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The 5 Must-Have Steps For Launching A Successful Social Media Giveaway With Influencers

Giveaways and contests are wildly popular on social media platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, and YouTube. Drawing interest from diverse groups of people and compelling audiences to interact with branded content and messaging in a unique way, giveaways are capable of providing a lot of value to brands, and involving influencers in giveaway efforts has the power to spread the message farther and wider with an impactful sense of authenticity.

There are a number of moving parts that make up giveaways and contests, though, and knowing how to manage them can help brands and marketers avoid headaches (and FTC ramifications) along the way. Here are the keys to doing successful social media giveaways with influencers:

1. Determine Your Giveaway Goal

Giveaways are great for achieving a number of different goals. Brands looking to boost activity on their social media channels, drive traffic to their websites or landing pages, and/or raise awareness around specific concepts, services, or products can consider leveraging giveaways with social media influencers to effectively get in front of consumers and engage them to be a part of the campaign.

Here are some of the types of goals that are best suited to giveaways and contests:

• Social Goals — Brands looking to increase activity on social channels like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube can drive follower growth by having influencers spread the word about giveaways and giving audiences compelling reasons to like, follow, subscribe, tag, comment or otherwise engage with a brand’s social channel.
• Site Goals — Brands may also be looking to drive visits to their site or a campaign landing page. By working with influencers to boost awareness and reach surrounding the giveaway, brands can reach a larger audience without sacrificing the value that comes with targeting specific demographics. Whether a contest or giveaway involves users filling out a form, subscribing to a newsletter, or sharing on social, influencers can help drive views and engagement towards a brand's site or other online destination.
• Product Launch Goals — Some brands use giveaways and contests to promote certain products and product launches. If a company is releasing a new product and offering it as a prize, a giveaway is a great way to build awareness around that product. By enticing audiences to interact with the material surrounding a new product, brands open up a promotional avenue that’s more engaging and interactive than more traditional advertising methods.
• Brand Goals — Brands may also be looking to make consumers more aware of one or more aspects of their brand. Capitalizing on the attention and interest surrounding giveaways can help brands convey specific messaging about brand values to targeted and engaged audiences.

While certain goals have clearer measures of success than others, defining and tracking key metrics is essential for determining the level of success in a giveaway or campaign. For example, social goals can be measured by increased activity — likes, engagement, impressions, follows, shares, etc. Site goals can be measured by traffic metrics and click-through and conversion rates. Product launch goals can be measured by sales figures, particularly if those figures can be directly attributed to specific giveaway efforts.

Brand goals like reputation and awareness are more difficult to measure, but engagement rates on social media and specific comments from users can give brands a sense of what consumers are saying about them. Listening to engaged communities is important not only for measuring success but for optimizing and improving the methods brands use to reach and interact with consumers.

image via Passion Planner 

2. Find The Right Influencers To Help You Execute Your Goal

Giveaways with influencers, just like any other kind of influencer marketing effort, initially hinge on a brand’s ability to find, vet, and select the right influencer for the goal of the campaign. There’s a litany of factors that determine whether or not an influencer is a good fit, but here are a few key aspects to consider when considering a sponsored partnership with an influencer:

• Active Engagement — Brands should be looking for influencers who foster active communities around their content. Whether that means likes and comments on Instagram or active discussions and involvement on YouTube, the ideal influencer is one that inspires interaction and action in their fans and followers.
• Target Demographics — Brands always want to be mindful of the demographic they’re trying to reach when partnering with influencers. Because influencers are a powerful way to reach specific demographics and audiences with common interests and needs, choosing an influencer who draws a demographic that’s a great match can provide a serious boost in campaign efforts. By the same token, choosing an influencer that isn’t a good match for demographics can leave a giveaway falling flat.
• Resonant, Aspirational Content — Even if the information is reaching the right audience, if an influencer’s content isn’t compelling, their fans aren’t going to engage with or share it. Looking into an influencer’s regular content to determine quality and consistency and doing research on an influencer’s history of working with brands can yield valuable insight into what a partnership with them might look like.
• Robust Reach — When brands are executing giveaways, they’re looking to reach a lot of people. That doesn’t necessarily mean that brands need to work with top influencers that have millions of followers, but brands will want to look carefully at how far an influencer’s post travels and determine how many people may see an influencer's sponsored content.

3. Know & Understand The Rules Behind Social Media Giveaways

When planning a giveaway, it’s important to be clear and organized in developing the methods and rules that will dictate the campaign’s execution. There are many moving parts that brands need to consider and be aware of before launching a giveaway.

