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Creating an online contest or social media giveaway can dramatically increase your following and brand awareness. Blogs are great platforms to offer giveaways.
You can also offer social media giveaways on a social media platform, provided that it is within the terms and conditions of the site.
Remember, marketing is a process. It should be cyclical and constantly evolving rather than linear with a beginning and an end. Contests and social media giveaways, by the same virtue, should be seen as a process. By following these 10 simple steps, you can get the most out of your online giveaway.
1) Choose your Product
Don’t be afraid to offer a good product – you will probably find that the money comes back to you in the end. You may also want to do some market research beforehand to ensure that the product offered in the giveaway is something that people really want.
2) Choose your Platform
Where are you going to offer your Giveaway? Twitter? Your Blog? Choosing the right platform is crucial to getting your campaign right. Where are the majority of your followers? Which platform would work best for your giveaway and why?
3) Read the Terms and Conditions of the Platform
Certain actions on social media platforms are in breach of the terms and conditions of a site. For example, on Facebook, you are not aloud to run any contest if a condition is liking a status. You must always check that your contest or giveaway is within the Facebook Giveaway Guidelines, or the guidelines of the networking site that you intend to use for the campaign.
4) Legality and Small Print
Always seek legal advice to ensure that your contest or giveaway is within the legal requirements of the country that you are in (or marketing to). Ask a solicitor to write a set of terms in small print for your contest to avoid disputes.
5) Develop your Rules
What are the rules of your contest or giveaway? Who can enter? Again, make sure that this is inline with the law and the terms and conditions of the social media platform being used for the campaign.
6) Make it clear to People how to Enter
It is surprising how many businesses out there are offering contests without making it clear to people how to enter. Do a few trial or dummy runs of contest or giveaway entry before it gets marketed. It may be a good idea to get friends or colleagues who are unaware of the campaign to tell you how easy it is to understand.
7) Encourage Social Sharing e.g. RT
Encourage social media sharing of your contest. Don’t be afraid to ask for retweets (but don’t do it to often as you can end up being unfollowed!) Perhaps fellow business contacts could reblog or post for you?
8) Giveaway!
This is the fun bit! Make sure that you decide on the winner of the giveaway or contest in a fair way (it cannot, of course, be a setup!) When the contest closes and you decide on a winner, you can inform your winner and make them happy. Make sure that they are informed by the correct channels. For example, in a Facebook giveaway, the winner must not be informed by Facebook.
9) Analyse your Social Media Giveaways
You have given away your freebie and made someone happy, but it doesn’t stop there! You now need to analyse and act upon the new data. How are you going to analyse the new information? Facebook insights? Hootsuite Analytics reports? Google Analytics? What does the data tell you?
10) Foster Relationships with new Fans and Followers
Once you have analysed your new following, develop a strategy on interacting with them. You will now have a larger list of potential new customers. Listen to them and engage with them. They will be the future consumers for your business.
If you have any tips for successful social media giveaways, please comment below.
You might also like to read about social marketing tactics product launch
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