Of All the influencer marketing techniques, giveaway campaigns are the most mutually beneficial for both advertisers and influencers. On the brand side, they can almost guarantee substantial growth in social following and engagement by making social actions such as “follow,” “like” and “comment” prerequisites for entering the sweepstakes. This is in addition to the obvious benefits of awareness and affinity brands gain from highly-creative influencer content.
On the influencer side, although they will also often see engagement spikes, the most valuable thing to them is that they get to reward their fans through product giveaways. Social media celebrities know that their followers are their biggest assets. So no matter how popular they’ve become, they still take time to read fans’ comments, answer questions, and respond to content suggestions. Sophisticated influencers also commonly host giveaways on their own budget to show appreciation to followers or to celebrate important occasions such as hitting the one million follower mark.
So how can you take advantage of this win-win situation? Running a giveaway campaign can be as simple as asking people to enter their emails, randomly selecting a winner and shipping out gifts. But choosing the best platforms, crafting effective entry rules, and tying in the right content or events are important questions for you to consider if you want to maximize return on investment. Below are several examples of influencer-driven social media giveaways to get you started.
1. Have Influencers Post A Link To Your Giveaway Page
Having influencers post links to your giveaway page is the most straightforward way to have full control of the sweepstakes process and drive traffic to your website. This approach is fairly simple, but you can spruce things up by developing a theme for your giveaway campaign and commissioning influencers to create unique content around that. Check out the example below, where Marriott Hotels collaborated with Viner Matt Cutshall in giving away 1,000 free overnight stays.
2. Have Fans Follow And Comment With A Hashtag
Asking influencers’ fans to follow your social media accounts and comment on your posts with branded hashtags is also a common practice. The great thing about hashtags is that you can tally up everything just by opening the hashtag stream, where you can easily track who has participated and how their posts perform. The trick here is to make what to comment on interesting and decide on a hashtag that entices audiences.
3. Have Influencers Ask Their Followers To Tag Friends
Going a step further than just following and commenting, brands can also ask influencers’ followers to tag their social media friends in order to be entered into the giveaway contest. The benefit of this tactic is obvious — brands not only get to tap the huge audience base of the influencer but also their audience’s followers, resulting in a multiplying effect of online word of mouth. Check out the example below.
4. Upload User Generated Content With Tags And Hashtags
Some people might find blatantly “soliciting” follows and comments cheesy, so an alternative is to ask influencers’ followers to upload their own content using branded hashtags. This works particularly well for fashion brands, whose target audience tends to fall into the expressive type — people who seek popularity, recognition, and spotlight. And when they post their own branded pictures, their followers will get exposed to your brand and your campaign as well. Check out the example below.
5. Reveal Giveaway Details On Snapchat
The ephemeral app also gives brands a golden opportunity to heighten the timeliness of their giveaway campaigns. In the example below, influencer Christian Delgrosso teased his fans that he would be revealing the details of a giveaway on Snapchat. Compared to a Twitter or Instagram announcement, a Snapchat unveil gives fans a sense of suspense and somehow makes participation urgent — you can’t trace it back once you miss it! More importantly, while an Instagram post or Tweet is embedded in a stream of social feeds, a Snapchat post jumps right in your face and captures your full attention.