First, brands must be aware of the rules and regulations surrounding giveaways. There’s a legal difference between sweepstakes and contests. Sweepstakes require no payment or value contribution to enter and winners are chosen at random. Contests, by way of contrast, do require some contribution from participants and winners are selected.

Contests and sweepstakes are governed by their own individual laws, which may vary by state or country. It’s important to consult the specific, appropriate laws before determining the rules. For example, if a giveaway requires participants to perform an action that’s valuable to the brand — for instance, sharing a post or creating some kind of original content relevant to the brand — it could potentially fall under the umbrella of an illegal lottery.

4. Structure & Schedule Your Social Media Giveaway

After making sure that a giveaway abides by regulations, brands must decide on the prize and the steps or actions participants must take in order to be eligible and clearly communicate those steps to their intended audiences through the influencer they’ve chosen. These steps may include things like liking, tagging, following, or engaging with content on social media; visiting a brand's site, sharing content; or creating some kind of eligible original content.

Ambiguity can cause confusion, which could prevent potential participants from entering. It’s important to construct the rules so that they help achieve the goals of the giveaway but not so involved or complicated that they turn entrants away.

Related Post: The 10-Step Roadmap To Influencer Marketing Campaigns [Infographic]

It’s important for brands to consider restrictions and limitations to giveaways, too. For example, if international shipping is an issue, brands must be sure to mention that only entrants in certain states or countries are eligible to win.

Brands must also be clear about time frames, deadlines, and what is and is not acceptable for entries. For example, if a contest requires some contribution, brands must clearly state what constitutes an entry and what might render an entry ineligible, be it inappropriate content, failure to meet guidelines, etc.

Finally, brands must be clear in their expectations for influencer involvement. Agreements and contracts between brands and influencers that outline deliverables, compensation, expectations, and deadlines help ensure that both parties have a positive experience and produce the optimal results.

Related Post: Everything You Need To Know About Influencer Agreements & Contracts

5. Promote, Launch, & Coordinate Campaign With Chosen Influencers

After the rules have been clearly outlined and communicated, the giveaway meticulously planned, the influencer chosen, and the content outlined, brands must execute the plan. Follow through is deeply important when brands are involving large audiences in an effort like a giveaway. Failure to deliver on promises and deadlines could not only hurt a brand’s reputation, it could also mean legal trouble.

Credibility and reputation are of the utmost importance to brands, and a botched giveaway effort could risk major damage to both. With clear, considered, and organized plans in place, executing the campaign should be a breeze.

Example: KeVita Giveaway With Influencers

In this example, KeVita partnered with influencers to do a giveaway for a case of KeVita drinks and a $50 Amazon gift card. To enter, users had to follow the @kevitadrinks account, comment on the influencer's photo with their favorite KeVita flavor and tag their "bestie" in the comment.

image via nerdzinlove

The Do’s & Don’t’s Of Social Media Giveaways

Do's:

• Let Influencers Be Organic — Influencers are at their best when they’re using their own voices and communicating with their audiences naturally. They’re experts in their fan bases, so giving them some degree of creative control will make the content feel more natural and effective.
• Make A Giveaway Compelling & Valuable — Prizes should be valuable enough to justify effort from entrants or participation will be stymied. No one wants to expend energy on a prize that hardly seems worth it.
• Know What You Want — It’s difficult to measure success without knowing what success means. If brands are clear on what they want, they’ll be able to outline actionable steps to achieve and measure giveaway goals.
• Be Clear On Rules & Guidelines — To avoid confusion and potential hiccups, brands must be clear about rules, limitations, and participation guidelines for their giveaways.

Don’t:

• Make A Plan Without Clear Goals — Giveaways are most successful when they’re focused and geared towards meeting specific benchmarks.
• Post Without Necessary Limitations To Scope — Brands don’t want campaigns that drag on due to unclear end dates, nor do they want to find themselves having to make unexpected allowances or concessions because restrictions went unspecified.
• Cut Corners On Influencer Choice & Efforts — It’s important to consider the cost and benefits of specific influencers, but brands should be wary of trying to find a “bargain.” Partnering with influencers who have proven track records can be invaluable to brands.
• Fail To Consult Legal Regulations — To avoid legal troubles surrounding improperly structured giveaways and contests, consult and abide by applicable local and federal laws.

Also See Our Posts On:

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The post How To Run A Social Media Giveaway With Influencers appeared first on Mediakix | Influencer Marketing Agency.