by votes, through a jury, or by raffling the prize(s) among the participants.
• Download the original videos uploaded by users.

2. Create the promotion

Below we explain all the steps to create your Video Contest:

1. Access your Easypromos dashboard and log in with your email and password to manage and create your promotions.

2. Next, click on the "Create new promotion" button to start creating your promotion.

3. The available products will be presented. Select the "Video Contest" application under the "Contests" section:

3. Video Contest configuration

The contest allows you to configure the type of content users can upload. Primarily, these will be videos, but you can also allow users to include photos, PDFs, or links in their entries and can enable pre-moderation so that content is not published until you have validated it.

Below we explain the steps to create your Video Contest.

Step 1. Access the "Upload Videos" stage

This stage will allow users to participate in the contest by uploading their own video(s). From the editor Participation stages, enter the “Upload videos" stag through the pencil icon, to configure it:

You will find the following configuration tabs:

1. "Options" Tab: here you will find all the configuration options for the stage:

• Stage name: this is the name that will be displayed on the stage distribution screen.
• Stage description: optionally, you can describe what this participation stage entails, which will also appear on the stage distribution screen. This is where you describe this participation stage, indicating to users that they need to upload a video to confirm their entry.
• Dates: allows you to schedule the start and end date of participation for this stage.
• Stage image: this is the image that will identify the stage on the stage distribution screen.
• Participation frequency: you can determine the number of times users can participate in this stage as well as the participation frequency, which can be:
  • Daily
  • Hourly
  • Weekly
  • Total

2. "Requirements" Tab: optionally, before the participation screen in the stage, the promotion can present Requirements as a complement to the user's participation. This is an additional action that users must perform before they can participate. Available Requirements are: validate a code, upload a purchase ticket, watch a video, scan a QR code, or condition participation on having already entered another stage. Learn more about Requirements. 

3. "User-generated content" Tab: here you can configure and customize the participation screen of the stage, which we explain in detail in the following point.

Step 2. Configure the Video Contest

Next, access the "User-generated content" tab and click on "Multimedia content", where you will find all the configuration options for the participation mechanics, which is the upload of a video to participate in the contest. For this reason, the template comes with the "Allow video file upload" option activated, which will allow users to upload their video (accepted formats: .MOV, .MP4, .AVI, .MPEG, .WMV, WEBM, .3GP, .FLV, .OGV, .ASF, .MPG, .M4v). 

Additionally, if you wish, you can enable other content formats that users can upload to the contest, described below:

• Photo and images files (PNG, GIF, JPG): enable this option if you want to allow users to upload one or more images from their device.

• YouTube videos: enable this option if you want to allow users to enter the URL of a video previously published on YouTube.
• Text-only content: enable this option if you want to allow users to upload texts. Recommendation: use this field to ask users for texts of a maximum of 3000 characters (about 500 words). For longer texts, it is recommended to use the PDF documents field.
• PDF documents: enable this option if you want to allow users to upload a PDF document to participate.
• External link-based content: enable this option if you want to allow users to upload theURL of an external link.
• Instagram photos and videos: this option allows the user to connect their Instagram profile to select a photo or video published on their profile (available for both public and private Instagram profiles). For the user to select a post, they must authorize Instagram permissions. Additionally, you can limit participation to posts including a specific hashtag.
• TikTok videos (public videos only): this option allows the user to connect their TikTok profile to select a video published on their profile. For the user to select a video, they must authorize TikTok permissions. Additionally, it can be limited to videos using a specific hashtag.

In the "Options" section you can configure the following options:

• Min./max. number of files: this option allows you to define the minimum and maximum number of media files you allow to be uploaded in each user's entry (maximum 5 per entry).
• Maximum file size: configure the maximum file size of the media files you allow (minimum 1MB and maximum 500MB).
• Hide file description: allows you to hide the media file description box. This option is useful when the administrator does not want any file description.
• Mandatory file description: this option will require the user to accompany the media content with a mandatory description.

Additionally, in the "Other options" tab, you will find the following configuration options:

1. Enable the option to pre-moderate entries before publishing them: this option allows videos not to be published in the public gallery of the contest until the administrator validates and authorizes them for publication. Check out this tutorial where you will find the steps to moderate the content of your contest.

2. Tags: It allows presenting users with a series of tags so they can label their participation in the contest. This functionality organizes the contest content into categories, enabling users to filter the gallery by these tags and quickly find the content associated with each tag.

3. Cover: you can allow users to create a cover with a title and description for their entry. This is recommended if users can upload more than one video to participate.

