Contest promotion can also refer to contest marketing<\/a>, which means how you promote your contest to the public to encourage them to enter. This article will mainly focus on promoting your giveaway contest.<\/div><\/div><\/div>
Your contest plan should include:
\u2714\ufe0f Your primary contest goals
\u2714\ufe0f Contest prize ideas<\/a>
\u2714\ufe0f Rules for entering your giveaway
\u2714\ufe0f Which giveaway tools you’ll use
\u2714\ufe0f How you’ll promote your contest
\u2714\ufe0f Your method for choosing a winner
\u2714\ufe0f Announcing the contest winner
\u2714\ufe0f Following up with participants
\u2714\ufe0f How you’ll track your results
Need contest ideas to get started? Take a look at these simple contest ideas<\/a> anyone can run!
You can find all the steps for setting up your contest, in this detailed guide on how to run a successful giveaway<\/a>.<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
What Are the Benefits of Promoting Your Contest?<\/h2>\nPromoting your online contest has many benefits. The main one is it helps raise brand awareness with your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As seen in the OptinMonster case study<\/a>, their giveaway \u201cdrove thousands of people to their landing page,\u201d which increased their brand visibility.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n![\"OptinMonster](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/optinmonster-black-friday-landing-page.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSharing and promoting your contest across social media<\/a> and other online platforms will introduce your brand to users who may have never heard of you. If they’re interested in what you offer, a contest could be just the thing to get those users to learn more about your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\nContest promotion can also help in the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Introduce new products and services<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Reward loyal fans and customers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Discover user-generated content<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Drive traffic to your website<\/a> – OptinMonster’s giveaway created \u201ca total of 24,372 entries\u201d to their website.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Boost email newsletter subscribers – OptinMonster saw a \u201c3X increase in their email list growth\u201d as a result of their giveaway<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
How Do You Promote a Contest or Giveaway?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
So, are you wondering, \u201cWhat are the best promotional giveaway<\/a> ideas?\u201d Let’s get started with the easiest ways to promote your contest or giveaway to go viral online.<\/p>\n\n\n- 1. Require Sharing on Social Media<\/a><\/li>
- 2. Optimize Your Contest Landing Page<\/a><\/li>
- 3. Redirect Visitors to Your Contest Landing Page<\/a><\/li>
- 4. Send Emails to Your Subscribers<\/a><\/li>
- 5. Submit to Sweepstakes and Contest Directories<\/a><\/li>
- 6. Free Promotion Ideas: Add Links to Your Social Media Bios<\/a><\/li>
- 7. Post Your Giveaway on Your Facebook Page<\/a><\/li>
- 8. And Promote it With Your Facebook Cover Photo<\/a><\/li>
- 9. Promote Your Contest on Instagram<\/a><\/li>
- 10. And Use Instagram Stories<\/a><\/li>
- 11. Promote Your Contest on Twitter<\/a><\/li>
- 12. Share and Promote Your Giveaway on Pinterest<\/a><\/li>
- 13. Promote Your Giveaway on LinkedIn<\/a><\/li>
- 14. Share Your Contest in Online Communities<\/a><\/li>
- 15. Create and Share a Simple Video<\/a><\/li>
- 16. Promote Your Contest with Live Video<\/a><\/li>
- 17. Try Influencer Outreach<\/a><\/li>
- 18. Use Facebook and Instagram Ads<\/a><\/li>
- 19. Invest in Google Ads<\/a><\/li>
- 20. Don't Forget Offline Marketing<\/a><\/li>
- Best Practices for Promoting Your Contest<\/a><\/li>
- Frequently Asked Questions on Contest Promotion<\/a>
- Start Promoting Your Contest<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n
1. Require Sharing on Social Media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Most modern giveaway tools offer options to make social sharing a requirement for entry. This feature, available in platforms like RafflePress<\/a> and other popular contest software, helps your giveaway reach a wider audience organically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Contest](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-to-run-a-viral-giveaway.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe concept is simple but powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants earn entries by sharing your contest with their networks. Each share multiplies your reach as new people discover your giveaway through trusted connections. It’s one of the most effective ways to boost brand awareness without additional marketing spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When setting up your entry requirements, align them with your primary goal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Want more email subscribers? Assign higher entry values for joining your mailing list<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Building a social following? Prioritize follows and shares<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Need user-generated content<\/a>? Request photo or video submissions<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Growing your brand? Ask for testimonials or reviews<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
You can even combine requirements, for example, making email subscription mandatory while offering bonus entries for social shares. This approach helps you build your email list while maximizing social reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Grow](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/contest-entry-value.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe key is choosing requirements that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Are easy to complete<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Feel natural to your audience<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Provide clear value to participants<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Support your marketing objectives<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
2. Optimize Your Contest Landing Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Your contest needs a home base, a single page where people can learn about your giveaway and enter to win. This makes it easy to promote your contest and track how well it’s doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most contest tools help you create this page automatically. But you can also build a contest landing page<\/a> using your website’s regular page builder or blog post editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\nWith RafflePress, for example, you can choose a custom URL for your landing page (such as www.example.com\/spring-giveaway), and RafflePress will generate the landing page for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can customize the background color and image of the landing page if you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"View](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/giveaway-contest.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nYour landing page should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- What people can win<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How to enter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- When the contest ends<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- How winners will be chosen<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Rules and requirements<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
