If you haven’t yet considered a giveaway as part of your influencer marketing strategy, then I’d highly recommend doing so. This strategy is an extremely beneficial way to improve your brand exposure to new potential customers, and increase general brand awareness. You want to get people talking about your brand. And at the end of the day, who doesn’t love free stuff, right?
What is a giveaway?
You may not be particularly knowledgeable on what a giveaway is or how to incorporate one into your influencer marketing strategy. But don’t worry, that’s why we are here to help.
Giveaways don’t necessarily need to be done through an influencer. Brands regularly post these competitions on their own Instagram business page, and have great success. However, to reach new and greater audiences, hiring an influencer to post a giveaway for your brand can yield much better results.
To break it down, a giveaway is essentially a competition where social media users will enter with the chance of winning a product or experience from your brand. The reason that these work so well is due to the prize on offer, as well as the entry requirements that people must follow.
With 90% of users following at least one business page on Instagram, there’s no doubt that giveaways can work without needing influencers. But, whether you choose to work with influencers or not, it’s true to say that a giveaway is a great method at meeting your marketing goals.
As many as 74% of shoppers make purchasing decisions based on social media, so the important thing here is getting your giveaway content right. You want to stand out from the crowd. So, let’s go over the top tips and considerations for doing a giveaway on social media.
What is the goal of this campaign?
As with any marketing campaign, the first step is understanding your goal. What is it that you hope to achieve from this campaign? Whether it’s increased brand awareness, new social media followers, or driving sales, a giveaway can help.
Generally speaking, social media giveaways are used to get your name known. Brand recognition is key here. With how vastly these campaigns can spread, it’s a great way to improve brand awareness and to reach new customers.
Consider the main goals of this campaign, as the channel you use will be dependent on your goals.
Choose the prize for the giveaway
Of course, we can’t forget about the actual prize up for grabs! You need to choose the product or service that will be offered to entrants. Depending on your business, this could be a physical product, a service, or an experience.
At this stage, you will need to think about costs included. For example, the shipping costs to send your product out to the winner. Or, the add-ons to an experience.
Additionally, think about the point of this campaign. If you are trying to attract customers to a new seasonal line, then try offering a product from this line as the prize. Or, if you are aiming to gain attention to an event, then offer tickets for an all-inclusive weekend at said event.
Decide on the entry requirements
The entry requirements are typically what gets these posts spreading like wildfire. If you’ve seen giveaways from Instagram influencers before, then you’re probably aware of the generic entry requirements that most brands follow.
Remember, you can create whatever entry requirements you like, but typically brands and influencers ask people to:
- follow their brand page
- like the post
- tag a friend in the comments
- share the post to their own page
You may have noticed, this is where the rapid brand exposure happens. Initially, followers may see the post and enter. Then, they could tag a friend that isn’t a follower of the brand or influencer, already attracting a potential new follower. As well as this, when the requirements are that entrants share the post to their story, it will then be seen by possibly hundreds or thousands of new people.
Choose a campaign hashtag
Hashtags are a great way for sharing content on social media. The same goes for giveaways. Influencers, brands, and social media users, like to use hashtags to not only share content, but to also create communities with similar interests. Branded content can hugely benefit from hashtags, with specific hashtags being created not only for your giveaway content, but for your brand in general.
Did you know that the average Instagram post contains 10 hashtags? It’s worth investigating how hashtags are best used on the social media platform that you are posting the giveaway. You should create hashtags that will encourage people to share on their posts too, particularly when re-sharing your giveaway.
For more information on how to use hashtags effectively, check out our article on the top hashtags of 2020.
Determine the timeline and closing date
This one is simple, really. Every competition has a closing date. You need to think about the goal of this campaign and how long it may take to achieve your desired results, for example, x number of entries.
Remember, the followers gained from giveaways don’t always last. Often, people will unfollow your account after the competition is over. This is normal. So, sometimes it’s best not to measure results based on follower numbers. Consider measurable indicators such as website visitors.
If this giveaway is in line with an upcoming event or product release, then consider when will be the best time to close the competition ahead of this.
Know the guidelines on the social media platform
Finally, it’s important to investigate the guidelines that must be followed in accordance with promotional content on each social media platform. If your giveaway is going to be on Instagram, then research the rules that must be followed.
When working with influencers, branded content must also follow particular guidelines. You must ensure that influencers are also aware of and following the required guidelines. Remember, these will vary by country.
For example, Instagram typically requires influencers to include the “in paid partnership” tag in their posts. YouTube influencers will usually need to mention at some point in their video that they are working with your brand.
Conclusion
Giveaways are one of the most popular marketing strategies at the moment on social media. It’s evident why these work so well for improving brand awareness and targeting a new customer demographic, for example. However, the best success comes from knowing how to do a giveaway well.
If you’re considering working with influencers for your giveaway content, then try using an influencer marketing platform like Heepsy to find influencers that are likely to work well with your brand.