4. Additional private fields: allows you to request additional fields to complete the user's entry. These fields will be private and only available to administrators, never shown to other users. Use them to get more information from the participant in each entry.

4. Gallery Configuration

The gallery is the page where all the videos uploaded by users will be displayed.

Therefore, the gallery must always be connected to the "Upload your video" stage to display all the videos users upload in the gallery.

In the stage list of the editor, you can check that the "Upload video" stage is connected to the gallery:

Below we explain the different options available to configure the gallery. To do this, access the “Video Gallery" stage.

4.1. Date Configuration

The start and end dates of the stage will determine when users can access the gallery to view the videos uploaded by participants. Additionally, if voting is enabled, these dates will also determine the period during which users can vote.

4.2. Gallery Visibility: How to Enable/Disable Access to the Gallery for Unregistered Users

The contest administrator can control the access and visibility of the contest video gallery at all times.

By default, the contest gallery is visible and accessible to all users who access the contest, including users who have not yet registered. Thus, users who have not yet identified themselves to participate in the contest can access the contest gallery and see its content:

However, unregistered users can only view and share the videos published in it. If they want to participate in the contest by voting for one of the entries, the system will ask them to identify themselves, and if it is their first time, they will also need to register.

Alternatively, the administrator can limit access to the contest gallery to registered users only, so that only users who have already identified themselves can view, share, and vote on the videos. To do this, the administrator must go to the Editor > Participation Stages > Public Galleries section and uncheck the "Enable public galleries" box:

4.3. Options to Display Participant Information

As an administrator, you can configure what information you want to display about the participants in the public gallery. To do this, go to the "Video Gallery" stage settings, and in the "Voting Gallery" tab, you will find the following options:

• Show participant's name: Allows you to show or hide the participant's name.
• Show participation avatar: Allows you to show the candidate's profile photo (if any).
• Show participant's country: Allows you to show the candidate's country (if any).
• Order of participations in the gallery: Allows you to define the order in which the entries will be presented in the gallery.

5. Voting Configuration

Additionally, you can enable voting so that all videos uploaded by users to the gallery can be voted on. To do this, go to Editor > Participation Stages > Voting Gallery.

5.1. Voting User Experience

What will the participation experience be like for the user who wants to vote in the contest? The promotion consists of different pages that the user will go through when interacting with the promotion to vote. Together, these different pages will form the structure of the promotion and the participation flow that the user will follow to complete the promotional mechanics.

Specifically, to vote in the contest, the participation flow will be as follows:

1. When accessing the promotion for the first time, the user accesses the Welcome page, where they can see the button to access the Contest Gallery, which presents all the videos that users can vote on. 
2. Before voting, the user must identify themselves using one of the enabled Login methods, and if it is their first time participating, they must register by completing the registration form.
3. If the user is already registered, they only need to log in to vote again.
4. After identifying themselves, the user will see the participation information they are about to vote on to confirm their vote. 
5. Finally, if email validation is enabled, the user must confirm their email address for the vote to be counted. 

5.2. How to Enable and Configure Voting

When creating the promotion, the voting system is enabled by default, but if needed, you can check if voting is enabled through the "Enable voting system" option, which you will find in the "Voting Gallery" tab within the configuration of the "Video Gallery" stage:

The "Voting Type" option allows you to configure how you want the voting system to work in your contest. You can choose between two different methods:

• Simple Votes (1 vote = 1 point) - default option: In this type of voting, each entry voted will receive 1 point. Additionally, you can set the minimum and maximum number of entries to vote for (minimum 1, maximum 10).
• Advanced Votes (1 vote = X points): In this type of voting, users can decide the number of points to assign to each entry. As an administrator, you need to configure the different point levels and define the points users can give for each level.

Additionally, you have the option to activate a page showing the ranking of the most voted entries, which publicly displays the number of votes each participant has received. This will create a new page, accessible from the Gallery, showing a ranking of the votes received by the participants in the contest.

Note: If the option "Publish the number of votes and the ranking of the most voted" is not activated, the Gallery will only show the participations without displaying the votes for each participation. Therefore, the number of votes for each participation will only be visible internally to the contest organizer.

5.3. Configure Voting Frequency

In the "Options" tab, you can configure the participation frequency allowed for users. The number of votes permitted per user will correspond to the number of participations:

Note: Each user can only vote for the same entry once per participation. For example, if the participation frequency is set to 2 votes per day, the user can vote for the same participation twice a day.

