Last week, Paris-based startup Kontest launched the v2 of their Facebook contest managemnt platform, with new features, a new look, and new analytics. The two-year old startup has been working with brands like Adobe, Orange, Easyjet, and Samsung, as well as agencies like Publicis & Valtech to help brands entertain their community while making efficient use of their social media presence. Their products include Sweepstakes, Instant Win, Quizzes & Polls, as well as Photo contests. In addition, a recent partnership with French music startup Deezer has allowed them to provide paying members with a Music Quiz
I worked in the same office as Kontest founders Jacinthe Busson & ex-Googler Sylvain Weber when they released their V1, which worked to solve an initial problem of navigating the complicated Facebook guidelines to running a contest. Things like verifying that you were actually giving something away, that it was indeed a random drawing, etc. made it very difficult to create your own contest, and so Kontest managed everything for you.

Version 2.0 – code name “reboot”

And so, with an initial success, Kontest is relaunching their service, with a new design layout. The contests are compatible on Facebook web & mobile browsers, in multiple languages, and Kontest 2.0 now allows you to load rich media like videos onto the contest.

In addition, Kontest now has detailed statistics that go along with each contest: stats on the contest it self (UV/day, average length of time), as well as stats on the profile of contest participants. The visualization scheme, named DataViz, also provides social information about how many times your contest appears on a Facebook timeline, where participants came from (Facebook, twitter, email, etc.), along with a few other Facebook insights-like information for your contest.
There are plenty of competitors out there doing Facebook contests, and there has been much talk of the dilemma of platform dependency. I’m interested to see how Kontest goes forward with the contest platform, whether it will expand beyond Facebook to being an all-purpose site, or whether it will work on fulfilling other brand needs on Facebook.
Kontest has a free version of the service as well as a paying service on a per-contest basis. Have you used Kontest before? Let us know what you think of the service below!