For more tips, please see my guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe simpler and clearer your landing page, the more likely people are to enter your contest. Focus on making it easy for visitors to understand what they can win and how they can participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
3. Redirect Visitors to Your Contest Landing Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Everyone who visits your website is a potential lead. You will need to let them know about your giveaway so they can enter. That’s where these promotional giveaway ideas come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You could do this by adding links to your giveaway contest throughout your site. However, links aren’t very noticeable, plus you will have to remove them when the contest is over. Adding and removing links for the possibility of a few entries isn’t a good use of your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The easiest way to promote your contest on your website is by using OptinMonster<\/a> to create popups, floating bars, and other campaigns. That way, you can easily grab the attention of all your visitors and entice them to enter your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\nA floating bar is a great way to do this because it stays in place and doesn’t distract your visitors from reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Use](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/contest-promotion-ideas-floating-bar.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut what if a visitor is going to leave without entering your giveaway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In that case, you can create an exit-intent popup to capture their full attention right before they leave your site for good. For example, KnivesShipFree.com convinced over 8% of its visitors to enter their giveaway using a simple OptinMonster campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"an](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/knife-giveaway-prize.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt’s a smart idea to use a countdown timer<\/a> on your campaigns so visitors know they should enter now and not wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou can also schedule your campaigns to stop showing when the giveaway ends, automatically saving you a lot of time and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nExpert Tip<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Thomas](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/thomas-griffin.png\")
<\/figure>\n\u201cPopups that offer users something in return provide a reason to share information. Whether it is a discount coupon or a content upgrade, this additional value seems like a fair deal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nWhen you are designing your popups, you will want to think about your value proposition and make it front and center on your campaigns. Users shouldn\u2019t be left guessing about what they will get in exchange for signing up.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThomas Griffin – Co-Founder of OptinMonster<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n4. Send Emails to Your Subscribers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Your email list<\/a> has all your biggest fans. So if you want to know how to promote a competition, it’s these loyal subscribers who are the people who are most likely to sign up for your contest and share it with their friends. So, you should send an email to them to promote your sweet giveaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou can easily design an eye-catching email to promote your contest with an excellent email marketing service, much like the simple contest idea<\/a> below from Anker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Anker](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/anker-contest-promotion-giveaway-email.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nWe recommend sending at least 2 promotional giveaway emails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Send the first email right when your contest opens<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Send another email a day before the contest closes to give subscribers one more chance to win<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n
Be sure to include a strong call to action<\/a> with a link to your contest landing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDon’t have an email list yet? Build one and start to grow your email list today! That way, when your contest goes live, you already have an engaged audience to promote it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that you’ve promoted your contest to your existing audience, it’s time to reach new people around the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
5. Submit to Sweepstakes and Contest Directories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
One of the most straightforward contest promotion ideas is to submit to sweepstakes and contest directories<\/a>. These websites will link directly to your promotion. Plus, they already have a massive audience of their own who check out their sites daily for new freebies.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSubmitting your contest to online contest directories will give your giveaway lots of exposure to a new audience. It’s also a great way to find fun contest ideas for your customers, such as creativity contests, etc., while learning how to promote your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Submit](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/submit-giveaway-contest-directories.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nCheck out these sweepstakes and contest directories where you can promote your contest for free:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- AnyLuckyDay<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Online-Sweepstakes<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contest Listing<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Contestgirl<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sweepstakes Advantage<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Sweeties Sweeps<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
It should just take a minute or two to submit your giveaway to each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you’ve submitted it to the best contest directories, it’s time to take your contest to social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
6. Free Promotion Ideas: Add Links to Your Social Media Bios<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Before you get started posting your giveaway on all your social media accounts, take a minute to update your bio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most people don’t think of this smart contest marketing idea, but it can get great results since your bio is so prominent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s a simple example from Hudson Sutler and their Instagram giveaway<\/a> contest idea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Adding](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/promote-giveaway-in-social-bio.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you have space, try to include some enticing information about your giveaway prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
