Contest examples that can add fun to your platform

Yes, an employee platform is a tool, but it should also be fun!  Contests provide a great way for employees to interact while getting to know each other - they also help increase awareness and drive engagement in your Jostle platform.

Here are some fun contest examples for you to consider:

1. Name our new employee platform: If you did not name your platform before your launch, consider adding one now. Run a contest to gather suggestions and strike an employee committee to pick the best. Don't use all-employee voting to select the name -- we've seen this lead to unfortunate platform names being selected. Get your System Admin to input the winner at Administration Settings > Platform > Brand Your... It will appear in email notifications, the weekly Digest email, etc.
2. Guess that tag cloud! Take a screen shot of an employee’s "Tags" tab from their Profile—post it as a News Article. First employee to comment with the correct employee name wins!
3. Best vacation photo: The holiday season and summertime present a great opportunity to run a best vacation photo contest. Have employees email their best photo to you. Assemble all entries into an Album in News. Your employees can vote via the comments field, using the photo number to make their choice. 
4. Celebrity doppelgänger: Post a picture of a celebrity and solicit suggestions as to which employee looks the most similar. Then use a Poll to determine the winner.
5. Profile contest: Award the first 20 (say) people who complete their Profiles. Note that your System Admin can check the status of Profiles at Administration Settings > User Profiles > View User Profile Completion. Have a look at this before you set your contest criteria.
6. Best Team Profile: Award the team with the most complete profile. 
7. Scavenger hunt in Jostle! The answers to the questions can only be found in Jostle. This is a great contest to run soon after launching. Ensure you utilize all of the views in your Jostle platform. This provides an opportunity for employees to discover the entire platform. 
8. Funny Friday! Encourage employees to share videos, cartoons, quotes...etc. via Activity Updates each Friday.
9. Throw-back Thursday. Start a tradition by getting various people (old timers, your culture champions, leaders, etc.) to make a quick Activity post sharing a fact or photo from years past in your company.
10. Hot off the press! Ask everyone to submit stories to your News Editor. The best story becomes a Featured News Article. This approach provides a great way to get a sense of what's happening within your organization, and surface those hidden success stories.

Prizes

Recognize that employees are motivated in different ways. Some will participate purely for the bragging rights, while others will care about the prize. Mix up the types of rewards you offer to see how the engagement levels differ. Learn about your employees and see what really engages them. Below are a few suggestions to get you started: