Educating Via Quickie Twitter Contest

An association executive in Maine is doing clever thing with Twitter - including a Wednesday quiz. Member donates item, 5 questions asked (one at a time), few minutes to send answers by DM (Direct Message), then winner drawn from among all that are correct, answers given (one at a time). And in this instance, the quiz includes an association legislative issue. So it's fun, informative and relevant ...

Using verbatim below so you can see how it can be done with limited number of characters on Twitter ... and in short time period ... but only including 1 question, 1 answer along with examples of instruction, prize announcement, etc.

"mainemerchants Starting at noon, I will begin posting 5 questions. Reply or DM the answer to @mainemerchants.

mainemerchants Winner will be person who gets most questions right. If multiple people get all 5 right, winner chosen randomly from that group.

mainemerchants 5 minutes until the @havenscandies @mainemerchants Twitter contest. Win 1lb box of Maine-made premium chocolate.

[Ask 5 questions in a row -- here's the second one]
mainemerchants Question 2: What will have a higher Maine sales tax in Jan '10: Maine chocolates or nationally produced cupcakes?

mainemerchants A couple more minutes to get your answers in.

[Give all 5 answers in a row - here's the second one]
mainemerchants Question 2 answer: Maine chocolate will have an 8.5% tax in Jan 2010. Nationally produced cupcakes - no tax because they contain flour.

mainemerchants So, the winner is . . . @[name]! She got all 5 right and was chosen from the pack of winners. A 1lb box of @havenscandies premium choc."

.... And then the winner posted a Twitter picture of herself with the prize!

Note: for those with strict rules about contests ... even those that take 5 minutes with minimal value prize ... you could create a contest rules page on your web site and link to it from a Twitter post (tweet)