What’s the best giveaway strategy that will get you more visitors, traffic, and app installs? It’s all about creating a compelling offer. Here are some tips to give your giveaways an edge. One of my favorite methods for a firm to engage with its consumers is to hold a contest or a promotional giveaway. But, like with so many other elements of business, I see far too many individuals who are doing it incorrectly. That’s fine…for now. While it may seem straightforward, advertising campaigns aren’t as simple as plucking a name out of a hat. Instead, you want to conduct a giveaway that raises brand recognition while making money for your business. This will not cost much if done correctly. Contests may also provide free publicity for your company. This is particularly true if you utilize social media as your giveaway venue.
According to 89% of marketing professionals, social media boosted their company’s visibility.
Social media marketing, in addition to visibility, includes the following:
- creates new business
- boosts the number of visitors to your website
- enhances customer relations
- aids in search engine ranks
That is what you must keep in mind. Giveaways are a kind of marketing strategy. You’re doing it wrong if you’re not utilizing these tools to market your brand and, as a result, improve earnings. I’ve worked in this field for a long time.
How to conduct a lucrative giveaway?
1. Determine the kind of content you wish to have.
All promotional competitions are not created equal.
You may perform three different sorts of promotions:
- Contest
- Sweepstakes
- Lottery
If you’re holding a contest, you’re asking participants to accomplish something that requires some level of talent and effort to win a reward. For example, a picture, video, essay, or commentary may be included in specific popular competitions. The winners are determined by a vote or a judge’s decision. Here’s an illustration:
This contest will be won by the photo with the most likes. A sweepstake, on the other hand, does not involve any talent and is entirely dependent on luck. The winners are chosen at random. The sweepstakes winner cannot be determined by purchases, payments, or other factors. To enter a lottery, entrants have to purchase or make a monetary gift. Purchasing a lottery ticket, for example, would be considered a lottery. This should not be done. In reality, such freebies are prohibited by state and federal legislation. Stick to competitions and sweepstakes if you want to succeed. Before you begin, consider if you’re going to give anything away at random or if you’re going to incorporate a talent. A sweepstake has nothing against it, but I believe competitions are more effective. Customers become more involved with your brand when they understand that their efforts will boost their chances of winning.
2. Select the right platform.
It’s time to figure out where you’ll host your contest or sweepstakes now that you’ve chosen whether to run one.
- Your internet site is excellent.
All of these choices are feasible. Indeed, you may be able to conduct the same contest across various platforms. Choose a winner for each. This might encourage buyers to participate often, increasing your brand’s visibility even more. Here’s an example of a Fairmont Hotels & Resorts internet contest:
It’s well-written and professional. With that in mind, you don’t want to restrict yourself to a giveaway that takes place on your website. How often do visitors come to your website? They probably don’t do it as often as they do with social media sites. That’s why I advocate promoting your freebies primarily via social media. It’s a fantastic approach to building brand loyalty.
People who follow you on social media have already shown an interest in your company. Run a contest there to spark their curiosity even more. Furthermore, any activities they perform, including liking, commenting, publishing, or sharing, will be visible on all of their friends’ newsfeeds.
3. Make a deadline for yourself.
It may seem like an easy or obvious error, but you’d be amazed how frequently I see people do it. For a variety of reasons, your deadline must be clear. Let’s imagine a consumer or potential participant expresses interest in participating in your promotion. They may be turned away if they don’t see a deadline set. Even if you haven’t picked a winner yet, this individual may presume the deadline has passed. If this consumer chooses not to share the information on their social media sites, you’re also losing the potential to get further visibility. Another reason to publish the deadline is to prevent late submissions. Assume you’re conducting an Instagram contest where the picture with the most likes determines the winner. You choose a winner, but a few days later, someone else publishes a photo with more likes than the one you chose. This competitor will contact you to claim their reward. Now what? You’ve been placed in a difficult position, and it’s not suitable for your firm. It’s simple to add a deadline to your contest. There’s no need to forget:
Take a look at the illustration above. See how simple it was? Ensure the deadline is explicitly stated the next time you organize a promotional giveaway. It will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
4. Make sure the regulations are easy to understand.
Continuing from my previous point, you don’t want to cause any misunderstanding when conducting the competition. In addition, the restrictions may differ from state to state, depending on where you live. Therefore, you’ll want to be sure that anything you’re doing complies with the law.
Here are a few elements that are often mentioned in contest rules:
- Affiliation (age, location, etc.)
- There is no need to buy anything.
- Purchases have no bearing on your chances of winning.
- Timetables (winner chosen and winner notified)
- Criteria for judging (for contests)
- Privacy regulations protect the winner’s identity.
- Winning chances
If you’re holding a contest on a particular platform, make sure you follow all of the site’s rules and regulations. Here’s a link to the Facebook rules for running a promotion, which I strongly advise you to read before you get started. For instance, you must state that your offer is not approved, sponsored, or linked in any way with Facebook (the corporation).
Facebook also forbids the use of terms such as:
- “To enter, share on your timeline.”
- “enter by posting this on a friend’s page.”
- “Increase your chances of winning by tagging your friends.”
