For brands, online sweepstakes are powerful and cost-effective vehicles for building relationships with customers. Beyond engaging consumers and inspiring word-of-mouth buzz, contests can generate strong returns in the form of leads, feedback, PR, and social media growth.
As one example, baby product retailer Magic Beans generated more than 100,000 leads in a month. After running 31 days of giveaways, the company saw returns in the form of 100,000 entries, 30,000 shares, 1,500 fan page likes and several hundred new followers on Twitter. To put these numbers in perspective, Magic Beans is a family-operated e-commerce property base with more than 10 thousand unique visits per day, 10 thousand Facebook likes, and 2 thousand Twitter followers.
Magic Beans Ran a Facebook Sweepstakes Giving away products sold in their store for one month.
The Magic Beans campaign highlights the top elements of a successful online contest: defined marketing goals, targeted prizes, continued networking, analytical awareness, and additional customer incentives. The following tips provide an introductory guide for any brand, large or small, that is looking to maximize the returns of a giveaway.
Establish marketing goals ahead of time to achieve desired results.
As branding initiatives, giveaways have the potential to provide varying types of returns relating to customer engagement. As one example, in its month of contests, Magic Beans generated 100,000 leads and 30,000 shares to help build engagement. Believe it or not, these types of results require forethought to produce — they won’t just happen as an unintended byproduct of a loosely designed campaign. To generate leads, Magic Beans required entrants to complete a form, and to encourage shares, Magic Beans gave people the option of sharing the contest for additional entries. In other words, the company incorporated its objectives into the giveaway’s structure.
Pick prizes that your target customers want.
Just because something is free doesn’t mean that people will instantly flock to it. Rather than selecting a mediocre prize, find something compelling that entices both existing customers and new audiences. As one example, Lucky Magazine recently launched a giveaway for an 18-piece Smashbox lipstick collection. While the results of this contest are not publicly available, it is easy to see that the magazine selected a prize with a strong brand name that readers — and prospective readers — would recognize.
Leverage your professional network.
For both consumer-driven and B2B marketing, networking is key. To reach new audiences, connect with bloggers, tweeters, and page moderators who might be interested in sharing an awesome giveaway. For another creative approach, consider a partnership for a co-branding campaign with an influential blogger. As an added dimension, seek out channels that publicize contests. Believe it or not, some bloggers are entirely devoted to giveaways and giveaway enthusiasts. These sites, such as Contest.Bee and Sweetie‘s Sweepstakes, provide additional channels for promotion and networking with bloggers.
Provide customer incentives.
With so many giveaways on the web, a great prize is far from enough to influence viral reach. Encourage people to share giveaways by offering additional entries for liking, tweeting, or emailing. For the most part, people understand the basics of probability: a person with 10 entries to a giveaway will have higher chances of winning than people with only one. As an even exchange for additional engagement and social advertising, give people extra opportunities to win. The mom blogging community exemplifies this trend: as one example, Life with 2 Boys was able to generate more than 110,000 entries for a Barnes and Noble Nook. The site used an app called Rafflecopter, which provides a platform for contest moderators to track more than 10 different types of entries.
Giveaways provide an opportunity for marketers to experiment creatively. When working with different techniques for varying outcomes, remember to remain analytically aware by tracking key data points of interest. Moving forward, these numbers will help assess the value of the giveaway while illuminating key areas for improvement moving forward.
Thinking about running a Facebook sweepstakes? Register for SnapApp’s Webinar on February 8th: The Right Way to Use a Sweepstakes to Get More Facebook Fans.
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