7. Post Your Giveaway on Your Facebook Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Next, a free and easy way to promote your social media contest<\/a> is by posting it on your Facebook Business Page.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCreate a post to share on your Facebook timeline that includes an eye-catching photo, a brief description of the type of contest, and what people can win. And, of course, include a link to enter your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take a look at how Amir and Aleks – Real Estate Team does it with this Facebook giveaway<\/a> post. Their web contest idea includes a short description of the prize, how to enter, and a link to enter the giveaway. Plus, the use of emojis really grabs the attention of users online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"example](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/promote-giveaway-on-facebook.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAlso included is a high-quality photo of the prize (image of the restaurant<\/a>) with text over the top to let users know this is a giveaway post. You can create a similar photo using a free online image editing tool like Canva<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"an](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/contest-promotion-facebook-image.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou can pin the post on your page so everyone visiting your page will see you’re running a contest.<\/p>\n\n\n
\n![\"Pin](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/pin-giveaway-to-facebook-page.png\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nThen you can also share it on your personal timeline so your friends and family can help spread the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here are some more social media contest ideas<\/a> you can try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n8. And Promote it With Your Facebook Cover Photo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Promote](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/facebook-cover-photo-giveaway-promotionpng.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAside from creating posts to promote your giveaway on Facebook, you can also create a custom cover photo to market your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To create your own, head to Canva again and choose the Facebook cover template. You can choose any of their pre-designed templates for your promotional giveaway idea, upload an image of your prize, and customize the text to create a giveaway Facebook<\/a> cover that fits your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNote:<\/strong> Make sure to review Facebook’s giveaway policies before starting since they require you to include certain information in your posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor more Facebook contest ideas<\/a>, check this guide out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n9. Promote Your Contest on Instagram<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Instagram is the perfect social media platform to promote your contest<\/a> and grow your Instagram followers<\/a> because it’s so visual.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor this promotional giveaway idea, you will need to create a post on Instagram that includes a beautiful image to catch the attention of users and a description of the contest. You can easily create a nice image like the one below using Canva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instagram doesn’t let you link to individual posts, but you can provide instructions on entering the contest or direct them to click the link in your bio (you did add the link in step 6, right?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don’t forget to add hashtags to widen your reach, such as #giveaway, #contest, or #freebies. The right giveaway hashtags<\/a> can make your contest go viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou can use up to 30 hashtags on your post, so go wild! Be sure to research each hashtag to see if you’re using it correctly, and make sure it will help you reach the right audience when learning how to promote your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"how](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/how-to-promote-a-giveaway-on-instagram.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nRelated:<\/strong> How to Run a Hashtag Contest (Step-by-Step)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n10. And Use Instagram Stories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Instagram](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/instagram-story-giveaway-promotion.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nSome of the best online contest ideas involve creating an Instagram Story<\/a> to promote your contest to your followers. Instagram Stories get a ton of engagement. Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\nOne big benefit of Instagram Stories is they include a swipe-up link. So all a user has to do is swipe up on your Story, and they’ll go straight to your contest landing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
11. Promote Your Contest on Twitter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Twitter can be a great place to promote your contest if you want to build your following on the platform. Promoting your giveaway on Twitter<\/a> will work best if your target audience is younger. Nearly half of U.S. adults who use Twitter are aged between 18 and 29 years; usage among U.S. adults drops as age increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSend out some tweets announcing your giveaway, including a link to your contest page and a good hashtag like #WIN or #giveaway. Unlike on Facebook, Twitter posts are limited to 280 characters, so keep your tweets short and sweet by only including what’s necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can learn how to write a viral tweet<\/a> for your Twitter giveaway promotion here.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you want your tweet to stand out in feeds, be sure to include an image. Tweets with images receive 18% more click-throughs, 89% more likes, and 150% more retweets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nRemember, timing is everything when it comes to Twitter. Check out the image below to find out what time of the day your tweet will get the most engagement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"what's](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/twitter-statistics.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n12. Share and Promote Your Giveaway on Pinterest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Promoting a giveaway on Pinterest is a great strategy if you want to attract a female target audience. According to statistics, 79.5% <\/a>of Pinterest users are female.<\/p>\n\n\n\nPinterest calls these female users \u201cdeciders\u201d because they make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households. So, if you want to promote a giveaway prize and generate more sales for your business,<\/a> create a pin on Pinterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTo grab the attention of users, be sure to create an awesome Pinterest image. You can use the same image you created for your Instagram post in tip #8, but according to Pinterest, the optimal Pinterest image is vertical (taller than it is wide, about 735 X 1102 px). A vertical image is a Pinterest best practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also learn how to run a Pinterest contest<\/a> here to go with this Pinterest giveaway promo idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n13. Promote Your Giveaway on LinkedIn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
