Big changes to Readers’ Choice
Last year we saw our largest level of participation in voting and new categories to vote for. Our Readers’ Choice is extremely popular, so we take time every year to see what we can do better to serve our community with it. This year is no different and we have some big changes we are making to make the contest fairer and to be able to get the certificates out to the winners quickly and give everyone a chance to say thank you to those who voted for them. We believe this year will be the best Readers’ Choice yet!
Last year we introduced digital voting which was a huge success. We had over 12,500 votes tallied and received positive feedback. We found that the ease people could vote made it a win/win for everyone. In the past, people complained that some individuals would go around the community and buy/steal all the papers up, making it not only difficult to vote but also difficult for those who made a habit of purchasing their weekly papers at their favorite store or in the boxes impossible.
Last year we also introduced more categories to choose from so that more businesses could participate. This too was successful, but we had a few glitches we needed to fix this year. First, on the form, we didn’t give people an option to put where the person/business was from, so we had to spend hours trying to figure out where the person did business, sometimes to no avail. Sometimes people would vote for people or businesses that didn’t even work in Cass County. Second, we also didn’t have a field for people to say what business they worked for. For instance, say we asked for the best waitress, it could be difficult trying to find out where they worked. Those small changes should make it easier to get the winners their certificates.
Another big change we are doing this year is breaking up our Readers’ Choice into two events. The first event will be “Food, Drink, Art & Entertainment.” The event will feature categories such as restaurants, coffee shops, caterers, bakeries, artists, musicians and more. We believe by breaking it into two events we can also get the certificate to the winners quicker and give each readers’ choice event a unique flavor. The second event, the best “Best People & Places” will be a few months later.
Lastly, we will tweak our algorithms so people can only vote twice a day. We feel like this will level the playing field from businesses having people sit at their computers and vote.
Digital voting for the Best Food, Drink, Art & Entertainment according to our readers will start February 5 and run through the end of February. Like last year, businesses will have the opportunity to pay to have their company name automatically placed on the ballot. Otherwise, people will have to write in their vote in. Businesses can also advertise on the digital ballot pages through banner ads. For more information on that call Shawn Larson at 903-691-3819 or email shawn@casscountynow. com.
Shortly after the end of February we will tally up the votes and begin letting businesses know they won. Later in March, early April we will post the winners in a special section. Customers will have the ability to say thank you in that special section.
If you noticed last year a category that you would like in that didn’t make it in last year, please also email shawn@casscountynow.com. Good luck to the people and businesses in Cass County. May the readers choose the best in Cass County!