Once you nail your comp (good prize that suits your target market, ease of entry etc) then you have to HUSTLE and promote the crappola out of it. I think that goes against the grain for most of us, but it really is necessary. Promo doesn’t have to be paid (although that will help).
Here’s my random thoughts:
- Confirm the purpose of this giveaway – there should only be one. Is it to increase your database? Increase sales? Increase your FB page numbers/engagement? Once you have that nailed plan the entry around that goal.
- Benchmark your stats before you start (FB likes, newsletters, website views) so you can see the impact of the comp when it’s finished.+ Personally I’d stay away from ‘deserving’ giveaways (eg, tell us who deserves …) frankly they are just awful because you end up feeling crap that you can’t help everyone.
- Ensure the length of the competition give you enough time for people to see your promo of it at least twice. (for a bigger comp, that’s full focus for you, eg not a quickfire FB giveaway) a month is a good amount of time.
- If you have biz friends or professionals you work with regularly email them personally and ask for a favour – “I’m putting everything I have into this comp, I think it’s a great match for your audience and if you to do can you please share this on your Facebook” That’s not perfect, but you get my drift. You’re asking for a favour, and you can expect that they will ask for one in return at some point. (I’m specifically excluding influencers here, they’ll expect money but many businesses, myself included will happily share something if there’s something in it for my audience). And when you email all your contacts and ask them to share the comp, include the image they should use, suggested text that they can modify and ask them to tag our page.
- Put the comp and entry link in your email signature+ include an image whenever you share this on Facebook. You’ll get a better reach. Posts with just links go to almost no one these days.
- Tag your page within the post even on your own page. This ensures people can click easily click even when shared
- Do a solo newsletter, just about the comp, nothing else. then each newsletter afterwards should include a comp mention. “have you entered?”
- Add the competition to your website announcement bar+post on your FB community pages
- In the days leading up to the closure, ensure you post with image and link EVERYWHERE again (including newsletter) “XX days to go!” or “Last chance to enter to win a month’s worth of scrummy muesli”
- Ensure you post widely who the winner is too, this is also a part of the promo of the comp. Get a photo if you can and a quote “yay I never win anything”
