Running online giveaways is an effective yet underused method to boost your email list, social media following, and website traffic. Influencers on platforms like YouTube and Instagram frequently leverage giveaways in partnership with brands to gain viral traction, leading to significant increases in traffic, PR opportunities, and revenues.
These tactics aren’t limited to influencers alone; e-commerce businesses can harness them as well. The challenge lies in selecting the right online giveaway tools and executing timely contests that resonate with your audience.
Why Run an Online Giveaway?
Online giveaways offer several advantages:
- Growth in Social Media Followers: By incentivizing participants with entries or points for likes and follows, you can rapidly grow your social media following.
- Increase in Website Traffic: Promoting your giveaway across various platforms attracts more visitors to your website.
- Rapid Growth of Email Subscribers: Offering giveaway entries in exchange for email sign-ups is an effective way to expand your email subscriber base.
- More Quality Leads and Sales: Giveaways enhance brand awareness, generate leads, and convert them into paying customers, thereby boosting sales.
Types of Online Giveaway Contests
Online giveaways come in various forms tailored to different business goals:
- Photo Contests: For instance, Albert’s Jewelers ran a successful photo contest where participants shared the contest on social media to win a pendant, boosting awareness and sales.
- Engagement Contests: Kettle Brand Chips engaged their audience by inviting them to share potato chip puns for National Chip Day, promoting creativity and organic engagement.
- Personality-Based Quizzes: Inspired by Buzzfeed quizzes, businesses can create quizzes with quirky questions. Participants could receive discounts for sharing their results, driving engagement.
- Seasonal Countdown Sweepstakes: Utilizing holidays to create urgency can attract new leads and increase sales, capturing the festive spirit.
- Hashtag Contests: GoPro’s #GoProHERO7 campaign encouraged users to enter a sweepstake using a specific hashtag, resulting in high engagement and user-generated content.
The 6 Best Online Giveaway Tools
Choosing the right tools can streamline your giveaway campaigns:
- RafflePress: A WordPress plugin offering customizable templates, SEO-optimized widgets, social media integration, and fraud protection.
- ShortStack: Known for its user-friendly drag-and-drop builder, customizable widgets, email notifications, and robust lead database.
- KingSumo: Provides custom branding, Zapier integration, Facebook pixel tracking, and supports unlimited giveaways.
- Easypromos: Offers responsive designs, detailed analytics, fraud prevention, multilingual support, and collaboration options with influencers.
- Woobox: A free WordPress plugin integrating with numerous tools like Mailchimp and Zapier, facilitating easy collection of social media interactions.
- SweepWidget: Features a versatile drag-and-drop builder, customizable design options, extensive social media integrations, multilingual support, and advanced fraud prevention.
Conclusion
Online giveaway contests are potent tools for growing your audience organically across multiple channels. By leveraging effective tools and offering appealing prizes, businesses can maximize engagement, drive traffic, and boost conversions. Remember, align your giveaways with strategic goals and audience preferences to achieve optimal results.
