Giveaways: The Pros and Cons
Giveaways are always fun and an exciting buzz for your followers! We’re here to share some of the pros and cons of hosting a giveaway on your account.
First off, if you’re considering doing a giveaway, go for it! They’re a great tool to kickstart engagement and growth. As a small business having engagement with your content is necessary for your business to grow and make sales. With each pro and con we will explain a little bit more and how you can change things up to ensure your giveaway works for you!
Followers
The pro is that you gain followers! The con is that these followers might not actually be your ideal audience. Our recommendation is to host a giveaway that is directed to your current followers (encouraging them to comment on the post OR another post you want them to see) and include extra entries as tagging a friend in the comments of the post. If you’re teaming up with another business, make sure that their audience would be interested in following you (you can gauge this through a quick poll) and have the followers enter by commenting on your giveaway post and the other business’s post. Refrain from using #giveaway and other general hashtags, use specific tags that target the audience you’re looking for and what your giveaway offers (books, tea, art, etc.)
Products
One of the biggest cons of a giveaway is offering “free” product(s). To offset the cost of your giveaway, see if a loyal customer, a business partner, or other supporter would consider sponsoring your giveaway. Another option is setting aside a portion of your regular profits to fund a giveaway or even creating a donation giveaway, in which part of the donation funds will go to pay for the products and shipping, the rest going to the cause you decided on.
Time
Giveaways are best done no more than four times a year, if you host too many giveaways your followers will not feel the need to buy your product, as you are announcing giveaways left or right that they have a chance to win a copy for free. So, plan a giveaway at prime times that will benefit your biz, for example anniversary of your business, anniversary of a book being published, for your favorite season (Halloween, Christmas, etc.), or your own birthday. Try to do no more than four a year!
Hopefully these suggestions can help you host a giveaway that truly benefits your account. Keep in mind that you’ll want to make a follow up introduction post for any new followers and thank everyone for entering.
Did these tips help? Do you have more recommendations? Be sure to chat with us in the comments or send us an email at hello@raineandrose.co
