TJX Companies is gearing up for the holidays with a contest on Twitter that ties into the gift-giving spirit by offering consumers a chance to win a gift card for others.

The discount department store company is rolling out a series of contests for each of its retail chains in which users nominate themselves or a loved one who fits each contest theme and deserves to get something back. Marshalls, TJ Maxx and Homegoods gift cards will be given to a few select nominees through Twitter.

“Twitter is a wonderful medium for sharing insight and sentiment in short bursts to a broad audience,” said Michael Becker, co-founder and managing partner at mCordis. “It is a fantastic tool for spreading the word about contests and promotions and combines the unique combination of direct addressability with broach reach and virility that is so important for marketers today when their looking to spread their message across multiple communities, that is the unique community that is made up by each member’s followers.”

Bring back the holidays
TJX’s Bring Back the Holidays contest is targeting consumers who are in the holiday spirit, and allowing them to complete a good deed by showing loved ones they care through their nominations. The chain will be ramping up sales through its gift card giveaways and hyping up brand presence to drive holiday purchases.

Followers of Marshalls, T.J. Maxx and Homegoods will be given numerous chances to nominate a loved one or worthy entry through their separate Twitter pages. Each brand will share its own contest call-to-actions coinciding with three specific themes.

Each brand will share multiple chances to win during each themed contests. The first theme, Get Me Home is for those who cannot make it home for the holidays and Holiday Saver is for individuals in need of a holiday miracle or holiday cheer, in the form of a home makeover.

The final theme is Gifts to Give Back for users to nominate an inspirational person in their life and how he or she is selfless.

The Twitter pages are sharing multiple images of digital coupons for each theme such as “good for: rewarding someone who’s always giving back,” and “good for: letting the one who cares the most know just how much you care.” The thought behind the contest is for consumers to nominate someone that fits that category, and show others that they care.

Posts must include the hashtags #BringBackHolidays and #Contest while also tagging @homegoods, @tjmaxx, or @marshalls to be eligible to win.

Social media contests
Brands are continually taking to social media for contests to ramp up sales.

For instance, Chipotle also ramped up sales through a new contest and partnership with Amazon built around a mobile-optimized book report platform while also leveraging text messaging to deliver related offers (see more).

Also, Triumph Lingerie attempted to ramp up sales of its merchandise by unveiling its first cartoon model and short animated movie to depict the process of finding a perfectly fitting bra, and is asking consumers to answer questions on social media for a chance to have their likenesses animated (see more).

“Emotions are a powerful tool for both influencing motivation and establishing lasting memories, so much more important than any rationale offer or proscriptive program,” Mr. Becker said. “The sentiment of friendship and recommendation inherent with this program is very powerful, not only can one share positive sentiment about their friends they have the chance of generating an economic reward for their friend(s) as well. Very nice.”

Final take
Brielle Jaekel is editorial assistant at Mobile Commerce Daily