5.4. How to View the Voting Log

In the "Users" section of the promotion, you can see the contest voting status at any time.

Specifically, once in the "Users" section, click on "Votes," and you will see the list of gallery participations, where you can see the total number of votes each video has received and even sort them to see the users with the most votes. Additionally, by clicking on "View," you can see the names of the users who voted for each participation:

In addition, the following two options are also available:

1. Export all votes: This option allows you to download a list of all votes and voter information.
2. Export results: This option allows you to download a list with the final voting results, showing a ranking of participants/videos ordered by the points (votes) obtained.

6. Participant registration system

To configure which Login system you want to enable in the promotion, go to Editor > Pages > Login and Registration > Login, where you can configure how you want users to identify themselves to participate in the promotion. Learn more about the different types of Login and all configuration options here:

Note: Easypromos allows SSO integration with external user authentication systems. Contact us for more information.

If it is the user's first time participating, the first step will be to complete the registration form, which they must fill out with the information configured by the administrator.

To configure the registration form fields, go to Editor > Pages > Login and Registration > Registration, and click on the "Add element" button to add the fields you want to ask users to fill out to participate:

7. Fraud Control System

The voting process of the contest includes the Easypromos security system, which is activated by default. Its purpose is to block attempts at fraudulent votes and provide tools to analyze the legitimacy of votes. The Easypromos Security System consists of:

Preventive measures:

1. Detection and blocking of malicious email addresses: includes temporary emails, invented emails, and email aliases. Additionally, Easypromos maintains a database of fake email domains.
2. Anti-Robots system: implements mechanisms for detecting and blocking votes attempts from automated bots.
3. Detection and blocking of malicious IPs: Easypromos maintains a database of malicious IPs, VPNs, and proxies.
4. Filters and restrictions based on country and IP:allows limiting the registration and connection frequency per IP, as well as restricting connection countries.
5. Security level indicator: a tool that helps the organizer configure a secure contest, including alerts in case the anti-robot system or double verification of email addresses is disabled.

Reactive measures:

1. Security center with records of blocked events: each time the system blocks fraudulent access, a record is generated for the administrator to be able to analyze and discover other potential fraudulent patterns.
2. IP Address analysis tool:allows you to view all activity from an IP address, see its properties and eventually block in a click all users from that IP along with their votes.
3. Domain Analysis tool: allows you to visualize the distribution of email domains registered in the contest, making it easier to detect fake or temporary emails to block their votes and users.
4. Easypromos offers a dedicated security team that periodically reviews all generated alerts and blocks users and votes in case fraudulent activity is detected.
5. All security measures are centrally managed from the Contest Security Center.

If the administrator or Easypromos blocks users and votes through reactive measures, the percentage of fraudulent votes will be displayed in the contest’s vote management tool. These fraudulent votes can then be removed.

8. Sending Emails to Participants

With the email platform included in the promotion, you can establish periodic and automated communication with users participating in the contest.

Below are some examples of emails you can create:

• Send an email to all participants to thank them for their participation, including the link to their individual entry in the contest gallery, so they can share it to get votes. 
• Inform users whether their video has been approved or rejected by the person responsible for moderating the content uploaded by users in the contest.
• Send an email to users who have voted in the gallery, including the name of the participant they voted for, along with the link to the individual video they voted for.

Check out the different email sending options you can automate with the Email Platform.

9. Customize the design and complete the setup of the contest

Once you have configured the Video contest, the next step is to complete the generic setup and other promotion options, such as customizing the design template to use your own colors and texts, adding your logo, entering the Legal texts of the contest, setting up viral content, etc.

Check out our tutorial to finish setting up and customizing your contest.

10. User management and statistics

11. Manage and announce the winners

Easypromos provides a comprehensive Prize and Winner management system that allows you to create the prize or prizes you want to give away to reward participants. You can also configure how you want to assign the prizes and select the winners.

Specifically, for the Video contest, you have several ways to assign the prize(s), according to your choice:

1. Randomly: you will be able to conduct one or multiple draws among all participants or a subset of participants and obtain a validity certificate with the draw results.  Follow the steps of our tutorial to run the draw 

2. Manually: you can manually assign one or multiple prizes to participants of the contest. For example, you can assign the prize to participants who have received the most votes.  Follow the steps of this tutorial to assign the prize manually .

3. Direct assignation of the prize(s): you can assign a promotional coupon or discount to all users after they upload their image or after voting in the contest. Follow the steps of this tutorial that explains how to create a coupon prize and assign it directly to all users after participating or voting in the contest.