How to Create a Smart Giveaway to Build Followers and Drive Traffic to Your Site

As a business owner, you’re always trying to find ways to drive traffic to your website. Have you ever considered a giveaway contest? A giveaway offers a great way to get visibility and build followers. Users love getting free stuff!  Hosting a giveaway can help to increase brand recognition, obtain important links to your site, build your email list, increase website traffic and create social engagement. It’s a win-win!

Have a Clear Intention

You want to be clear about the purpose of your giveaway. If you’re looking to drive traffic to your site, your giveaway will be different than one to generate likes on your Facebook page. Knowing your purpose will help you gauge its success as well as help you choose where to promote it and what to give away.

Decide On the Prize

When you choose your prize, you want to choose something that appeals to the very people who you want to drive to your site…qualified leads. So you want your prize to reflect what your business offers and yet have a wide enough appeal to be shared by others. Offer an item that is popular and that most of your visitors could make easy use of.

Decide On Your Platform

Decide on which platforms you’ll use to promote your giveaway. Each social media platform offers some benefits and has its own set of rules when it comes to promotions. You can also choose to set up your giveaway on your blog.

Make sure to talk about your giveaway on your social media accounts, in an email blast, on your newsletter, even in your ads. You can even choose to build a whole temporary landing page on your website dedicated to the giveaway.

Some Ideas

So what will you be asking of your users? That’s completely up to you. You may want to ask your users to:

  • Go to your website and fill out an entry form
  • Leave a comment on your website blog
  • Tweet or post about the giveaway
  • Follow you on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or Pinterest
  • Subscribe to your YouTube channel
  • Link to your blog
  • Subscribe to your newsletter

Consider using USG (user-generated content) by asking users to post themselves using a product you offer. Make use of hashtags to draw users to your giveaway. You can even use an advertising management platform.

Decide the Duration

Your official start and end dates help you to drive a sense of urgency. Give your giveaway lots of hype beforehand and mention your end date often in updates.

Track Your Entries

For many site owners, this can be really tricky. Consider using a third party app or social media planner to track entries. Some are available for free and others for a nominal cost. Remember that your giveaway is advertising and advertising is an investment.

Pick a Winner

Once you’ve put together your entries, you need to pick a winner. How you do it is totally up to you. There are also apps that have random selection tools built into their system. Announce your winner and don’t forget to thank everyone who took the time to enter.

Consider a Contest App

Want to make it simple? Consider using a contest tool to create your giveaway. There are many different contest apps in the market. Picking a contest tool will depend on what your needs are and what your goals are.

Need Help?

At Rocket Marketing and Design, we’re here to help you get your message out. Give us a call at 888-731-0234.

in Search Engine Optimization, Social Media
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