How to Run a Successful Blog Giveaway

I have been running blog giveaways here for well over a year now. Once I figured out the best way to structure and promote them. They are easy to set up and pull in much need page views in quieter periods. Such as the summer holidays and after Christmas. I like to run one a week now and it means I have regular and recurring return visits. But how do I run a successful blog giveaway? I’ll break it down for you. Plus I’ve got an additional checklist for you to ace the promotion of your giveaway.

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What Can I give away?

Realistically you can giveaway anything. I prefer to work with companies that provide the item to giveaway. But in the past I have also given way items I have made, which would normally be sold in my etsy shop. Or things I have purchased from amazon. Things like electronic equipment and home wares suit my readers. As a rule the higher value items will get more views but that shouldn’t stop you offering a prize worth £5.00. Targeted promotion is really the key if you are offering something with a lower value.

Check out my current giveaways here.

Setting up a successful blog giveaway

I run all my giveaways through rafflecopter. The basic package is free and it’s so easy to set up. Just fill in the relevant boxes and then it generates a code to embed on your blog. It also has the option to add a giveaway widget to your business Facebook page if you have one.

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Promoting your giveaway

No matter how great a post you’ve written or what a fabulous prize you have to offer. Unless you promote your giveaway you will not get he entries. This is especially important if you’ve got an agreement with a company to run the giveaway. They will expect to see entries in line with you unique visitor stats.

So how can you promote it?

Think of it as any other blog post. Do you share it on social media? How often? Once, twice a few times? Add it to your schedules, I do this easily for twitter and facebook on Social bee. Plus planoly for instagram and tailwind for Pinterest. You can get your first month free for tailwind here.

Have you got good photos of the prize that show it off? If you’re running it for a company, ask them for high quality product pictures. Then look at other promotional avenues. Do you know any compers? Where do they go to find competitions? A quick google search can offer a lot of ideas. My favourites are included in my post on ways to promote your giveaway.

If you’re like me you’ll probably need a few times running a giveaway before you can remember all the things you need to do.