What is a giveaway?

by Gerardo Sánchez March 14, 2023

Giveaways are a promotional tool that help companies and organizations boost awareness of their brand .

This strategy can also be used to increase sales or generate greater impact in user spaces; from social networks to mass media.

In essence, giveaways are events in which a company gives one or more gifts to its followers and customers ; from services or products of your line, to any other benefit that is attractive to your audience.

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Likewise, this promotional tool can have different approaches depending on what you want to achieve. Two types of giveaways are usually used:

Contests: in order to enter the contest, the company will design bases and criteria so that people can have the possibility of winning a prize. Users are regularly asked to follow certain pages, comment on a post, or share particular content.

Raffles: these are events in which there are few criteria to win. It is usually left to luck or chance.

What is a giveaway for?

We can think of the hundreds of benefits that come with giving away products or services to our users; from brand recognition to customer loyalty.

However, giveaways have various functions that allow them to maximize or enhance the work of companies and brands. Among the main benefits of a giveaway are:

Effective and low-cost marketing. Giveaways can be used as a resource that can help design great marketing strategies . Likewise, it is possible to use them as advertising campaigns .
Network growth. As mentioned at the beginning, bases and criteria can be created to participate in the giveaway. One of the most requested is to ask for “microtasks”, which can range from following a profile on a social network to sharing a publication on personal social networks.
Brand recognition. According to a Sageworld study, about 89% of consumers can remember a brand if they have received a promotional product or service from it. Therefore, it is convenient to create giveaways that generate brand recognition for years to come.
Lead generation. Giveaways can be useful when increasing, for example, the number of subscribers to your email list .
Generation of loyalty. In addition to brand recognition, customers can become loyal to a brand that gives them a product or service. Giveaways work as an investment for customers and their preference.
Strengthens sales. Giveaways also work as an organic strategy in which users can try the brand's products or services. This helps your preference be shared among your social circle.

Carrying out a giveaway effectively and without sparing resources can be an excellent way to have positive results in the development and growth of the brand or company.

How to make a giveaway?

If you want to get to work, below we present the elements you should take into account to create a giveaway.

You can modify the processes that you consider necessary so that they adapt to the style of your company or brand.

Choose the giveaway objective

Do you want to increase your followers? Raise brand recognition? Generate traffic and interaction with your content?

It is important to identify the approach (and needs) you want. This will help design the dynamics of the event more easily.

Choose the ideal prize

The characteristic of the giveaway is that it is about something relevant or important. This event is not a sale, promotion or discount. The gift has to satisfy the needs and desires of an audience.

Most companies give away their products or services, sometimes in the form of kits, as this is usually more attractive to users.

Be simple with the basics

Don't ask for too many “microtasks,” as this can discourage your audience from participating.

The fewer the number of restrictions or conditions to participate in the giveaway, the greater the interaction and participation of the public will be.

Promote the event

For a giveaway to be successful, try to make intelligent use of social platforms, as well as the various channels you have.

If necessary, you can create key elements such as hashtags to take advantage of the social media space.

Moments of truth in customer service

Choose a good selection method

We don't want consumers to think they have been scammed. Therefore, it is recommended to choose the winner (or winners) through a platform that grants trust, security and honesty to users.

Ideas for a giveaway

To begin with, the themes, as well as the products or services of a giveaway, may vary depending on the type of brand or company that will carry it out. However, it is true that there are some ideas that can be very useful when creating your giveaway.

Below, we present 5 ideas that can help you launch your first giveaway event with users of the social network you prefer.

Comment with the most likes

It is one of the most creative ideas when it comes to integrating the community.

You can ask your followers to share an anecdote or comment based on a generating question, which is related to the theme of your brand.

The advantage of this strategy is that the participating people will begin to share the page in order to support your comment.

Tag a friend

During this strategy you can indicate that, in addition to tagging a friend, they are asked to follow the page or profile. It's a great way to gain followers and generate traffic.

Ask them to create a post or story

It is a creative idea that allows you to share your products, services and content through your followers' profiles.

Under this idea, you can create great themes; from creating a creative photo to challenging them to perform some entertaining action.

To have better control over this strategy, you can implement the use of a hashtag or a mention of your page in the publication.

Like and share

It is, perhaps, one of the simplest but most effective giveaway ideas. In just a few seconds, the person who completes these steps will be participating to win a great prize.

If you think that it is not an ideal strategy, take into account that the simple fact of interacting with content in this way generates great benefits for our brand.

Creative exploration

There are many ways to create giveaways; some more dynamic and creative than others.

Depending on your brand, as well as your sector, you can ask your audience to write a story, make a video, create a painting, take a photo or complete a challenge based on a proposed theme.

This will not only help create a creative and innovative vision of your brand, but it will position you as a company that does not remain pigeonholed with the classic giveaway ideas.

Written by Moises Hamui Abadi : I am an entrepreneur, founding partner of Viceversa and SoyMacho. After leading several digital businesses and advising several other businesses; I decided to form MHA Consulting, a digital marketing consultancy dedicated to growing and enhancing digital businesses in more than 7 countries and generating more than 1,500 million pesos.