For B2B contests, LinkedIn is a great place to promote your giveaway to your business connections and grow your LinkedIn followers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor this promotional giveaway idea, include an image to grab the attention of your connections, a brief description of the giveaway, and a link to your giveaway. Don’t forget you can add hashtags on LinkedIn too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Add a hashtag like #giveaway or #contest, and consider adding hashtags to attract users in relevant industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For instance, in the example below from Lead, they added #datascience and #bigdata to attract an audience interested in and searching for those topics on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"Promoting](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/promoting-a-giveaway-on-linkedin.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhen promoting your contest on social media<\/a>, remember to check the contest guidelines for each platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n14. Share Your Contest in Online Communities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"You](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/reddit-giveaway-subreddit-min.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn addition to sharing the contest on social media<\/a>, share it in online communities. Online communities like Reddit have subtopics like \/r\/Contest<\/a>, where anyone can promote a contest or giveaway. Find topics relating to your niche and your target audience, check out their rules for promoting contests, and promote your giveaway there.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou can also search the internet for other online communities related to your niche. Simply type in something like \u201cknitting forums\u201d (but replace \u201cknitting\u201d with your actual niche) into the Google search bar to find more online communities you can join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Facebook also has groups dedicated to specific topics where you can find a ton of your target audience to promote your contest to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
15. Create and Share a Simple Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Promote](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/giveaway-announcement-video.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nDid you know 1200% more shares are generated by social videos<\/a> than text and images combined?<\/p>\n\n\n\nThat’s why using video is such an effective contest promotion idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You might think it would be difficult to create a video<\/a> to promote your contest, but it’s not. When learning how to market your contest, you can easily create a quick video to share on YouTube or your social media accounts by using only your smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYour video should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Prize details<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Information on how to enter<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- A call-to-action (for example, tell users to click the link in the description to enter the giveaway)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Be sure your video has good lighting, whether it’s natural or artificial, is filmed in front of an attractive background (clean your messy room!), and your appearance is camera-ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
16. Promote Your Contest with Live Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Live videos can get great engagement from your audience. With Instagram Live and Facebook Live, you can interact with your viewers in real-time, which is a great way to connect with your audience. Plus, a live video announcement will stir up a lot of excitement around your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For your live video, you can include information on how to enter the giveaway, prize details (even better, show the prize itself), and take questions from your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you like, you can even run a video contest<\/a> for a lot more engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\nNow that you’ve used all your own channels to promote your giveaway, it’s time to reach out for help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
17. Try Influencer Outreach<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When you partner up with others to promote your giveaway, it can boost your entries even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To get started, find bloggers with a big audience interested in what you’re offering up. For instance, if your contest prize is a new camera, look for photography bloggers. Reach out to the bloggers you find with a personalized email and explain how your contest will benefit the blogger and their readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To be successful, it will need to be a win-win-win partnership benefitting you, the blogger, and their audience. Think about how to present those benefits when you reach out to influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s an example of an influencer outreach email posted on Search Engine Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"example](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/example-giveaway-promotion-email.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nLike blogger outreach, you can also partner with YouTubers to promote your contest to a whole new audience. Find YouTube channels related to your niche and reach out to those with a decent amount of subscribers, views, and engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you know your target audience is very active on a certain social media platform like Pinterest or Instagram, you can also reach out to influencers on those platforms. If you’re new to the world of influencers, check out this influencer marketing guide for beginners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAlright, now that you’ve spread the word on your own platforms and also reached out to form partnerships, there’s one more successful contest promotion strategy to try: paid promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here’s how to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
18. Use Facebook and Instagram Ads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
To reach an even bigger audience on social media, consider creating Facebook or Instagram ads. Facebook ads will not only allow you to promote your contest to more people online, but they also let you target the exact type of people most interested in your giveaway by criteria such as gender, age, location, interests, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If ads are a little too complicated for you, you can simply boost your contest Facebook post. Boosting your post shows it to more users and costs as little as $5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
