The electronics retailer is honing in on the frenzy surrounding the Summer Games with a campaign that taps into consumers’ love for prizes and social media photos. Best Buy is giving away Fitbits to select users who post their own photos, along with the created hashtags.

“The campaign is important for several reasons,” said Mark Cluett, marketing manager at Polar, Toronto. “For one it lets Best Buy associate itself with the games in Rio without explicitly mentioning them, which can be a tricky venture.

“The other is it lets people imagine themselves using the product (in this case the Fitbit) when they participate in the contest and simultaneously gaining followers while advertising their own hashtags on Twitter,” he said.

Tweeting giveaways
Users on Twitter are entering for a chance to win a Fitbit product from Best Buy by sharing their moments of athleticism. The retailer is giving away 80 Fitbit Alta activity trackers, which retail at $129.95 at Best Buy stores.

Participants must include the hashtags #sweepstakes and #FitToWin. Users have to follow Best Buy to see if they are a winner.

The retailer is choosing various winners at random who have tweeted using the correct hashtags, and is announcing them by sharing the winners’ posts on its account. Participants can enter more than once, but are limited to one post per day.

Best Buy is celebrating the Olympics with the contest, hoping to capitalize on the competitive spirit. The retailer is sharing images on Twitter to inspire followers to get involved such as “Today’s most anticipated event is the #FitToWin sweepstakes,” along with instructions on how to enter and a GIF of a stick figure completing various Olympic events on top of a Fitbit product.

The contest is featured on a dedicated Web site that showcases a scroll of all the participants’ posts. Entries include photos of a wide range of athletic activities such as hiking and swimming.

Social media contests
Best Buy also drove more than one million in-store visits after focusing on mobile to answer customers’ product-related questions via buying guides, video tutorials on YouTube and localized mobile ads (see more).

The retailer adopted a strategy to focus on creating positive customer relationships through streamlined service is being fulfilled with its new Geek Squad application, which provides support and appointment booking (see more).

“[The contest] is different from similar campaigns in that accomplishes so much in one action, brand association with the games, brand recognition in timelines where they don’t usually have followers, and an uptick in followers from those looking to participate,” Mr. Cluett said.