Why Run A Competition Or Prize Draw?

Competitions and prize draws have been used to promote brands and businesses for years, but why should you run one? You might be considering putting together a giveaway on your website, blog or social media channel but have you thought about why you're doing it? Are you looking to boost your site traffic? Are you thinking about collecting leads? Do you want to promote a certain product and want sales? Or is it simply all about the likes and shares to enhance your social media channels? If you have a good reason for the giveaway then you have a target to ensure that it works well for you.

Six Reasons Why You Might Want To Run a Competition

1. To attract visitors to your website or social media page

Getting traffic to your site is an essential part of being online. By offering people the chance to win something, you can generate interest in your business! A competition can mean more visits and hopefully more customers. We all know that engagement is an important part of social media so running giveaways is a no-brainer. If people are offered the chance to win a prize then may follow your brand and/or share it with others.

2. To promote a special offer, sponsor or products.

Every visitor to your site is a potential customer - whether they're buying something from you or you're simply data collecting. A prize promotion is a useful way to highlight special offers and products. For example some brands will give bloggers the opportunity to test and giveaway items. Many sites run giveaways at selected times of the year (Advent, Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day) as a way to pique interest in visitors who might be shopping for special occasions.

3. To build a mailing list/newsletter/social following.

Having a newsletter can be a great way to communicate with your users so what better way to encourage people to join your mailing list than by offering them an incentive? However in today's world where everything is immediate social media has become incredibly important. Facebook are less keen on incentivising users to follow brands but you can ask people to follow you on Twitter and Instagram in exchange for prize draw entries.

4. To reward your userbase.

Each week Loquax offers it's users the chance to win an Amazon Voucher simply for contributing to the website. Whilst a small reward it does help encourage participation. Other ways brands use prize draws as a loyalty tool is by running exclusive promotions via newsletters, in private social media groups etc.

5. To generate revenue for your website.

A lot of siteowners like to run competitions to generate revenue. This isn't quite as straightforward as it seems but there are ways to monetise giveaways. Data collection, adsense and affiliate marketing are just some of the options promoters use to try and earn income.

6. Link building and SEO.

For some siteowners though running a competition is purely about link building and search engine optimisation! SEOMoz have written a good article about competitions and SEO which is well worth looking into!