19. Invest in Google Ads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n![\"Use](\"https:\/\/rafflepress.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/google-adds-contest-promotion-ideas.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAside from ads and promotional post ideas on social media, you can also push your contest to more people online with Google Ads. With Google Ads, you can get your contest featured on the Google search results of users searching for the exact keywords you want to target. This will make getting more entries from people who have never heard of your business before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last but not least, there’s a whole wide world off the internet<\/strong> where you can spread the word about your content! Here’s how:<\/p>\n\n\n\n20. Don’t Forget Offline Marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Don’t forget about promoting your contest to people in real life, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some great advertisement ideas for competitions are to create flyers to hand out at local events or posters you can put up in community centers or other businesses. You can also use offline marketing to promote your contest to your existing customers by adding promotional cards to the packages you send out. These promotional giveaway ideas will ensure you won’t miss out on extra participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Best Practices for Promoting Your Contest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Here are some best practices for promoting your contest to reach a wider audience and generate more entries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- Choose the right promotional channels.<\/strong> Where does your target audience spend their time online? Promote your contest on the social media platforms, websites, and forums where they’re most active.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Use eye-catching visuals.<\/strong> People are more likely to click on and enter contests with visually appealing graphics. Use high-quality images and videos to promote your contest on social media and your website.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Write compelling copy.<\/strong> Your contest copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive. Highlight the benefits of entering and explain how to enter. Be sure to include a call to action, such as \u201cEnter now!\u201d or \u201cClick here to learn more.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Offer a valuable prize.<\/strong> The more valuable the prize, the more likely people are to enter your contest. Choose a prize that is relevant to your target audience and that they will be excited to win.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Make it easy to enter.<\/strong> Don’t ask people to complete a long or complicated entry form. The easier it is to enter, the more entries you’ll receive.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Run your contest for the right amount of time.<\/strong> Too short of a contest period won’t give people enough time to enter, and too long of a period will lose their interest. A good rule of thumb is to run your contest for 2-4 weeks.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Promote your contest regularly.<\/strong> Don’t just promote your contest once and then forget about it. Keep reminding people about your contest throughout the entry period. You can do this by posting on social media, sending out email reminders, and running ads.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Frequently Asked Questions on Contest Promotion <\/h2>\n\n\n\nHow can I ensure my contest is legally compliant?<\/h4>\nTo ensure your contest is legally compliant, consult with a legal expert or an attorney familiar with your jurisdiction’s laws regarding contests and promotions. They can help you understand the rules and regulations and ensure your contest terms and conditions adhere to them.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
How can I prevent cheating or fraud in my online contest?<\/h4>\nTo prevent cheating or fraud in your online contest, use a reputable contest management platform such as RafflePress<\/a> that has built-in fraud detection and prevention features. Set clear contest rules, monitor entries closely, and require participants to provide verifiable personal information.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\nHow do I measure the success of my contest promotion?<\/h4>\nYou can measure your contest promotion success by tracking various metrics, such as the number of entries, social media engagement (likes, shares, comments), website traffic, new email subscribers, and sales. Analyzing these metrics will help you understand the effectiveness of your contest and inform your future marketing efforts. A Google Analytics tool like MonsterInsights<\/a> is a great way to do this.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Promoting your online contest has many benefits. The main one is it helps raise brand awareness with your target audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As seen in the OptinMonster case study<\/a>, their giveaway \u201cdrove thousands of people to their landing page,\u201d which increased their brand visibility.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Sharing and promoting your contest across social media<\/a> and other online platforms will introduce your brand to users who may have never heard of you. If they’re interested in what you offer, a contest could be just the thing to get those users to learn more about your business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Contest promotion can also help in the following ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, are you wondering, \u201cWhat are the best promotional giveaway<\/a> ideas?\u201d Let’s get started with the easiest ways to promote your contest or giveaway to go viral online.<\/p>\n\n\n Most modern giveaway tools offer options to make social sharing a requirement for entry. This feature, available in platforms like RafflePress<\/a> and other popular contest software, helps your giveaway reach a wider audience organically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The concept is simple but powerful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Participants earn entries by sharing your contest with their networks. Each share multiplies your reach as new people discover your giveaway through trusted connections. It’s one of the most effective ways to boost brand awareness without additional marketing spend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When setting up your entry requirements, align them with your primary goal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can even combine requirements, for example, making email subscription mandatory while offering bonus entries for social shares. This approach helps you build your email list while maximizing social reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The key is choosing requirements that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your contest needs a home base, a single page where people can learn about your giveaway and enter to win. This makes it easy to promote your contest and track how well it’s doing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most contest tools help you create this page automatically. But you can also build a contest landing page<\/a> using your website’s regular page builder or blog post editor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With RafflePress, for example, you can choose a custom URL for your landing page (such as www.example.com\/spring-giveaway), and RafflePress