How To Organize A Successful Giveaway Or Contest

There are many ways to engage your audience and boost your blog traffic. One of such quick ways to attract followers to your profile is to organize a giveaway.

Giveaways and contests are some of the most successful blog promotion mechanics. Thanks to such events, we can gain subscribers in a matter of days, boost traffic and activity, and increase reach.

Let’s figure out how to organize a giveaway correctly, increase reach, get the audience interested and boost your account as much as possible.

Why Are Giveaways So Popular Among Bloggers And Their Followers?

One post is enough for thousands of people to feel the enthusiasm and pay attention to your account. Giving gifts is a business tool that makes the audience more loyal, increases reach, and attracts new subscribers.

The audience receives only digital content from bloggers, so a physical gift contributes to more friendly interaction with followers. Moreover, prizes give a sense of a small victory. 

Not only do bloggers organize giveaways, but stores on their pages — then their customers have a chance to get goods for free. Subscribers will be pleased to win something tangible from, for instance, their favorite designer.

How To Organize A Giveaway?

The advantage of giveaways is mutual benefit. Subscribers win prizes, and bloggers boost blogs and get additional advertising with minimal investment. Let’s figure out how to organize a giveaway in a few simple steps.

• Decide on the goal

Define the results you expect after the contest. Choose a specific purpose: for instance, attract 1000 new followers, increase reach by 20%, etc. Think about what these numbers will give you.

If a store runs a giveaway on a blog, its main goal is to increase awareness and attract as many potential customers as possible. Or slightly expand the target audience.

Please note that if you created an account, for example, on Instagram less than six months ago, the platform may block you due to high activity. Giveaways are best done in profiles that have existed for more than six months.

• Choose a prize

Start from what your subscribers would like to win. A valuable and coveted prize matches the interests of the audience. So the participants will have more motivation to win it and fulfill the requirements: to repost, leave a comment, or tag friends.

Tell the audience about the prize. It should be desirable and attractive for your target audience. Don’t give children’s things among followers without kids. Ideally, your gift should match the product or service you provide.

For instance, if you create handmade goods, give your subscribers a certificate for your products or the item itself. You can also present a master class or a course to learn your craft. It all depends on your imagination and free time.

You don’t have to limit yourself to one prize and one winner — give sets and choose several finalists.

• Describe the rules in detail

To organize a successful giveaway, boost traffic, and increase reach, it is necessary to clearly define the rules and requirements. Be clear about what you want from the people involved. All requirements must be easy to fulfill. Otherwise, a large number of people will refuse to participate.

Most of such giveaways and contests are held on social networks. Instagram is in the first place. Therefore, the most common requirements for participants are:

• Participation from a real account. People should use their profiles not for various giveaways only, but for publications, posting stories, and communication.
• Like, repost, or leave a comment — the most common terms.
• Tag friends. So the number of participants increases.
• An open profile. It helps to check the performance of the first paragraph.
• Subscribe to one or more accounts.

• Prepare a post

It is the next and crucial stage in your giveaway organization. Such posts should be brighter and more visible than others. This way, you announce the event even before future participants start reading the requirements. It won’t be superfluous to add photos of prizes or a short promo clip edited in a simple video editor. It will be enough.

For easier perception, divide the text of the post into semantic blocks. Use lists, emoticons, and capital letters for key phrases.

Here is a common text structure for the contest:

• Announcement of the event — a few words visible to the followers before they read the full text.
• Description of prizes.
• Requirements.
• Additional information — time frames, the format of choosing winners, etc. 

Don’t forget to include hashtags in your post to reach as many people as possible. To find the most appropriate tags, you can use a hashtag generator.

• Promote your giveaway

Contests and giveaways need advertising and promotion just as much as any other campaign. Promotion helps attract more participants and, consequently, achieve better results, boost traffic and increase reach. The easiest way to promote a giveaway is targeted advertising.

• Pick a winner

Before choosing a winner, check if the participant has fulfilled all the requirements. Then determine the winner on the appointed day. The best way is to use a random number generator and record the whole process.

To make everything look fair and transparent, we recommend using a screen recorder to record the entire process of choosing the winner using a random number generator — after that, post it on your blog. So you will avoid any complaints on the part of the participants and prove that the giveaway was hosted openly.

Summing Up

Certainly, giveaways are a good, but far from the only, method of promoting an account, boosting traffic, and increasing reach. Choosing this promotion strategy, you need to prepare carefully so as not to harm your blog.

Don’ forget about communication with the audience after the end of the giveaway. Some people may not believe that the winners were chosen by chance, and the prizes were sent to them. To dispel doubts, ask the lucky person to give feedback: post a photo with a trophy or write a detailed review.

Remember that you can give absolutely anything. It doesn’t have to be a physical object. You can easily offer a self-improvement course or a masterclass. In addition, the prizes must be really necessary for your target audience.

We wish you all the best in organizing giveaways, increasing reach, and boosting your blog!