Follow and Retweet: The Effect of Contests and Sweepstakes Promotion on Official Anime Twitter Accounts

Abstract

This research examines the effectiveness of “Follow and Retweet” promotion on Twitter. Official Twitter accounts for anime (i.e., animation originating from Japan) post various types of tweets, with contests and sweepstakes as the primary measures of increasing follower count. The study used multiple regression analysis to find the characteristics of contests and sweepstakes that led to follower growth. Findings indicate that designated tweets in the promotion were more frequently retweeted, and the earlier the tweet was posted after the TV premiere, the more followers a Twitter account accumulated. Thus, the author suggests that when conducting contests and sweepstakes, organizers should require Twitter users to retweet a designated tweet and conduct the promotion as early as possible after the TV premiere. Furthermore, character-related tweets often tend to be retweeted, especially ones with newly-drawn illustrations. Regarding tweets about broadcast information, thank-you tweets posted after the broadcast are more likely to be retweeted than tweets about the broadcast schedule alone; this indicates the importance of follow-up after broadcast and streaming times.