Tips for promoting your giveaway & a Nexus 7 sweepstakes

There are innumerable ways to spread the word about your brand through giveaways and sweepstakes. Many of these options are paid marketing sources, like SEM, display, or Facebook ads. There are also a variety of options that you can utilize for free (not counting your time). What you may overlook are the opportunities to let your fans, entrants and users promote the giveaway for you.

1. Refer a friend (including Facebook share)

Nothing gets entrants fired up about sharing a giveaway like rewarding them for doing so. By including a refer a friend entry option the entrant is awarded additional chances to win every time one of their referred friends enters the promotion. This is made simple for the entrant by the inclusion of a custom URL which can be shared on Facebook, Tweeted or emailed with 1 click. Entrants can also share their unique URLs anywhere they’d like – on their blog, Google+ page, LinkedIn or anywhere else!

2. Tweet about it

Add a Tweet entry to your giveaway and craft your message carefully. Be sure to include what the prize is and how you can access the giveaway. When the entrant Tweets your message their followers will learn about your giveaway and can click through to enter for their own chance to win.

3. Pin an image

When you create a Pin It entry you have options for including a URL and description for the image. Be sure that you carefully consider what to put there. Do you want users to head back to your website and the giveaway’s landing page? The description field is quite restricted so your copy needs to be concise and to the point. The image that you are asking users to pin should be compelling enough that their friends and followers will be intrigued enough to click through to learn more about your promotion.

4. Instagram like

Take a picture of the prize that you’re giving away and upload it your Instagram account. You can then ask your entrants to ‘Like’ that image on Instagram. This is going to create a viral impact and increase the number of people who see your image or video. Be sure to include a link to the giveaway in the media’s description on Instagram.

5. Facebook fans

While it won’t be specific to your promotion, including a ‘Like’ for your Facebook page ensures that your entrants’ friends and connections are going to notice that they’ve liked your page. When you post or use paid advertising to boost a post about the giveaway your potential audience is going to be that much larger.

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