How to Run a Successful Giveaway

Sophia Marvin

May 31, 2022

Giveaways can be a great way to both help you account and grow your social media following! BUT the bad news is that if done incorrectly, you might end up hurting your account. 😓

Let’s go over what you need to know to run a successful giveaway on social media and how to determine which type is best for you.


How to run a successful giveaway - how to grow your instagram with qualified leads - social bean media


Are Giveaways Worth It? Tips for Social Media Giveaways

1. Decide WHO the Giveaway is For

It might be tempting to do a general giveaway for a Starbucks or Amazon gift card* that potentially everyone could benefit from, but it’s important to get super specific about who you’re trying to attract to your brand.

If you attract a bunch of random or spammy followers who aren’t interested in your brand, they’ll end up driving your reach and engagement down in the long run because they won’t care about following or purchasing from your brand. OR, those individuals will just follow/like/etc. just to try and win the giveaway, but they’ll quickly unfollow if they don’t win.

The goal is to offer something that only those who are genuinely interested in your brand would want to enter in the first place. This will attract qualified leads to your business!

The followers and engagement from those who interact with your brand during a giveaway could potentially turn into customers / clients!

*General giveaway items ~can~ be successful, but they have to be more strategic. Will touch on this more below!


2. What Should You Giveaway?

There are endless options of what you can giveaway, but the most important aspect is that it is related to your field!

It can be a product, service, digital download, etc. as long as it relates to your brand and would be something that your specific target audience would benefit from.


3. Be Strategic About the Outcome You Want

Creating strategic rules will help ensure that your social media giveaway is successful!

Common goals from giveaways include:

  • More (qualified) followers
  • Increased brand awareness
  • Targeted market research
  • Etc.

Depending on your desired outcome, the giveaway should be structured differently.

FOR EXAMPLE: (1)

If the goal is increased brand awareness, to enter the giveaway one of the requirements may be to tag another individual they know who would love the prize as well!

EXAMPLE: (2)

If you’re looking for in-depth market research from potential customers you could run the giveaway on your Instagram stories, so they aren’t viewed by the masses and mainly seen by your most engaged audience members. The incentive here could be specific and related to your business. OR, you can offer a general prize, because the audience is already likely qualified, engaged leads viewing your IG Stories.




There are so many more nuances to running a successful giveaway, but these guides will help set your brand up to run successful giveaways!

My full social media management clients have the option of having me organize and run highly strategic and intentional giveaways for them, so they can focus on running their business. 😊 If you’re ready to outsource your brand’s social media management, check out my client application form here so we can schedule a discovery call to get to know each other!


Learn more and keep up to date by following me on Instagram or TikTok!

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