will generate the landing page for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can customize the background color and image of the landing page if you wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your landing page should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more tips, please see my guide on how to create a landing page in WordPress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The simpler and clearer your landing page, the more likely people are to enter your contest. Focus on making it easy for visitors to understand what they can win and how they can participate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone who visits your website is a potential lead. You will need to let them know about your giveaway so they can enter. That’s where these promotional giveaway ideas come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You could do this by adding links to your giveaway contest throughout your site. However, links aren’t very noticeable, plus you will have to remove them when the contest is over. Adding and removing links for the possibility of a few entries isn’t a good use of your time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The easiest way to promote your contest on your website is by using OptinMonster<\/a> to create popups, floating bars, and other campaigns. That way, you can easily grab the attention of all your visitors and entice them to enter your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A floating bar is a great way to do this because it stays in place and doesn’t distract your visitors from reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But what if a visitor is going to leave without entering your giveaway?<\/p>\n\n\n\n In that case, you can create an exit-intent popup to capture their full attention right before they leave your site for good. For example, KnivesShipFree.com convinced over 8% of its visitors to enter their giveaway using a simple OptinMonster campaign:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s a smart idea to use a countdown timer<\/a> on your campaigns so visitors know they should enter now and not wait.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also schedule your campaigns to stop showing when the giveaway ends, automatically saving you a lot of time and effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expert Tip<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPopups that offer users something in return provide a reason to share information. Whether it is a discount coupon or a content upgrade, this additional value seems like a fair deal.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n When you are designing your popups, you will want to think about your value proposition and make it front and center on your campaigns. Users shouldn\u2019t be left guessing about what they will get in exchange for signing up.<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thomas Griffin – Co-Founder of OptinMonster<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n Your email list<\/a> has all your biggest fans. So if you want to know how to promote a competition, it’s these loyal subscribers who are the people who are most likely to sign up for your contest and share it with their friends. So, you should send an email to them to promote your sweet giveaway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can easily design an eye-catching email to promote your contest with an excellent email marketing service, much like the simple contest idea<\/a> below from Anker.<\/p>\n\n\n We recommend sending at least 2 promotional giveaway emails:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be sure to include a strong call to action<\/a> with a link to your contest landing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t have an email list yet? Build one and start to grow your email list today! That way, when your contest goes live, you already have an engaged audience to promote it to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you’ve promoted your contest to your existing audience, it’s time to reach new people around the web.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One of the most straightforward contest promotion ideas is to submit to sweepstakes and contest directories<\/a>. These websites will link directly to your promotion. Plus, they already have a massive audience of their own who check out their sites daily for new freebies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Submitting your contest to online contest directories will give your giveaway lots of exposure to a new audience. It’s also a great way to find fun contest ideas for your customers, such as creativity contests, etc., while learning how to promote your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Check out these sweepstakes and contest directories where you can promote your contest for free:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It should just take a minute or two to submit your giveaway to each one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve submitted it to the best contest directories, it’s time to take your contest to social media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before you get started posting your giveaway on all your social media accounts, take a minute to update your bio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people don’t think of this smart contest marketing idea, but it can get great results since your bio is so prominent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s a simple example from Hudson Sutler and their Instagram giveaway<\/a> contest idea:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have space, try to include some enticing information about your giveaway prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, a free and easy way to promote your social media contest<\/a> is by posting it on your Facebook Business Page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Create a post to share on your Facebook timeline that includes an eye-catching photo, a brief description of the type of contest, and what people can win. And, of course, include a link to enter your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a look at how Amir and Aleks – Real Estate Team does it with this Facebook giveaway<\/a> post. Their web contest idea includes a short description of the prize, how to enter, and a link to enter the giveaway. Plus, the use of emojis really grabs the attention of users online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also included is a high-quality photo of the prize (image of the restaurant<\/a>) with text over the top to let users know this is a giveaway post. You can create a similar photo using a free online image editing tool like Canva<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can pin the post on your page so everyone visiting your page will see you’re running a contest.<\/p>\n\n\n Then you can also share it on your personal timeline so your friends and family can help spread the word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some more social media contest ideas<\/a> you can try.