How to Run Competitions and Giveaways That Drive Brand Engagement

December 15, 2022 - 12 minutes read

An effective way to get noticed, grow your audience, and earn more sales.

If you’re a budding eCommerce or retail business owner, running competitions and giveaways is a powerful way of putting your brand on the map.

Almost everyone loves the idea of winning a prize or getting something for free—and the more fun or easy you make it for people to participate, the more buzz you’ll build around your brand.

Here, we look at different types of competition that will drive plenty of brand engagement while looking at some top tips on how to run contests or giveaways destined for maximum success.

The power of consumer competitions & giveaways

Contests boast a conversion rate of almost 34%, which is higher than any other form of branded content.

One of the best things about a branded competition or giveaway is that it usually offers an excellent return on investment (ROI).

The reason competitions and giveaways offer a healthy ROI is that although you have to offer up a prize, they are fairly easy and cost-effective to run. And once your competition starts gaining momentum, you will reach droves of new potential customers.

By offering a prize that your target audience is likely to really want or need, you will earn maximum engagement while positioning yourself as a fun, approachable, and trustworthy brand. In turn, you will increase your customer loyalty rates, boosting your profits in the process.

Effective competition & giveaway ideas that will expand your brand

Now that you’re up to speed on the perks of running a competition or giveaway, let’s look at some of the different types of contests that are likely to earn the best brand-boosting results.

Like, follow & share competitions

First up, we have the tried and tested like, follow, and share format. One of the reasons this type of giveaway is so popular is that it requires minimal effort to enter.

By incentivizing people to follow your account (if they’re not already a follower) and like and share a specific social media post, you will build engagement while expanding your reach across platforms.

You can launch and run your contest on one dedicated social media platform (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, etc.) to concentrate your efforts, or you can spread your reach by hosting it across several. Both approaches are effective, and the best way to discover what works best for you is by trying both and comparing results.

Another savvy way of driving extra engagement from a like, share, and follow-style competition is by creating a catchy hashtag and asking people to drop it in the comment section of your post—a little like Cirio UK:

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The brand’s Twitter-focused giveaway and accompanying hashtag earned the company tons of engagement, growing its customer base.

Content-based competitions

Another effective approach to competitions or giveaways is incentivizing your audience to create a piece of content and share it to win.

The great thing about this type of competition is that it not only works well across every social media platform, as well as email and even in-app but also plays on the brand-boosting power of user-generated content (UGC).

When you run a content-based competition, you ask your audience to write something, draw something, caption an image, take a selfie, make a video, etc. The creative nature makes taking part almost as satisfying as the prospect of winning. Plus, you will end up with plenty of brilliant user-generated content (UGC) that you can share, repurpose, and use for future marketing campaigns.

Grocery brand Basha, for instance, ran a creative competition, asking its fans or followers to come up with new signature donut flavors, offering store gift cards to the winners. The giveaway was a roaring success, and the chance to have your flavor picked and created added an extra incentive to get involved.

If you’re looking for inspiration for your next content-based competition, you can try:

Running a themed selfie contest
Launching a video challenge on TikTok
Asking your customers to share a funny story on a specific subject
Getting people to name your next product or help redesign your brand logo
Incentivizing people to take part in a poll or survey. This is an excellent way of gathering valuable customer insights while building a buzz around your brand

Buy or sign up to enter giveaways

This type of giveaway is smart, as you will generate droves of additional sales by giving people an incentive to buy something from you before a certain date.

These types of competitions work on a prize draw basis. For the best results, you can run the competition on a one purchase = one entry basis to drive more sales.

For example, if you’re a surf apparel brand, you could launch a one-month contest where customers get one entry (per purchase) in the draw to win a one-night trip to a major surf destination with free branded merchandise and a lesson thrown in. A prize like that is sure to interest your target audience and boost your profits.

Surprise customer giveaways

A slightly less common but equally powerful type of giveaway is the surprise gift offering angle. This is certainly more of a giveaway than a competition, but by surprising random customers with a free gift, you will showcase your brand value while earning that all-important customer loyalty.

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Health brand Suja Juice, for instance, did a little social listening to find people who were having a tough day and approached them with a free “pick me up” juice. This initiative built a big buzz in a short time frame while skyrocketing Suja’s brand reputation.

Bonus tip: To squeeze as much brand-boosting juice as possible from your surprise giveaway, it’s always a good idea to shout about it on social media by tagging the lucky recipients.

How to run a competition or giveaway that works

You have lots of brand-boosting competition ideas at your disposal—now, we’re going to look at how to put them into action with these practical tips.

Choose a definitive direction

To ensure that your competition is clear, concise, and appealing to your target audience, you need to decide exactly which direction you’re going to take from the start.

Avoid confusing people by picking one of the formats above (don’t merge or mix ideas) and sticking to it. You should also choose the main channel or channels on which you’re going to launch your competition or giveaway. This will make it simple to enter, sparking more engagement in the process.

Pick a worthy prize

Without an exciting or valuable prize, there’s no point in running a competition because no one will enter. Your prize doesn’t necessarily have to be costly or extravagant—it just has to spark the interest of the audience you’re looking to attract.

Knowing your audience inside out will ensure you offer up a prize that will make your competition wildly popular. Here are a couple of resources that will help you get your prize offering just right:

Set an end date & iron out your terms & conditions

This may sound obvious, but eCommerce and retail businesses do sometimes forget this essential part of their competition launch.

Setting concrete terms & conditions will help you avoid any disputes related to your competition or giveaway. Your T&Cs don’t have to be extensive—only clear and visible—and if you’re struggling, hiring a professional to draft some up (a document you can use for future competitions) is always a good idea.

Also, you should share the competition cut-off date on every piece of content or communication related to your competition. Not only will you eliminate any confusion, but you will also create a sense of urgency that will encourage more entries.

Build a buzz across channels

To expand the reach of your competition or giveaway, you should promote it across channels, telling your audience where and how they can enter.

Using a little paid advertising will extend your competition’s reach, while creating some fun-filled content around it will help you generate more of a buzz. Here are two guides that will help you with your efforts:

Bonus tip: Work with social media influencers related to your niche to promote your competition to a wider audience and build an even bigger buzz around your brand.

We hope these tips and ideas help you launch competitions and giveaways that push you ahead of the competition. For more brand-boosting advice, read 9 effective growth hacks for your retail or eCommerce business.