It is a truth universally acknowledged that a business profile in want of more followers can gain a fair few through giveaways. Giveaways are a blessing and a curse – while you might win yourself some much-needed interaction and interest, there’s no guarantee that the likes and comments will flow with each giveaway post.

We know you won’t want to waste any wonderful prizes, especially if your company is in its early social media days and you don’t have a huge budget to contribute to competitions. At the end of the day, you get what you give(away) with competitions, but a well-handled giveaway can make magic from even the smallest of budgets. 

In today’s article, we’ll help you understand how to host cool competitions that will win your brand some online interest and interaction. 

 

More is more 

A competition with more prizes (and the promise of more than one winner) is far more attractive to your audience than one big exciting prize. People feel more hopeful in general about multi-winner giveaways, even if the prizes on offer are of less value than a more flashy singular alternative. 

When considering a prize to offer for your giveaway, we suggest a handful of smaller items be awarded to 2-3 winners. 

 

Budget for the promo, not the prize 

We’ve seen our fair share of competitions here at Tailgunner ranging in value from $1000+ fireplaces to $5 exhibition tickets. If there’s one thing we’ve learned over the years of comp-hosting, it is that the true value of a competition lies in its promotion. There’s no point paying for a great prize or offering up an expensive product if it isn’t going to be seen. Giveaways that don’t promote to a wider audience will run into the following issues: 

  • Not enough comments/entries 
  • Entries are from disingenuous ‘serial competition’ enterers who will sell your prize for a profit and immediately unfollow your page 
  • Little to no interaction on your page, or little to no lasting Likes/Follows 

To reach a wider audience and ensure your prize pool has a healthy range of genuine entrants, be sure to set aside a reasonable budget for promoting your giveaway. 

 

The prize 

So shiny. So desirable. But what could it be? 

While most brands put their own products up for grabs in giveaways, we understand that not all products or services make suitable prizes. Let’s take a look at your options depending on what category your brand falls into: 

 

Services 

Depending on the cost and scale of your services, you might be able to offer vouchers as a prize in your giveaway. 

Pros: 

  • Newcomers clicking on your competition will gain instant insight into who you are and what you offer 
  • If your winner likes their service, they’ll tell their friends and gain you more customers 
  • If your winner likes their service, they could give you a positive review and become a returning customer 

Cons: 

  • Not all services are affordable enough to be offered as prizes (plumbing, accounting, car repair etc). 
  • If you don’t prepare your post correctly (miswording, lack of boosting or complicated entry requirements) you might end up with only one or two winners to choose from, and either of these winners might not be appropriate (serial competition enterers, fake accounts). 

At the end of the day, there’s no pressure to offer a free service as competition fodder. You can always try a prize that falls in line with your service or your brand. For example, a mechanic might like to offer a free pack of car seat covers. A plumber might like to offer luxurious soap dispensers to add a touch of class to someone’s bathroom. 

Get creative and feel free to consult the social media experts at Tailgunner if you’re not sure what sort of prize you should be offering in your service-based brand’s competition. 

 

Products 

By far the easiest prize to put up for grabs is a sample of your product. We’ve given away everything from Christmas hams to boxed mattresses, BBQs to chocolate bars. You name it! 

Pros: 

  • Newcomers clicking on the competition will instantly be exposed to your product
  • This might encourage interest in your other products, and often leads to clicks that bring the audience member to your website, where they might just convert to becoming a paying customer! 
  • For those that don’t like leaving things to chance (but still want your product), your competition might prompt purchases 
  • As above, your winner might like the prize enough to promote it to their friends, leave you a nice review, or simply become a returning customer 

Cons: 

  • You really have to keep an eye on who wins your Facebook competitions. There are some extremely devious people out there who make it their day-job to enter hundreds of competitions daily and sell their prizes to make a profit.

    It’s not fair or right for such nefarious folks to get away with reselling your top quality product.

    Plus, they won’t have sampled it, shared their experience with their friends, or become a returning customer. Most likely, they’d have unfollowed your page the moment they received their prize.

  • Your product might be too costly to giveaway a simple competition
  • Your product might be too costly or impractical to deliver

As we mentioned in our previous category, you don’t have to put your stock up for grabs in a competition if you aren’t comfortable doing so, or if it isn’t financially feasible to do so. In this case, you can talk to the Wellington social media management experts at Tailgunner and let our team come up with a creative competition concept that suits your brand while promoting your products in the process.