Digital marketing promotion aims to boost online community for the Midwestern c-store chain.

Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s General Store has launched “Casey’s Madness,” a social marketing campaign focused on growing the brand’s online presence by engaging customers through social media channels.

The campaign is a competitive contest built around creative user generated content submitted through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

“We wanted to bring something to the table for our customers that would be interactive and fun,” said Cory Hart, brand manager for Casey’s, which operates more than 1,600 locations in a nine-state Midwest region.  “We think giving people a way to express their brand affiliation in this format helps to encourage further digital interaction with the company.”

This social media campaign plans to pin Casey’s fans against one another in an interactive bracket to become crowned the Casey’s Madness champion and winner of a $1,500 Best Buy gift card. The campaign incorporates Facebook, Twitter, and a custom microsite (www.CaseysMadness.com).

Fans can enter the Casey’s Madness contest beginning Feb. 14 by declaring their love for Casey’s in 140 characters or less—creativity, humor and brand enthusiasm through text, photo, video, links, etc. will help determine winners. Submissions will be allowed for two weeks, and Casey’s will select the top 64 Casey’s fans to move on to bracket play, which begins March 1, 2011.

For the next four weeks, Casey’s fans will go head to head, with their fate determined by public voters. Winners will be announced weekly and bi-weekly with prizes given in each round to include various Casey’s products and other items.

“We have gained some real momentum over the past few months in building our brand through the social Web. We see this campaign as a way to interact with our customers differently than we have in the past,” said Hart. “We know moving forward having an active, engaged Casey’s social community will only become more important.”

Official rules and regulations for Casey’s Madness can be found at CaseysMadness.com/rules.