Luis Sanz is a co-founder of
Olapic, a company that helps brands and online publishers crowdsource photos on their site or Facebook fan pages to create a more engaging user experience. You can follow him on Twitter
@lsanza.

If you haven’t noticed, photos are big on the social web right now. Running a contest is a great way to tap into that content and boost community engagement in a fun and social way.

When planning a photo contest, keep these seven tips in mind ? you will easily increase the effectiveness of your photo-related contest. If you have any other advice, leave a comment!

7 Tips for Designing a Successful Photo Contest

1. Define What You’re Trying to Achieve

First of all, define your objectives for creating a photo contest. Whatever your objective, write it down and define the metrics that will track your progress.

For instance, if you?re trying to increase traffic, your key metrics might be number of unique visitors and pageviews. On the other hand, if you?re attempting to build an engaged community, number of registrations, photos uploaded and actions (likes and comments) will be your key metrics.

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Zoe Fox

2. Offer Something That People Want

People enter contests because they want to win something. So, in order to boost participation, make sure that the winning photographer will be properly rewarded. Offering an attractive prize doesn?t have to be expensive, however. You can offer the winner(s) gift cards, discounts, or simply recognition. For example, featuring their photo on your homepage is an easy way to award your users notoriety while leveraging their content for your editorial needs.

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Matt Silverman

3. Make It SMART
Use this practical acronym to define your contest. Here?s the breakdown:
- Specific: Define the rules of the contest, its duration and how the winner will be notified. Make sure that you pick a contest theme, and then verify that submitted photos relate to that topic. Make the theme easily interpretable to avoid a collection of random photos that visitors won?t understand.
- Measurable: Define how you select a winner (votes, most viewed, panel selection, etc.), and make these rules are clear from the beginning. Our experience says that votes across social networks is the best way to increase engagement — and traffic.
- Attainable: Photos democratize participation because everyone can take one. Just make sure that there are enough people in your user base that can participate, and don?t be too restrictive with the submission terms.
- Relevant: As mentioned earlier, reward your winner with something they value — something worthy of the effort. Also be sure to correlate that prize directly with your product or service.
- Time: Your contest must be bracketed within a timeframe. People get bored and lose interest with contests that are too long. Our experience shows that two weeks is the optimal duration to effectively engage the most people during the contest duration.
Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Meghan Peters

4. Appeal To the Creativity of Your Audience

It?s amazing how creative people can be with a camera, an app grain or a Photoshop edit. Keep in mind that users will perform beyond expectation, if few restrictions are placed on their creativity. For example, if your contest is sponsored and users are asked to take photos showcasing a product, don?t place further limitations. Or if you?re planning an event/product launch, why not let contest participants design its publicity poster? The genius of your audience will amaze you.

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Stephanie Buck

5. Make It Social

The social media revolution has simplified the way we share our photos. Leverage it by using social media tools in your contest. For example, by letting people vote, they will have an incentive to share their submission with friends, thus increasing the number of referrals and activity around your contest.

Another way to leverage social networks is by letting people contribute directly from them. For example, allow them to upload a picture from Facebook or Tumblr. Not only will this simplify the submission process, but participants will be more likely to record the submission on those feeds.

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Louis Dorman

6. Pick (and Promote) a Winner

If you have followed the previous tips, picking a winner should be easy. And remember that the day the contest ends, you?ll have an additional opportunity to engage your audience and create more buzz. When you pick a winner, promote it on your website, through your newsletter and across all your social networks. Not only will your site get an additional wave of traffic, but your involvement will encourage users to participate in future initiatives.

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Todd Olmstead

7. Track Your Results

For optimal performance, track the contest while it?s taking place. Then once it?s complete, review the numbers for ways to improve the next contest.

If your goal was more traffic, check where that traffic originated (Twitter, Facebook, email newsletters, etc.). Was it social? If so, is there something you can do to make it even more social next time? If you were gaining a lot of traffic from search engines, how can you improve the SEO of other site content?

If you were looking for more registered users or clients, check your analytics funnel. How many users registered because of the contest? How often did they return to the site afterwards? How many purchased something?

If you were just looking for relevant content, how many new photos did you receive compared to number of total participants? How much traffic did that generate as a result?

Image courtesy of Mashable staffer
Brie Manakul