Sweepstakes, contests and giveaways have been around for longer than you think. These terms can be traced back to the 15th century. What has changed?
The evolution of social media has spawned a renaissance in the use of these promotional tools in recent years. Marketers have found these strategies to be effective in helping increase user engagement. Giveaways have been an ongoing trend in the influencer marketing space and is showing no signs of slowing down.
After months of being at home and practicing social distancing, brands and influencers alike are hungry for ideas that drive organic engagement and grow their followings by generating excitement among participants.
“We’ve seen that brands have increasingly made giveaways a key focus of 2021 influencer strategy, in order to inspire positive conversation within communities within the brand’s sphere. The opportunity to allow consumers to participate in user-generated content with the influencer is impactful because it maintains focus on the brand, while amplifying a trend initiated by a trusted creator.” – Diana Perlov, Account Director – Open Influence.
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Tips and tricks when planning influencer giveaways
Every platform has different guidelines when it comes to giveaways. However, some tips and tricks are applicable across the board. We compiled some pointers that are particularly important to keep in mind when there is an influencer component to the giveaway:
Before the giveaway
- Have clear goals and KPIs. Most brands decide to host giveaways to gain followers, newsletter subscribers, raise engagement, and/or raise brand awareness.
- Don’t misuse any concepts, there is a big difference between sweepstakes, giveaways, and contests.
- Keep a realistic budget, as some influencers upcharge for a giveaway.
Before you eagerly jump into the giveaway trend, it is important to learn about the legalities and rules surrounding them. It is important to note that rules might vary between countries, states, and even platforms.
Here we compiled information from all the major social media platforms to guide you when planning your next giveaway:
Instagram Giveaway Rules
It’s important to keep in mind that Instagram can’t legally assist brands with giveaways on the platform. The brand or influencer have the responsibility of communicating terms, regulations, and eligibility requirements. However, Instagram has outlined clear promotion guidelines for brands:
- The giveaway host must explain all eligibility requirements, including age and residency.
- It must be clear to the user who is hosting the giveaway.
- The host must not inaccurately tag content or encourage users to inaccurately tag content.
- All giveaways hosted on Instagram need to include copy explaining that the promotion is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, nor associated with Instagram.
- If the giveaway requires user-generated content, the host is responsible for obtaining user consent to repost or use the image.
YouTube Giveaway Guidelines
Similar to Instagram, YouTube has its own rules to host a legal giveaway, which you can find here. It is important to keep in mind that YouTube’s guidelines shouldn’t be mistaken for legal advice, and a brand should always trust a lawyer or influencer agency to consult with local laws.
YouTube’s long-form video format makes it easy for influencers to announce giveaways in big and creative ways. When partnering with them for a YouTube giveaway, a brand can let the creator’s personality shine and create a video call-to-action that is engaging and matches the influencer’s brands that followers know and love.
TikTok Giveaway Rules
Can you host a giveaway on TikTok? The answer is yes. TikTok allows for creative giveaway submissions and the virality aspect of the platform offers great potential to reach a wider audience.
While TikTok hasn’t released official giveaway rules like Instagram and Youtube, TikTok’s Community Guidelines are a good source of information on what is allowed on the app. Here are some points to keep in mind when hosting a giveaway on TikTok:
- All submissions must not contain logos, music, or any materials that might violate copyright infringement.
- Just like with other social media platforms, check the laws of your country or location before posting a call for entries and have all of your rules laid out.
- Don’t confuse giveaways with challenges, the latter is not hosted by brands or TikTok influencers, and are just a fun way to participate in trends in a creative way.
- Keep in mind your overall strategy – TikTok giveaways are all about user-generated content and creative calls to action.
During the giveaway
- Encourage followers to participate with a clear call to action that remains consistent across all content.
- Besides the eligibility recommendations listed by social platforms, captions must include how to enter, start and end date (with timezone), and how the winner will be announced and contacted.
After the giveaway
- Take control of selecting the winner instead of having an influencer participate in the selection.
- After the winner is selected, the influencer or an influencer marketing company will reach out to them for their address to send the prize (if applicable).
Looking for some giveaway inspiration?
Our partner Stella & Chewy’s hosted a giveaway contest that challenged pet owners to turn their own pet into a petfluencer. To enter, audiences are asked to submit adorable photos of their pets. We activated creators to both show off their pets as petfluencers and to incentivize audiences to participate.
Check out the content:
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Giveaways can be amazing for brand awareness and audience participation if done right, this means finding the perfect balance between regulations and creativity. Time is also a factor, as new guidelines are implemented over time. Trust Open Influence to run an influencer giveaway that is up to date with trends and regulations, contact us here.