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from creating posts to promote your giveaway on Facebook, you can also create a custom cover photo to market your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To create your own, head to Canva again and choose the Facebook cover template. You can choose any of their pre-designed templates for your promotional giveaway idea, upload an image of your prize, and customize the text to create a giveaway Facebook<\/a> cover that fits your brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Note:<\/strong> Make sure to review Facebook’s giveaway policies before starting since they require you to include certain information in your posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For more Facebook contest ideas<\/a>, check this guide out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instagram is the perfect social media platform to promote your contest<\/a> and grow your Instagram followers<\/a> because it’s so visual.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this promotional giveaway idea, you will need to create a post on Instagram that includes a beautiful image to catch the attention of users and a description of the contest. You can easily create a nice image like the one below using Canva.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instagram doesn’t let you link to individual posts, but you can provide instructions on entering the contest or direct them to click the link in your bio (you did add the link in step 6, right?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t forget to add hashtags to widen your reach, such as #giveaway, #contest, or #freebies. The right giveaway hashtags<\/a> can make your contest go viral.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can use up to 30 hashtags on your post, so go wild! Be sure to research each hashtag to see if you’re using it correctly, and make sure it will help you reach the right audience when learning how to promote your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Related:<\/strong> How to Run a Hashtag Contest (Step-by-Step)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some of the best online contest ideas involve creating an Instagram Story<\/a> to promote your contest to your followers. Instagram Stories get a ton of engagement. Instagram Stories are used by 500 million users every day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One big benefit of Instagram Stories is they include a swipe-up link. So all a user has to do is swipe up on your Story, and they’ll go straight to your contest landing page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Twitter can be a great place to promote your contest if you want to build your following on the platform. Promoting your giveaway on Twitter<\/a> will work best if your target audience is younger. Nearly half of U.S. adults who use Twitter are aged between 18 and 29 years; usage among U.S. adults drops as age increases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Send out some tweets announcing your giveaway, including a link to your contest page and a good hashtag like #WIN or #giveaway. Unlike on Facebook, Twitter posts are limited to 280 characters, so keep your tweets short and sweet by only including what’s necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can learn how to write a viral tweet<\/a> for your Twitter giveaway promotion here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want your tweet to stand out in feeds, be sure to include an image. Tweets with images receive 18% more click-throughs, 89% more likes, and 150% more retweets<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember, timing is everything when it comes to Twitter. Check out the image below to find out what time of the day your tweet will get the most engagement<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Promoting a giveaway on Pinterest is a great strategy if you want to attract a female target audience. According to statistics, 79.5% <\/a>of Pinterest users are female.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pinterest calls these female users \u201cdeciders\u201d because they make 80% of the buying decisions in U.S. households. So, if you want to promote a giveaway prize and generate more sales for your business,<\/a> create a pin on Pinterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To grab the attention of users, be sure to create an awesome Pinterest image. You can use the same image you created for your Instagram post in tip #8, but according to Pinterest, the optimal Pinterest image is vertical (taller than it is wide, about 735 X 1102 px). A vertical image is a Pinterest best practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also learn how to run a Pinterest contest<\/a> here to go with this Pinterest giveaway promo idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For B2B contests, LinkedIn is a great place to promote your giveaway to your business connections and grow your LinkedIn followers<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this promotional giveaway idea, include an image to grab the attention of your connections, a brief description of the giveaway, and a link to your giveaway. Don’t forget you can add hashtags on LinkedIn too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Add a hashtag like #giveaway or #contest, and consider adding hashtags to attract users in relevant industries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, in the example below from Lead, they added #datascience and #bigdata to attract an audience interested in and searching for those topics on LinkedIn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When promoting your contest on social media<\/a>, remember to check the contest guidelines for each platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to sharing the contest on social media<\/a>, share it in online communities. Online communities like Reddit have subtopics like \/r\/Contest<\/a>, where anyone can promote a contest or giveaway. Find topics relating to your niche and your target audience, check out their rules for promoting contests, and promote your giveaway there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can also search the internet for other online communities related to your niche. Simply type in something like \u201cknitting forums\u201d (but replace \u201cknitting\u201d with your actual niche) into the Google search bar to find more online communities you can join.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Facebook also has groups dedicated to specific topics where you can find a ton of your target audience to promote your contest to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you know 1200% more shares are generated by social videos<\/a> than text and images combined?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s why using video is such an effective contest promotion idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might think it would be difficult to create a video<\/a> to promote your contest, but it’s not. When learning how to market your contest, you can easily create a quick video to share on YouTube or your social media accounts by using only your smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Your video should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Be sure your video has good lighting, whether it’s natural or artificial, is filmed in front of an attractive background (clean your messy room!), and your appearance is camera-ready.