How to Run a Branded Frames Photo Contest

What goals do you want to achieve with your contest?
Branded frames photo contests are designed for collecting UGC with a little bit of your brand’s flair added to each image entry. Adding branded content to the images means that when an entry is shared, your brand is also shared, leading to increased brand awareness.

What should the frames look like?

Feel free to get creative and let your imagination guide you! Create frames around your campaign’s themes or your brand in general. Just make sure to leave part of the frame image transparent, as you’ll want some part of the entrant’s photo to show through. Have as much fun as you want with the design, or take a more brand-forward approach - there really is no wrong way to build your frame.

Here’s how to set up a landing page using ShortStack’s Branded Frames Photo Contest template:

1. Log into your ShortStack account.
2. Click on the blue Campaign button at the top of the Dashboard to start a new campaign.
3. The Template Gallery will open. In the search bar in the top right corner, type branded frames.
4. Hover over the single result and click the blue Use This Template button. You can also click here to get started with this template.
5. Add a name and any tags for your campaign in the fields provided.
6. Your campaign will now open in the Builder.
   
   Note: The template does include some default frames - we’ll tackle how to edit those in the next section.
7. Now the fun part - building out the campaign! Swap in your own logo and header image, change the colors, and make any stylistic adjustments you’d like. While the template does have some structure, don’t hesitate to tweak things to fit your design specs.
8. If you want to add fields to your form to collect more of your entrants’ information, you’ll need to access the Form Designer. Click on the Form Widget in the preview area, highlighting it, then click the Design Form icon in the top left corner of the widget.
9. Make any needed changes to your form, then click Save & Exit. For more information on setting up your form, check out our Form Designer help doc.

10. From there, you’ll use the Builder to change the text and design of your landing page. When you’re ready to publish, click Publish Campaign at the top.

Follow these steps to add your custom frames in your Image Editor Widget:

1. In the Builder, open the widget settings for the Image Editor Widget. Click on your Image Editor Widget in the Edit Widgets Panel, highlighting it, then click the Edit widget settings icon (the pencil) in the top right corner.
2. Once you have the widget settings open, click on the Frame option in the Select and customize the image editor buttons section.
3. Now to add your frames: click the + icon, which will open the Media Selector.
4. Select an existing image in your library, or upload a new one from your computer using the Select File link. Once the image has been uploaded and/or selected, click on Use Selected at the bottom of the selector.
5. You will now see a thumbnail of your chosen image appear in the Frames section of the widget settings. Repeat steps 4-5 to add any additional frames.
6. Once you’ve got all the frames uploaded and the widget settings tweaked to your liking, click the Save & Exit button at the bottom of the pop-up.
7. If you’ve published previous to setting up your frames, you’ll want to click the Publish Changes button in the top right of the Builder to push your changes to the live campaign.

Your Website
Leverage your website traffic to drive visitors to your contest. You can even embed your contest in your website so that everything is in one place.

Ending Your Campaign

1. Log into your ShortStack account.
2. Open your contest in the Builder.
3. Click on the blue banner icon in the top right corner to open the Publication Panel.
4. Click the trash can icon to the right of the publication name to unpublish the campaign.

You’ll receive a notification when the system is done selecting your winner.
To see your winner(s), simply type the label you selected for your winners into the Label field in the top-left of the Entries Manager.

If you’d like, you can publish a new social media post letting people know that a winner has been chosen and/or announce the winner on your contest’s landing page - just make your edits in the Campaign Builder, then click the Publish Changes button at the top.