Why running giveaways on social media is not always a good idea? » Insights Portal

Holding a draw on social media is a possibility that always arises in planning meetings, especially when there is a launch of a product or service. But, contrary to what many think, the action will not always have a strategic purpose.

This is visible, for example, when the network draw prize is directly related to the product or service that the company sells. By putting the item in question in the spotlight as a prize, you may be freezing its sales. You don't need to be an expert to understand how counterproductive this draw can be.

For example: imagine that your company is organizing a digital marketing event that will be held on the 20th of the month. To generate buzz, your team suggests raffling a pair of tickets, the results of which will be announced five days before the event begins.

So far, so good: the prize is interesting and social networks will be busy, with lots of comments and likes. But, on the other hand, imagine dozens of people seeing this post on the 5th, participating in the draw and failing to buy a ticket.

After all, if the person wins the draw, they will have wasted money on the purchase – even missing out on first batch discounts.

Believe me: this can happen on a large scale, with thousands of people. So, the idea was good, but poor execution can cause a rebound effect, and freeze exactly what you want to move to sell.

Care when running giveaways on social media

For social media sweepstakes to be successful, some precautions are important.

The first is not to raffle off the product or service being sold, since, until the result comes out, no one buys it.

And the direct relationship between the prize and the draw still has the issue of frustration: when a person participates in a draw and doesn't win, the chance of consuming what is being drawn is small. This is because, in general, the mentality is: “I could have gotten this product/service, but instead I am paying for it.”

There is nothing worse for a brand than creating in consumers the feeling that they have suffered some type of loss when consuming from the company.

The second fundamental precaution when running sweepstakes on social media is to think of an action model that attracts qualified people, that is, people who will continue consuming the brand's content, even if they win absolutely nothing.

A few years ago, a businessman held a giveaway for an iPhone 6, which was being launched at the time, in exchange for likes on Facebook. Everyone who started following the page could participate in the draw, and the brand garnered 20,000 likes in two weeks.

Many companies think this number is excellent. And it might even be. But, in the case of this businessman, after the draw the content on his page had very low engagement.

It's because? Because people were interested in the prize, not the products or services the company sells.

Note that the first precaution is related to not raffling what you sell, and the second precaution is related to a random product and, even so, the action is not recommended.

What to do, after all?

Target your giveaway to the right audience.

When a company runs a draw asking people to like, comment and tag friends, they will have the impression that the action is successful, as the volume of engagement tends to increase during the draw period. But this can be explained by a very popular expression: free, even an injection in the forehead.

The easier it is to participate in an award-winning action (like here, tag your friend, follow our partner), the more people will participate. But you won't always give away prizes to the right people.

Using the example of the digital marketing event, the target audience for this action is interested in digital marketing, as they are potential customers. In this case, the draw for a pair of tickets can be done through a technical question, such as asking how the person uses Instagram to sell more in digital marketing. The most creative answer wins.

Through this action, the comments on the giveaway post will be extremely qualified, as the people participating in it recognized the question, understood it and were interested in answering it. Thus, the company will give a gift to one winner, but will have contact with several potential customers – including to send discount coupons.

After all, to draw or not?

The decision depends on the strategies of each company, but drawing lots is legal and can give a lot of results, as long as the action is carried out strategically. You can't do it just to do it.

Otherwise, you will see numbers rising during the giveaway period, but that doesn't mean your campaign was successful. What the numbers show is that many people were interested in the item you were raffling off, and not necessarily in its content.

Running sweepstakes on social media is only valid when it brings a return to the company – and it is essential that it is financial. Number of followers, likes, comments are values ​​known as “vanity metrics”. A profile with few followers can make a lot of sales, while one with thousands of people makes no sales.

Therefore, periodically measure: how many sales do you make through social media? It's important to have this information so you don't spend money on vanity numbers on stocks that won't give you any return.

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