How Influencers Can Leverage Giveaways to Increase Your Brand Reach

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Every human wants to be rewarded and recognized, no matter how small such rewards may seem. Contests and rewards are an excellent way to excite your fans and get them talking about you and your brand. If done correctly, Social Media contests which involve rewards are ideal for getting the right audience and increasing your brand reach. This piece will explore how influencers can use giveaways and contests to boost your brand reach.

What is the difference 

between Social Media Contests and Giveaways?

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In social media contests, participants get to win prizes, just like giveaways. But the difference with them is that they are usually more competitive. The participants here are required to participate in a challenge like sharing the best photos or videos, submitting ideas for captions, or answering quiz questions. The winners in such contests are usually selected by their performance which makes the type of challenge reliant on talent, creativity, and luck.

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Social Media giveaways, on the other hand, involve influencers or brands creating an opportunity for their fans to win gifts and prizes. In giveaways, people are required to share or like a post, and the winners are usually randomly chosen, thus making such a contest fair and less.

How do Social Media Contests 

and Giveaways help your business?

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Planning and implementing a social media contest or giveaway is not easy, making many wonders why they should go through the trouble. There are several benefits to giveaways and contests, and here are some of such:

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· Increases Brand Reach

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You will quickly increase your brand reach if you partner with influencers for giveaways or contests. This grants you access to the audience of your contest and giveaway partners while ensuring your brand gets to your new followers.

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· Win Loyalty

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Regularly leveraging giveaways and contests will help you win your follower’s loyalty. Giveaways involve much more than rewarding loyal followers; it is also a way of communicating with them and getting feedback where needed. Proper marketing is a two-way thing that involves both the seller and the buyer, and as such, a smart giveaway campaign will seek to get as much relevant data as possible.

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· Increase Profitable Leads

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Giveaways and contests are a proven way to grow your mailing list and leads. You could include a call to action requiring the participants to complete a form and input their email addresses. This strategy is the smartest and easiest way to convert your followers into profitable leads.

Smart ideas to help you 

optimize your contests and giveaways

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By now, you should have realized how effective contests and giveaways can be, and we have compiled some unique ideas to help you increase your brand reach:

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1. Give winners unusual experiences

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One way to make contests even more interesting is to incorporate unique experiences for the participants. Such experiences could include all-expense paid trips to dream destinations or dinner nights at an expensive restaurant. For instance, an influencer could post a promotional video asking followers to follow a brand’s account and engage certain posts there.

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2. Encourage followers to share their stories

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Another unique way to make a social media giveaway or contest fair for all is by using fan story submissions. Such contests don't depend on the followers' talents, skills, or capabilities. Here, the participants will share their personal stories with the provided prompts, and the winners are chosen based on whoever has the best story that tallies with the brand’s values and theme. The story could be themed around how the fans used a certain product and how it helped them.

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3. Thinker with giveaways to celebrate notable milestones

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If you are convinced when to host giveaways, you could begin by having giveaways to mark notable milestones. For instance, if your brand’s YouTube page hits 20,000 subscribers, you could organize a giveaway to appreciate the followers. A smart thing would be to keep having the giveaways continuously to attract more followers and exceed past follower numbers.

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4. Have them invite their family and friends

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Another cool way to gain more traction with your giveaways is by having the participants invite their friends. As part of the giveaway rules, you could have the participants tag other people in the comment section. Doing this will help ensure that more people see the giveaway. This giveaway strategy is ideal if you want to use it to promote future programs such as new product launches, TV show releases, or music show performances.

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5. Leverage on Influencers to host the giveaways

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Influencer marketing is popular because it is engaging, practical, and creative. Also, depending on the scope of reach of the influencer, you could reach thousands and even millions of people. Partnering with an influencer is a smart way to boost your brand's visibility. An average influencer has thousands, if not millions, of followers who trust them and their words. When such influencer host giveaways and direct the traffic of followers to your brand's Social Media pages, you are bound to have an unusual increase in traffic which could translate to more sales.

Effective steps 

for running your brand's Social Media Giveaway

 Planning your social media giveaways isn’t difficult if you know what to do. Here is a guide to help you run the best social media giveaway for your brand:

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· Be clear about your objectives

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It would help if you had a clear idea of your aims with the giveaway campaign. Are you trying to gain new followers? Are you trying to promote a product or service? A clearly defined goal for your contest helps you know the right strategy to adopt and deploy.

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· Select a platform

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Deciding on the social media platform to host the giveaway is another critical factor before implementing a contest or giveaway. The audience you intend to target will determine what platform to choose. If you target audiences that love audio-visual content, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok would be your best option. However, if you want an audience that would engage in conversations, Twitter is the right pick.

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· Consider the appropriate rewards

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What’s a great contest without great rewards? You could reward followers with customized items from your brand or unusual experiences. Also, you could give your followers gift cards or even cash prizes as rewards. Ensure that the reward is commensurate with the task's demands and attractive enough to drive engagement. Also, you must be prudent in choosing the reward, as it must not exceed your budget.

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· Ensure fairness and clarity of rules

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The rules for the giveaway entry will hinge on what you aim to get out of the contest. Note that different Social Media platforms have unique rules for running contests and giveaways. You need to state all the rules while carefully considering the factors. You also need to ensure that the rules are easy enough to follow by your followers.

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· Implementation

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At this point, it's time for you to begin your contest or giveaway. Ensure you have a clearly defined agenda and timeline. It would help if you also created a content calendar for planning your giveaway promotional material. As soon as your campaign is completed, remember to measure the necessary metrics, as this will tell you whether your campaign is performing well.

Final thoughts

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Social media contests and giveaways are ideal for increasing brand engagement and visibility. But for such contests and giveaways to perform optimally, the right strategies must be in place. Using the services of influencers is one sure way to get the best results from giveaways within the right budget. You could leverage the network and expertise of influencer marketing agencies such as Vlingto help you source the right influencer for your campaign.

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