First of all, you need to be aware that the beautiful images you see on giveaways on social media and the clear instructions of these hobbies, in which we have all participated here and there, do not appear there (whether on Instagram, Facebook, or both) out of the blue, with no work whatsoever. You have to plan it and plan it well. Otherwise, in addition to not bringing the intended results, you’ll waste precious time on this task (and we all know too well that ‘time is money’!).
“But isn’t it just a matter of posting something?!” – you ask (and we are immediately struck by an itchy rash!).
Surprisingly enough, and even though we are all digital marketers here, for a moment it does feels like that. But we obliterate this cloud of illusion around social media once and for all. Therefore, the next time you want to do a giveaway on social media, we recommend that you take a deep breath and invoke the ‘mantra’ we created specifically for this situation: “a giveaway is not a work-free event, nor is it immune to the use of part of our hours. Om”!
But wait, don’t give up just yet, because giveaways on social media are really worth it, and you need to find out why!
Even if it doesn’t ‘come out perfect’ the first time around, and even if you end up with a long list of improvements for the next one, it will still be a great way to, for example, grow your number of followers and increase your brand awareness. Now imagine if it is actually done properly, with knowledge and experience – it would, as they say, definitely ‘rock’!
We’re going to lend you a hand and shed some light on the process of creating your giveaway on social media. And if you are one of those people who sends out a text message when you want to know where to find the info you need, you will appreciate the dual benefit of this list:
- Choose only one objective: instead of juggling all of them, because they ‘complement each other’, let’s keep it simple and choose only one! What is your? Grow your number of followers? Increase your reach or engagement? Boost brand awareness, or generate content creation and shares on a certain topic? We know that out of all of these, maybe three or four sound very appealing to you, but with one objective only it will be easier to select the options for the next steps, in a more coherent way, believe us.
- The prizes: what are we going to offer? It’s important to define exactly what and the amount of prizes to be awarded, don’t think “yep, maybe I’ll give ‘that’ away”. But ‘which that’, ‘how many thats’ and how will you do it? Remember, we’re in this together, so let’s avoid procrastination on giveaways and determine this from the get-go.
- Participation instructions: make them clear and fluid like running water! Jokes aside, what we mean is that testing the ‘participation path’ as if you were a user is essential, because sometimes, and in our experience, when you ask a participant to go to multiple platforms (for example, to follow you on Instagram and then on Facebook), he or she can get lost along the way, and, in addition, it makes the winner’s selection process even longer. You should focus on keeping the ‘game’ simple, but in line with previously defined marketing objectives.
- Create an image that screams GIVEAWAY: use an image that immediately and without a doubt tells people what you’re doing (this is a giveaway, full stop!).
- Watch out for the text on the post: do not digress. Let’s focus on the offer and clearly say what steps need to be taken to win it, and also (and as previously discussed this is really important) in what day, time and how will the winner be announced.
- Planning is golden: having a complete plan prepared for the event before even launching the very first post, having everything determined and pre-prepared up until the message that will be sent to the winner to award him the prize, will save you a lot of work and even some nuisances.
- You’ll need to spend some money on your giveaway on social media: if we want as many people as possible to participate in it, we will definitely have to spend a few bucks on its promotion.
- And lastly, for your first giveaway, don’t go all ambitious: choose only one social media – Facebook or Instagram – to do it.
We hope that now you understand better why we’re giving you these recommendations – it’s just that giveaways have potential, but they need to be done properly. We must confess, that initially we also thought that it was just a matter of ‘doing it’, until we did the first one. And if you’re still dwelling on that idea that ‘you just need to post something’, we challenge you to create one, and then we can talk!
And last but not least, a final word to all digital marketers and business people that manage their companies’ social media (and consequently create these giveaways): stand up and rise up when someone tells you that ‘it’s just posting something and that’s it’! Om!
