In aviation there is a principle called the ‘1 in 60’ rule which states that if you’re flying 1° off course for 60 miles then your plane will be 1 mile from where it should be. Iterated over hundreds of miles that 1° makes a big difference. That same principle of ‘little changes make a big impact’ can be applied to giveaways as well.
When you go to set up your next giveaway, there are several questions you should be asking yourself to set your trajectory in the right direction. Answering these three questions below will be the 1° of change your giveaway needs to start off on the right track.
Question 1: Can anyone utilize this prize?
This may seem very straightforward, however, careful consideration of the prize for your giveaway can be a make-or-break aspect between your giveaway being very average over very successful.
We’ve seen giveaways offering a $100 Amazon gift card outperform giveaways offering a free subscription to services and perks worth more than $3,000. How can that happen? The success of a prize is generally more about who can experience it rather than the dollar amount of the prize. Check out this article in our field manual outlining the recommended duration of your giveaway based on the ARV of your prize.
The main issue with offering niche prizes is the entrant may not have much use for this prize at this moment. It’s possible they don’t have enough time to utilize the subscription or item being given away. If Rafflecopter were to only give away subscriptions to our premium service, we’d be ignoring the potential entrants that don’t have a need for Rafflecopter that would want to participate otherwise. There might be people out there that say ‘I’d like to participate, but I don’t really have a need for a Rafflecopter subscription‘, so they pass on entering.
It’s important to note, giving away your own products is an easy (and usually affordable) way to fuel engagement of your current followers. Offering them products they already love and care about isn’t bad per se, however, you’d be surprised how much more engagement your giveaway might get if you include a prize that anyone can experience, regardless of age or interests, at any point in time. We commonly have great success giving away prize packs that include a Rafflecopter subscription, an Amazon gift card, and a t-shirt. This prize is simple, relevant to our brand, and anyone can experience and enjoy it :)
Question 2: Have I written effective calls to action for my giveaway?
The call to action to enter the giveaway, although simple, may be the one of the most crucial and most frequently overlooked aspects of promoting your giveaway. A well-written call to action can help fuel significant traffic to your giveaway. A poorly written one can be detrimental to the engagement an impact your giveaway has. Here are three tips to ensure your call to action is as effective as possible.
Keep it simple. The essence of a call to action is simplicity. When a call to action extends further than a few words it will lose its impact. Make sure when you’re writing your next call to action for your giveaway you don’t get too wordy.
Start the call to action with active verbs. To clear up any confusion for entrants on what you’ll need them to do, make sure that you start your call to action with an active verb. Here are few examples of great verbs within calls to action along with a recent timeline update we used with several CTAs:
- Enter to win
- Click here to enter
- Get the details
- Enter here
Keep it visible. If you bury your call to action underneath a bunch of text, images, or content it will be overlooked. Use things like spacing, text size, placement, and contrast to ensure your call to action stands out amongst the rest of the content on the page.
Question 3: How do giveaways fit into my monthly content strategy?
The engagement and brand awareness that can be obtained through one giveaway is great, however, it’s important to think how giveaways fit into your monthly content strategy so you can leverage the engagement of your giveaway strategy, not just a one-off giveaway.
Our friends at 123 Dentist are a great example of this. 123 Dentist is an online portal that helps people in the Vancouver area find a dentist that meets their needs. The organization sought out a solution to perpetually engage current fans while continually reaching new ones. They constantly run weekly Rafflecopter giveaways, which play an integral part in their content strategy.
123 Dentist runs weekly giveaways for $100 Visa gift cards on their Facebook page as well as their 50 dental clinics in the 123 Dentist network. Since implementing weekly giveaways, 123 Dentist has seen a healthy increase in social engagement week in and week out.
You can read more about 123 Dentist as well as how companies of all types found success using giveaways on our customer stories page. You’ll learn that running frequent giveaways produce benefits that can fit into any company’s monthly content strategy rather than just running single giveaways.
Not all giveaways are created equal and no giveaway is the same, but by paying attention to these simple aspects of your giveaway, you’ll likely see an increase in engagement and participation in your promotion. If you’re looking for additional tips like the ones above, check out the Rafflecopter Field Manual to learn about giveaway best practices.
Do you have any tips/tricks that help propel your giveaways to the next level? Let us know in the comments below!
