Do you know that there are plenty of freebie-seekers and treasure hunters in social media sites using dedicated email accounts for competition entries. They are there for the prizes instead of sharing the love for your company. There is a saying applying in marketing: Virtue is one foot tall, the devil ten feet. So is giveaway really a bad idea? We know the answer already when there are so many successful giveaway stories.
Most people scan web content, instead of reading each word. This is especially true on the social media channels. People scan content, looking for something that stand out. If they don’t find it, they’ll leave.

Visual stories and corporate Storytelling can connect the dots and get people to ACTUALLY read your great content and take action.

So why not start to tell a story in giveaway competition to make you stand out from other competitors, as we know there is a plenty of business competing for customers. We don’t want to see the game end up by giving out freebie to low value participants or comparing the prizes.The stories can combine with the current news of social concerns to show you care about what’s happening,which enables the audience to get more closer to you when the stories touch.

When it comes to leads,

1. Pick a price

Give away something valuable to YOUR audience to get more engagement.

2. Create clear rules

The winner will only be picked from those who follow the rules and when it comes to leads, quality beats quantity. Avoid to ask too much from the participants. Maybe an email address for email marketing in future to start with.

3. Promote your contest

Many social media sites allow business to invest the very least money on ads to get people reached.

4. Pick a winner

For small business, the winner is manually picked, which may take some time. The good thing is that it allows the business to choose higher value winners by checking their social update.

5. Follow up after giveaways

You have spent money on participants first and you have to get return. Business is not a charity anyway. You buy the bait for the fish, you still need time to trace the valuable participant to turn them into real customers, and you do want other participants to know that giveaways really happen but there will be another opportunities for them next time.

If you want to make giveaways part of your promotional strategy—and there’s no reason why you shouldn’t, as they can be very effective when done well—start thinking about the hows, whys and wheres .