Lara Kretler’s blog

Last night I got home to a wonderful care package from Little Debbie sitting on my doorstep. Even the UPS delivery guy must have thought it looked cool, because he very carefully draped my welcome mat over the box to keep it safe from prying eyes. When I got it inside and opened it up, I could barely believe it – snack jackpot! It made this blogger’s day.

Little Debbie, working with David Griner at Luckie, launched this blogger contest a few months ago with giveaways aplenty. Ever curious about blog contests and how to do them right, I entered the Little Debbie 100-calorie pack contest on A Cowboy’s Wife’s food blog several weeks ago. (As a side note, A Cowboy’s Wife is one of the Walmart ElevenMoms. She’s a great blogger and does lots of cool giveaways, so read her blog and follow her on Twitter if you want to win like I did.)

To enter the contest, I commented on the blog post and Tweeted about it on Twitter. That blog post generated more than 500 comments to enter the contest, and only three people won – lucky me included! A Cowboy’s Wife DM’d me on Twitter to let me know I’d won, and about a week later the Little Debbie 100-calorie snack package arrived to make my day.

We do blogger outreach contests at Fahlgren Mortine too, so it’s always great to see how another agency does them. I like this contest for several reasons.

1. The prize was fantastic. The box was chock-full of great 100-calorie treats, plus the box itself was colorful, fun and beautifully branded. It even had Little Debbie’s Twitter info right on the box, and a nice letter from the VP of marketing suggesting I contact their social media consultant, David Griner, with any questions. There was also a separate note reassuring me about the peanut butter recall and the fact that, although two Little Debbie products were recalled as part of that, the treats in my box are all safe and not part of the recall. Love that attention to detail and transparent communication.

2. The contest was simple. Bloggers got a snack box inviting them to participate by blogging about the contest. Their readers got a chance to comment or Tweet and win. There are lots of people buzzing about Little Debbie 100-calorie snacks and naming their favorites (I haven’t decided yet, but they all look delicious!). And because many bloggers read other blogs, I”m guessing that Little Debbie will get a ton of “second wave” buzz from people like me who won the contest and can’t resist blogging about it.

3. Everyone wins. Bloggers love having something new and fun to write about, as well as a chance to offer their readers a cool prize. Blog fans appreciate the opportunity to win giveaways by supporting our favorite bloggers. And the brand certainly wins as a result of all this great positive buzz. I’ll be honest, I’ve never bought Little Debbie snacks – my snacks tend more toward Kashi bars or fresh fruit. However, I have been known to pick up 100-calorie packs (Doritos were my favorite prior to this). I now have such an affinity toward Little Debbie, both for this cool prize and for the way they have embraced social media, that I am quite sure if the treats in my blogger bonanza box taste as good as they look, Little Debbie will have won a new customer for life.

Everyone loves getting care packages full of treats. If you have a product that could surprise or delight someone by showing up on their doorstep, think about reaching out to bloggers with a contest or giveaway that will inspire their love and loyalty – and that of their readers.

And by the way, what’s your favorite snack?