There was a time when a competition/blog giveaway used to command a lot of traffic but I’ve noticed lately like anything they can be hard work.  It is incredibly disheartening when you have a great prize on offer and barely any entries. This is especially true when I’ve been giving away my book, blood, sweat and tears went into writing it I want more than 100 people to enter.  If you are considering running a blog giveaway or competition here are my top tips.

Photo by Don Agnello on Unsplash

10 Tips to Making the Most of a Giveaway on Your Blog: 

1. Purpose:  Digital agency Birmingham, fastfwd suggests you create a set goal. What are you actually trying to get out of the competition/giveaway? If your giveaway goal is to increase your mailing list then there’s no need to ask them to answer questions, upload a picture, give their DOB, follow you on social media, or whatever else might put them off entering. In the example of aiming to get more people on your mailing list, the competition should only ask the user to give their email address – that’s all. The easier you make the user experience the more sign-ups you’ll get.
2. Use a Giveaway Platform: Using a platform such as Gleam competition app or Rafflecopter enables you to keep all the entries in one place. The software picks a winner and you can use the widget to drive traffic to your blog post but also social media profiles.
3. Options: When using Rafflecopter I usually choose 5 options and score each 2 points making 10 entries. I’ve seen others give 5 points, which does make the total a little inflated if every one option is worth 5 points. BUT that is purely my opinion. (grumpy mare) If you are looking to grow a particular platform you can choose that as a mandatory option I tend to give people the choice to do as many as they like.
4. Terms and Conditions: You are required to provide clear, understandable rules to your giveaway participants. This includes giveaway time frame, eligibility requirements (mine are always over 18’s only, UK-based), prize descriptions, how the winner(s) will be selected, and other disclosures. SuperLucky Di has a great post detailing all the essential terms and conditions for running a giveaway.
5. Share: Obvious but sometimes the most obvious ways to increase blog giveaway entries are the ones we forget. Share on all your social media platforms, I even share on my personal Facebook which I normally just reserve for family things.
6. Pin: Both Twitter and Facebook offer an option to pin a post to the top of your feed. Meaning it’s the first thing new visitors to your profile see.
7. Hashtags: #giveaway #winningWednesday #competition #win #freebiefriday
8. Competition Websites: PrizeFinder, Hot Deals UK, and Bloggers Required to provide a free platform to list your blog giveaway.
9. Facebook Groups: A lot of blogging groups have blog giveaway threads there are also groups designed just for listing giveaways such as Blog Competitions and Giveaways
10. Blog Linkys: There are even a few blogs out there that have a blog giveaway linky. Super Lucky Me, Life in a Breakdown and U, Me and the Kids to name a few.

Do you have any top tips for running a blog giveaway?

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