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Live videos can get great engagement from your audience. With Instagram Live and Facebook Live, you can interact with your viewers in real-time, which is a great way to connect with your audience. Plus, a live video announcement will stir up a lot of excitement around your contest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For your live video, you can include information on how to enter the giveaway, prize details (even better, show the prize itself), and take questions from your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you like, you can even run a video contest<\/a> for a lot more engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you’ve used all your own channels to promote your giveaway, it’s time to reach out for help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When you partner up with others to promote your giveaway, it can boost your entries even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To get started, find bloggers with a big audience interested in what you’re offering up. For instance, if your contest prize is a new camera, look for photography bloggers. Reach out to the bloggers you find with a personalized email and explain how your contest will benefit the blogger and their readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To be successful, it will need to be a win-win-win partnership benefitting you, the blogger, and their audience. Think about how to present those benefits when you reach out to influencers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s an example of an influencer outreach email posted on Search Engine Journal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Like blogger outreach, you can also partner with YouTubers to promote your contest to a whole new audience. Find YouTube channels related to your niche and reach out to those with a decent amount of subscribers, views, and engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you know your target audience is very active on a certain social media platform like Pinterest or Instagram, you can also reach out to influencers on those platforms. If you’re new to the world of influencers, check out this influencer marketing guide for beginners<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alright, now that you’ve spread the word on your own platforms and also reached out to form partnerships, there’s one more successful contest promotion strategy to try: paid promotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here’s how to get started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To reach an even bigger audience on social media, consider creating Facebook or Instagram ads. Facebook ads will not only allow you to promote your contest to more people online, but they also let you target the exact type of people most interested in your giveaway by criteria such as gender, age, location, interests, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If ads are a little too complicated for you, you can simply boost your contest Facebook post. Boosting your post shows it to more users and costs as little as $5.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aside from ads and promotional post ideas on social media, you can also push your contest to more people online with Google Ads. With Google Ads, you can get your contest featured on the Google search results of users searching for the exact keywords you want to target. This will make getting more entries from people who have never heard of your business before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last but not least, there’s a whole wide world off the internet<\/strong> where you can spread the word about your content! Here’s how:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Don’t forget about promoting your contest to people in real life, too!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some great advertisement ideas for competitions are to create flyers to hand out at local events or posters you can put up in community centers or other businesses. You can also use offline marketing to promote your contest to your existing customers by adding promotional cards to the packages you send out. These promotional giveaway ideas will ensure you won’t miss out on extra participants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are some best practices for promoting your contest to reach a wider audience and generate more entries:<\/p>\n\n\n\n To ensure your contest is legally compliant, consult with a legal expert or an attorney familiar with your jurisdiction’s laws regarding contests and promotions. They can help you understand the rules and regulations and ensure your contest terms and conditions adhere to them.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n To prevent cheating or fraud in your online contest, use a reputable contest management platform such as RafflePress<\/a> that has built-in fraud detection and prevention features. Set clear contest rules, monitor entries closely, and require participants to provide verifiable personal information.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n You can measure your contest promotion success by tracking various metrics, such as the number of entries, social media engagement (likes, shares, comments), website traffic, new email subscribers, and sales. Analyzing these metrics will help you understand the effectiveness of your contest and inform your future marketing efforts. A Google Analytics tool like MonsterInsights<\/a> is a great way to do this.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
How Do You Promote a Contest or Giveaway?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1. Require Sharing on Social Media<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. Optimize Your Contest Landing Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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3. Redirect Visitors to Your Contest Landing Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>4. Send Emails to Your Subscribers<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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5. Submit to Sweepstakes and Contest Directories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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6. Free Promotion Ideas: Add Links to Your Social Media Bios<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n7. Post Your Giveaway on Your Facebook Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n8. And Promote it With Your Facebook Cover Photo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n9. Promote Your Contest on Instagram<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n10. And Use Instagram Stories<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n11. Promote Your Contest on Twitter<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n12. Share and Promote Your Giveaway on Pinterest<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
13. Promote Your Giveaway on LinkedIn<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n14. Share Your Contest in Online Communities<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n15. Create and Share a Simple Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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16. Promote Your Contest with Live Video<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
17. Try Influencer Outreach<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n18. Use Facebook and Instagram Ads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
19. Invest in Google Ads<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n20. Don’t Forget Offline Marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Best Practices for Promoting Your Contest<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
Frequently Asked Questions on Contest Promotion <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
How can I ensure my contest is legally compliant?<\/h4>
How can I prevent cheating or fraud in my online contest?<\/h4>
How do I measure the success of my contest promotion?<\/h4>