7 Important Giveaway Participation Topics

7 Important Giveaway Participation Topics

As you’re deciding how you want to set up your giveaway’s entry options, read about the seven topics covered below to help set your giveaway up for success.

1. What’s the optimal amount of entry options for your giveaway?

While Rafflecopter will allow you to add as many giveaway entry options into your promotion as you’d like, too many options can be disorienting for your entrants and can detract from the original purpose: to have more people enter your giveaway. Don’t chase your entrants away by making your giveaway too difficult and time-consuming to enter.

With all that said, you’d be best to set up between 3 and 6 entry options. For further reasoning as to how this number was arrived at, check out the blog post on this subject here: How Many Giveaway Entry Options Should You Use?

Less is more - keep it simple!

2. What entry options should you feature in your giveaway?

What entry options you decide to use will depend on what your giveaway’s goals are. Below is a short list of common goals you could employ and the associated entry options you should use to help reach those goals.

3. How can you successfully use the ‘Invent Your Own’ entry option?

It's possible to create a custom entry option in your giveaway by using the 'Invent Your Own' entry option. Using this option is like starting with a blank slate; the possibilities are limited to your imagination.

On the setup tab in your Rafflecopter dashboard, select the ‘Invent Your Own’ entry option, rename the title and add detailed directions for your entrants. It’s important to ask entrants to leave a bit of information so you're able to verify their entry when the giveaway is over. You'll be able to do that by clicking on the button that asks them for additional information.

Several examples of how you could use this option:

4. How can you write an effective ‘Tweet a Message’ entry option?

One of the most popular and effective entry options used is the ‘Tweet a Message’ entry option. This entry option encourages your readers to tweet a pre-written message to their followers that you’ve created. When entrants tweet a message, they’re sending a message to their followers. It’s a great way to help spread the word of your promotion as well as your brand.

When setting up this entry option, it’s up to you to write the tweet and it’s important that you craft a well written message that engages your users. Your entrants want to participate in your giveaway, but they’ll think twice before broadcasting a poorly written message to their followers. The difference between a poorly written tweet and a well-written tweet can make a significant difference.

Here are some tips that will help you write an effective tweet and receive more traffic:

5. Can you use Google Plus entry options?

Unfortunately, the answer is no. The Google+ Pages Contest and Promotions Policy document is very clear: you can link to promotions running elsewhere on the web, but the promotions cannot be run directly on your Google+ Page and you must release Google from any liability associated with your promotion.

This means asking entrants to add you, friend you, circle you, or comment on a page / post in G+ would be in violation of Google’s terms of service. Google has been known to take action on ‘questionable’ SEO tactics and could take action if they see you breaking their terms of service.… it’s not worth putting your site at risk.

Read more about this subject in our blog post Why Your Next Giveaway Promotion Should Avoid Google+

6. What does the term ‘NO PURCHASE NECESSARY’ really mean?

Rafflecopter is primarily targeted towards those who would like to run a sweepstakes w/ no purchase necessary. Some have run raffles and contests with Rafflecopter, but admittedly, that's not what Rafflecopter was designed for.

That said, having people purchase a product as a means of entry or increasing their odds in a sweepstakes is actually deemed an illegal lottery (which is why you’ve probably seen the term 'NO PURCHASE NECESSARY' before). Because of that, you’d be highly recommend not to make this an entry option as part of your giveaway.

For further reading, read our blog post No Purchase Necessary & Giveaways: Everything You Need to Know that will provide deeper insight.

7. How can you tell if your promotion is within Facebook’s promotion guidelines?

Rafflecopter’s giveaway widget and Facebook app was designed to keep you within Facebook’s promotion guidelines. Even further, we have an active conversation going about Facebook promotion guidelines here. This article talks about each and every rule and regulation when it comes to Facebook. No corners were cut here - you’d best become familiar!

This also explains the reason why Rafflecopter doesn’t have a 'share on Facebook' entry option included, as you would be in violation of the rules set in place by Facebook. Incentivizing entrants to share on Facebook in exchange for an entry is something you should stay away from.

On that note, Rafflecopter offers a 'refer-a-friend' feature that allows your entrants to gain additional entries by sharing a unique URL that tracks their referrals. Here's an article on the Rafflecopter knowledge base that describes this feature.

  
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