A giveaway is a great way to increase engagement, build brand awareness, and get more likes on social media. There are different types of giveaways, including instant win, sweepstakes, and contests. The most popular, and the one you will see most often on social media, is a sweepstake. A sweepstake is a chance promotion, that costs nothing to enter. We will focus specifically on sweepstakes for this post!
Define Your Goals
Once you have decided to run a giveaway, you need to decide what your goal will be. If you want to increase likes of your brand page, then your call-to-action should require entrants to like or be following the page. If you want to build a customer email list, then they should provide their name and email to enter. Is your goal to increase engagement? Have entrants comment on the post with a specific message (i.e. How has our brand helped you? What would you do with the prize?
What are you Giving Away?
When choosing a prize, you want to give away something that will entice and excite your followers! If you’re a retailer, then giving away one of your products is a no-brainer. For companies that are service-based, you may need to get more creative. For example, the contest and prize could associate with a holiday or event. If the prize is valued at over $600 the winner will need to be issued an 1099-MISC form and must claim it on their tax return!
Play by the Giveaway Rules!
Every single promotion needs official rules to govern how the promotion is run to meet state, national, and international requirements. For example, if you’re running a sweepstake every eligible entry must have a hashtag that includes the word Sweepstakes. And no, you can’t shorten it to “sweeps.” Even social media platforms have specific rules you need to follow when running a giveaway. For example, Facebook does not allow you to require an entrant to tag a friend to enter a contest. Include this in a call-to-action if you want, but it can’t be an official entry rule. You can see all the Facebook giveaway requirements here.
If you have questions about how to run a giveaway or want help creating a giveaway that will help your brand, contact us today!
