Follow, Like, and Connect to a Broader Audience for your Company Through the Social Madness Challenge

Sign up today and increase your company's social influence.

What is Social Madness?

Social Madness is a one-of-a-kind corporate media challenge that measures the growth of a company's social presence.
Compete against other local businesses by making new connections on top social media sites and votes on The Business Journals Social Madness pages.

Sign up your company today!

• We are currently accepting challenge applications until May 15th.
• The voting process kicks off in 43 cities nationwide on June 1st.
• Local winners will be announced on July 17th.
• National winners will be announced on September 11th.

 

Social Madness Rules and Eligibility

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY.
By entering the Social Madness Contest (the “Promotion”), entrants accept and agree to be bound by these Official Rules. Any violation of these rules may result in disqualification. All decisions of the judges regarding this Promotion are final and binding in all respects.
Who’s Eligible?
Company size: Companies will participate in one of three categories, depending on FTE employee count:

• Small – fewer than 100 employees
• Medium – 100-500 employees
• Large – More than 500 employees

Company location: Only companies that meet one of the following criteria are eligible to participate in Social Madness in your market:

• The company’s home office/headquarters is in your market
• The company is foreign-owned but has its U.S. headquarters in your market
• The company is a separately branded operating unit of a larger corporation, and that unit is based in your market (Example: PepsiCo could enter the New York bracket, while one of its separately branded operating companies, Pizza Hut, could enter the Dallas bracket.)

Company type/structure: Companies in almost all industries are eligible (some exceptions noted below). Both privately held and publicly held companies are eligible. Both for-profit and not-for-profit companies are eligible. Institutions of higher learning are eligible
Excluded: The following are not eligible for Social Madness:

• Government agencies, departments or entities at any level -- local, state or national
• Charities. Any organization that derives its most of its cash flow from donations rather than operating income is not eligible. Example – a nonprofit hospital that charges for patient care is eligible. A foundation bankrolled by donors would not be.
• Elementary schools or high schools of any kind.
• Sports teams. Because of the unique nature of professional sports and their extremely high visibility in communities and media, sports franchises are not eligible.
• “Adult entertainment” businesses are not eligible.
• The Business Journals’ newsrooms will judge the eligibility of all entries and reserves the right to exclude any entry.

The promotion is void outside the 50 United States and the District of Columbia and where prohibited by law.
Promotion Period. This Promotion consists of four phases beginning at 12:01 AM ET March 22, 2012 and ending at 11:59 PM ET September 19, 2012 (“Promotion Period”).
How To Play? Visit www.socialmadness.com
Scoring: Companies will be ranked based on a scoring algorithm that measures social influence. The algorithm will gauge votes on bizjournals.com , LinkedIn Connections, Facebook activity and Twitter Followers during the challenge.
Nomination period. Nomination phase begins 12:01AM ET 3/22/2012 and ends 11:59PM ET 5/15/2012. Votes and social points do not start until June 1st
Open Phase (12:01 AM ET June 1, 2012 through 11:59 PM ET June 18, 2012)

• Duration: Two (2) weeks
• Unlimited number of eligible companies will participate in their designated market
• Three different competitions based size of company
• Small: 1-100 employees
• Medium: 101-500 employees
• Large: more than 500 employees
• At the end of the open phase, the 8 companies with the most points move to the next phase.

Local Bracket Phase (12:01 AM ET June 19, 2012 through 11:59 PM ET July 16, 2012)

• Duration: 4 weeks
• Companies are seeded based on their finish in the open phase. (i.e. company with most points will be #1 seed)
• In this head-to-head match up companies receive points (same as open phase). At the end of the week the companies with the most points moves on. In the event of a tie the company with the highest votes on bizjournals.com moves to the next round. If a secondary tiebreaker is necessary, companies with highest total Facebook Likes, LinkedIn Connections and Twitter Followers determines winner.
• After each round, the votes on bizjournals.com are reset to 0 but Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter points are cumulate from the start of the challenge.
• Each local market will have 3 different competitions (brackets) – large, medium and small size companies.
• Round 1 – one week - 8 companies in the bracket
• Round 2 – one week - 4 companies in the bracket
• Round 3 – two weeks – 2 companies in the bracket
• After round three, a winner will be named in each company size bracket. The winners automatically move in to the national competition.
• 21 companies with highest points in each bracket size, that did not win their market will also move to the national phase.

• Social Madness will take a one-week break from site voting between national and local phase. All Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter points apply

The National Bracket Phase (12:01 AM ET July 24, 2012 through 11:59 PM ET September 19, 2012)

• Duration: seven weeks
• Companies are seeded based on their total score from start of contest.
• In this head-to-head match up companies continue to receive points as before. At the end of the week the Company with the most points moves on. In the event of a tie, the company with the highest the number of votes on bizjournals.com moves on to the next round. If a secondary tiebreaker is necessary, companies with highest total Facebook Likes, LinkedIn Connections and Twitter Followers determines winner.
• There will be 3 different competitions (brackets) – large, medium and small size companies.
• Round 1 – 1 week – bracket of 64
• Round 2 – 1 week – bracket of 32
• Round 3 – 1 week – bracket of 16
• Round 4 – 1 week – bracket of 8
• Round 5 – 1 week – bracket of 4
• Final Round – two weeks – 2 companies
• After the final round, winners are named in each company size brackets.

There is no prize in this contest other than recognition as the winner. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these Official Rules and the decisions of Sponsor and each entrant releases and discharges the Sponsor, judging organization (if applicable), and any other party associated with the development or administration of this Promotion, their parent, subsidiary, and affiliated entities, and each of their respective officers, directors, members, shareholders, employees, independent contractors, agents, representatives, successors and assigns from any and all liability whatsoever in connection with this Promotion, including without limitation legal claims, costs, injuries, losses or damages, demands or actions of any kind (including without limitation personal injuries, death, damage to, loss or destruction or property, rights of publicity or privacy, defamation, or portrayal in a false light). In the event the Promotion is compromised by a virus, non-authorized human intervention, tampering or other causes beyond reasonable control of the Sponsor which corrupts or impairs the administration, security, fairness or proper operation of the contest, the Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to suspend, modify or terminate the contest. The Sponsor will not be responsible for typographical, printing or other inadvertent errors in these Official Rules or in other materials relating to the contest. Should the contest be terminated prior to the stated expiration date, The Sponsor reserves the right to select a winner based on the entries received before the termination date.

The invalidity or unenforceability of any provision of these rules shall not affect the validity or enforceability of any other provision. In the event that any such provision is determined to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, these rules shall be construed in accordance with their terms as if the invalid or unenforceable provision was not contained therein.
The “Social Madness Contest” is sponsored by American City Business Journals, 120 W. Morehead Street, Charlotte, NC 28202.