It’s time for me to give free advice.
Giveaways are essential to brand growth and increase sales!
But without proper planning and preparation, giveaways can easily fail, leaving you out the door with minimal social impact and an expensive product!
don’t worry. I’ve used giveaways to launch multi-million dollar e-commerce brands, so I’ve got you covered. In this article, I’ll discuss five tried and tested gift ideas that will ensure your gifts gain the traction they need to take your brand to the next level.
Is Time Short? What you need to know about giveaway ideas
- Giveaways are a great way to increase brand awareness on social media by encouraging users to share posts.
- For an effective giveaway, choose an attractive prize, promote scarcity, and keep entry steps simple. Consider partnering with other brands to reach a wider audience.
- Different types of giveaways can serve different purposes: a tag to win for follower growth, roundup giveaways for wider reach, email subscription giveaways for lead generation, and first-time purchase giveaways to encourage new customers.
Why are giveaways so effective for e-commerce brands?
Giveaways are one of the best ways to increase brand awareness of a business on social media, especially those that require users to tag their friends in comments or share a post with their followers.
Increasing your reach on social channels through paid ads can be quite expensive, but you can reach a large audience with the power of social sharing.
How many times have you seen an unfamiliar brand pop up in your Stories, only to realize it’s a friend resharing their content in hopes of winning a giveaway? This is an example of a brand successfully implementing a giveaway and getting their brand in front of a new audience.
Do not skip: The Ultimate Content Marketing Strategy for Startups
How to Run an Effective Giveaway
- Choose a prize worth fighting for: Make sure the giveaway you choose is enticing enough for your audience to take the necessary action to enter.
- Encourage scarcity: Make sure you set a deadline for applicants, or most of your audience won’t be compelled to take action.
- Keep it simple: Don’t ask too much of your audience. Every step you ask them to take is an opportunity to distract them and get them to sign up.
- Team up with other brands: Partner with other brands in your niche for greater reach. More on that later in the article!
4 types of gifts to try
Tag-to-Win Giveaway
A tag-to-win giveaway is one where your brand or influencer asks their followers to tag a friend in their post and follow your brand to be entered into a drawing to win a giveaway.
I implemented this approach with my watch company, The 5th, and our Instagram following grew 20,000 in just 24 hours. We got over it 80,000 comments tag a friendand according to Instagram analytics platform Iconosquare, we were the most engaged brand profiles on Instagram in the world that day.
The best part? We were giving away only two hours at the expense of our brand.
Loop Giveaway
Gifts are most successful when they can be shared. However, if you don’t already have a large following on social media, it can be difficult to get noticed.
This is where the loop gift approach can come in handy. It’s always a good idea to team up with an account in your niche that has a higher reach than yours, such as an influencer or vertical account.
Of course, you should not work with direct competitors. Still, if you can partner with other brands in your space, offering both audiences an incentive to interact, the results can multiply quickly.
Check out this Loop Giveaway idea from Letterboxd in partnership with Mubi and LG.
Email Subscription Giveaway
Another great option is to offer a giveaway that asks users to sign up for your email list. Sure, maybe only one person wins the initial prize, but then you have access to hundreds, if not thousands, of hot leads to follow later.
You can even run special giveaways for those who subscribe to your email list, as this approach will encourage others not only to subscribe to your communications, but also to engage as they pay attention to your next promotion.
See the example below from a BÉIS journey.
First Purchase Giveaway
Finally, if you’re not sure about giving your stuff away and are willing to take a short-term loss for a long-term gain, a first-time buyer gift is a great option.
For example, if you run a clothing brand, you can give away a free accessory like a phone case or bag with every purchase over $30.
Of course, this approach affects your profit margin at first, but it’s easier to get past customers to buy again than it is to convince new customers to take a leap of faith.
Check out the l’ange sample below on their homepage. Spin-the-wheel is a common tactic for gamified gift DTC brands.
Speaking of which… We’re practically spilling our secrets
Now that you know about the power of giveaways, it’s time to learn everything you need to know about launching a successful ecommerce startup for just $1.
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