How To Host A Stress-Free Holiday Giveaway
If you’ve been following our blog or social channels for a while, you may have noticed that we’re talking a lot about the holidays right now, and it’s because NOW is the time to get your marketing strategy on lock. Since this year may look a little bit different (more people shopping online instead of in-store), you need to prepare your social media strategy for an increase in competition. Trust us when we say your competitors are already thinking about how they’re going to one-up you this year, but that’s not going to happen because you’ve got Insight Social on your side!
One of the best ways to increase the number of eyes on your content/product offering(s) is to host a holiday giveaway on Instagram since it’s the most visual platform. Don’t get us wrong, giveaways are a lot of work to maximize their potential ROI but they are well worth it. Today we’re going to walk through the 4 Steps To Hosting A Stress-Free Holiday Giveaway.
Step One: Plan Ahead
This seems like a “no-brainer” but after years of working in social media, we’ve seen numerous giveaways underperform due to a lack of planning. We don’t want that to happen to you! Before you start making a list of influencers for your giveaway make sure you are squared away with your holiday marketing plan as a whole, as this information will help guide the giveaway. Check out 4 Ways To Prepare For The Holiday Season NOW for more info.
Step Two: Include Other Brands
To increase the number of eyes on your giveaway, you have to increase the reach potential. One of the best ways to do this is by partnering with other brands that compliment YOUR brand/giveaway idea. For example, our client Rosé Water hosted a giveaway recently with E•MOTION Studio, who offers yoga, pilates, and barre classes. Since Rosé Water pairs well with those who live an active lifestyle, these two brands were a perfect fit for this giveaway.
Step Three: Work With Influencers
Just as partnering with another brand would be beneficial for your giveaway, so would partnering with a handful of influencers who are already strong advocates of your brand. Here are a few things to keep in mind when reaching out and selecting influencers to work with:
Will these partnerships be for the holidays only? Or will they carry on into next year?
Brand advocates could already be “raising their hand” in the comments of your posts.
There are tools out there to help you find influencers, such as PeopleMap.
Make sure the influencer’s audience is authentic (aka they didn’t buy their followers).
You can determine this by figuring their engagement rate. If you use a tool like PeopleMap, it will provide this engagement rate information upfront.
Make sure their style of content meshes well with yours. If your brand is very light + airy, a content creator who typically posts more “moody-style” photos won’t align well.
Step Four: Choose How To Draw Winners
One of the last steps to planning out your giveaway is determining how you will draw the winner. Depending on how your giveaway is set up will depend on how complex this process might be. For example: If the number of entrants to your giveaway is fairly small (you’d be willing to hand-write their name on a piece of paper), you can simply hop on Instagram Live and draw a name out of a bowl. If your giveaway is larger, we recommend using a tool like easypromos to help. While this tool isn’t free, it’s worth it to ensure fairness across the board, especially when you’re dealing with multiple brands and/or influencers who are posting the giveaway.
NOTE: Make sure that you (and the other brands/influencers you are partnering with) are including a disclosure at the bottom of your caption that says something along the lines of:
“This giveaway is in no way sponsored or associated with Instagram. By entering you acknowledge that you’re at least 18+ years of age, release Instagram of responsibility and that you agree to Instagram’s terms of use.”
If you’re interested in working with Insight Social, click HERE to contact us and we’ll set up a FREE 20 minute Discovery Call.