If you want to encourage others to publish and share, make sure you follow the guidelines. Here’s a sample of the contest rules and conditions from TMZ:
The complete page is substantially more prolonged, but they include everything to eliminate possible misunderstandings, liabilities, or legal issues. Consider including a link to your website for a complete explanation if you have a lengthy page of regulations. That’s more efficient than attempting to publish anything long as an Instagram caption, like in the example above.
5. The award must be appropriate.
What exactly are you handing over? It must be relevant to and consistent with your brand and image. For example, assume you’re a corporation that sells snowboarding and skiing equipment—running a contest with round-trip tickets to the Bahamas as the prize doesn’t exactly appeal to your target demographic. It would be much more sensible to fly them to a ski resort in Colorado. Include a snapshot of the actual product if you’re giving it away. It’s not as effective to tell the competitors you’re giving away a new camera as it is to show them the camera. Here’s an example of a Ticket Master giveaway:
It’s important. Because their website sells tickets to sports events, they’re offering consumers the opportunity to win a trip to the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl logo is equally as powerful as the actual tickets, even if they didn’t include a picture of them. People respond to images more than words. That is why it is critical to have them in your marketing.
6. Make a hashtag for your giveaway that is unique to you.
One of the most effective strategies to advertise your company on social media is to use hashtags. Come up with something original that relates to your business and the marketing. If you’re having problems coming up with ideas, utilize an internet tool like Hashtagify to find relevant tags and trends for your business. Use it as a starting point for your own, but be sure no one else has done so before you start. Those of you who have successfully used hashtags to promote your company should be sure to create a fresh one for each contest. Here’s an example of how High Society Freeride announced their giveaway using a unique hashtag:
Notice how they employed capitalization to make the hashtag stand out and be simple to understand. #OneLifeMakeItCount is a far more appealing acronym than #onelifemakeitcount. A hashtag may be used to identify a contest winner. To see all the photographs, videos, and posts, click on the hashtag. That’s the most straightforward approach to all submissions and deciding which ones are the finest. The most challenging aspect of utilizing a hashtag is coming up with a clever one to begin with. After that, your organization will not have to put up any effort or spend any money. Hashtags may also help you promote your giveaway by increasing interaction and making it simpler to spread the news.
7. Make sure your content is accessible to mobile users and that they may participate in it.
As I previously said, you should not organize a giveaway just on your website. When developing this marketing plan, keep mobile consumers in mind. Apps are where most mobile users spend the bulk of their time:
Consider employing platforms that are solely dedicated to app development. Instagram is a great place to start. Because Facebook and Twitter offer mobile apps, I previously suggested social media networks as the best place to find prizes. If your firm has a mobile app, use it to promote your offer. You may send promotion alerts to consumers who have downloaded the app straight to their phones.
8. Contestants should share the contest with their friends and relatives.
Your gift must be shared to get the most excellent attention. As I discussed before, some networks, such as Facebook forbid you from using specific statements to promote sharing. However, social sharing symbols may still be used on your website. Here’s how Fatherly used this strategy to advertise their sweepstakes:
Again, the goal of a giveaway is to generate revenue for your firm. In addition, allowing visitors to share this material can increase traffic to your website and maybe increase conversions.
9. When you’ve decided on a winner, let everyone know.
This pertains to the previous point about creating a timeline. Increase the length of your deadline. For example, the final day of the month may be the deadline for participants to submit their campaign. However, going through all of the submissions and selecting a winner might take up to a week or two, mainly if there are a lot of them. When a winner is proclaimed, make it apparent. Take a look at how Starbucks announced the winners of their red cup contest:
If you’re going to disclose the winner’s identity, make sure you have their permission beforehand. To minimize any difficulties or misunderstandings, all of this should be explicitly specified in the regulations (which we mentioned before).
Conclusion
Don’t hold a giveaway unless you have a specific objective or purpose in mind. This, like any other business choice, will need considerable thinking and strategy. First, you must decide what kind of giveaway you would have. You should host sweepstakes if you want the winner to be random. Contests are best if you wish the winner to be determined by ability, voting, or judgment. Run the competition via a variety of platforms. Customer loyalty and brand recognition are best achieved via social media. It also increases the promotion’s shareability. Set a deadline for your giveaway and make sure all restrictions are clearly stated. Make sure your award is in line with your company’s image. Creating a unique and personalized hashtag will aid in the promotion and awareness of your business. When it’s over, be sure to inform everyone that a winner has been chosen. After that, what do you do? Continue to have competitions! It will always be advantageous for you if you follow these guidelines.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you run a successful giveaway?
A: The most important thing to remember is that you should have an exciting prize. This can be anything from free products, movie tickets, or even an experience. As long as the award excites your audience and they’re interested in claiming it, then you will likely do well with this tactic!
Are paid giveaways illegal?
A: There is no law against the giving of paid giveaways. It must be noted that this type of promotion can have a lot of backlashes, so it’s recommended to do them sparingly and with caution.
What are good giveaway rules?
A: Here are some recommendations:
-Giveaway rules should be appropriately worded and comply with Reddit’s giveaway guidelines.
-Leave your contact information in the description of the contest so that people can find you if they win or reach out to you for any other reason.
-Be courteous! Check comments before posting a reply as well as before making decisions about giveaways
Related Tags
- giveaway business model
- how to run a giveaway on Instagram
- how to start a car giveaway business
- for-profit sweepstakes
- how to do a giveaway