Recently I have been asked quite a few questions about when, why, and how to start offering Giveaways on your blog! I remember when I was just starting out and I asked the same questions. There wasn’t much out there about the topic so I just jumped in, emailed people, and learned from experience! I just want to go over some of the most common giveaway related questions that I get and share with you my answers. I do not know everything (obviously) but I love passing on what I do know! My prayer is that it will help you be a confident, engaging, and informed blogger!WHY ARE GIVEAWAYS IMPORTANT?
I love giveaways! I love to enter them, I love to host them, and I love to win them. Everyone loves free things and it is a great way to encourage your readership to engage with you! Most of your readership will not comment on your posts but when you offer a giveaway, you are inviting your readers in! They can comment, follow you on Facebook, join your email newsletters, follow you on Instagram, share the giveaway, etc. It broadens your reach.
Also, they are wonderful ways to say thank you to your readers! I know you value the people who read your blog (no matter how large or how small that number is) and it is pretty impossible to say thank you & give gifts to each individual person. When you host a giveaway on your blog, you give your readers the opportunity to win something! It is a fun and practical way to give back!
WHAT TYPES OF GIVEAWAYS ARE OUT THERE?
Group Giveaways
Group giveaways are the giveaways that you see going on that involve a group of bloggers like this one I just did with Rivers & Roads or my monthly Crush of the Month Giveaways. These giveaways are a group of bloggers coming together to pitch in for one big prize. Some sponsorship opportunities automatically included you in a group giveaway (my Crush of the Month Giveaways) so there is no additional pitch in but everyone gets a link in the giveaway. Other group giveaways are organized by one blogger and people are invited to be part of the giveaway by pitching in a certain amount for a link and additional links (these links are things like follow on facebook, twitter, instagram, bloglovin, etc)
These types of giveaways are fun because you are able to give away a much larger prize than normal – the benefit of working together! If you are interested in hosting your first group giveaway, I encourage you to do so! You can see if you like that. I have included some google doc examples of the forms and emails that I use when asking people to join me! Please use them as a reference as you prepare your group giveaway!
Group Giveaway Email Example: HERE
Group Giveaway Form Example: HERE
Sponsored Giveaways
These are giveaways when shops reach out to you to have a giveaway on your blog. This may be because you have a giveaway option on your sponsorship page or because they found your blog and wanted to sponsor a giveaway. As your demand grows, you can start charging for that sponsored giveaway on your blog. But if you are a smaller blogger and new to giveaways, I encourage you to ask for the product that you are giving away as payment for your time.
Invitational Giveaways
An invitational giveaway is a giveaway where you reach out to a company that you love and ask them if they are willing to participate in a giveaway on your blog. As a rule of thumb, I never ask for payment if I am reaching out to ask them to be a part of a review and giveaway. I do often ask for a review so that I get the product as well and it creates an authentic place on your blog because you have personally tried the things you are giving away.
When you are emailing companies, make sure to send emails with confidence and organization. Make sure you check out my five steps to format a professional email!
Things You Giveaway
The last type of giveaway is something that you personally want to giveaway. In these giveaways you host the giveaway and also provide the product to giveaway. Maybe you have an etsy shop and want to promote it by giving away one of your items on your blog – that is a great way to do a giveaway. If you don’t have a shop but still want to do something fun, you can buy a $15 Starbucks card and your favorite mug to giveaway on your blog. These are common when you just start offering giveaways or around special events (like product launches for your etsy OR you ask your readers to answer some survey questions and giveaway a Starbucks gift card as an incentive to answer)
WHEN CAN I START OFFERING GIVEAWAYS ON MY BLOG?
The wonderful answer to this question is: AS SOON AS YOU WANT! Isn’t that exciting?! No matter what size your blog is, you can still thank you readers & grow your reach by hosting a giveaway. You may not have emails pouring in but you can do a couple things to start you on the giveaway journey!
- Create a Sponsorship/ Advertising page for your blog. Even if you do not want to worry about side bar ads, this is the best place to put a note reaching out to bloggers & shop owners. Let them know you love doing giveaways and reviews and leave your email address for inquiries.
- Giveaway something from your shop or something that you love. If you have never done a giveaway before this is a great first giveaway! It will encourage your readers to follow you on your social medias and grow your reach.
- Host a group giveaway. Send an email to the blogs you read and the bloggers you interact with inviting them to be part of a giveaway with you.
HOW DO I ORGANIZE A GIVEAWAY?
Depending on the type of giveaway you are hosting the exact organization of the giveaway will vary but the important thing to remember is: Plan, Schedule, and Post.
PLAN the giveaway. Figure out the details, who is involved, and what is being given away.
SCHEDULE the giveaway. Put it on your calender and make sure everyone involved knows the date as well. Make sure you don’t have multiple giveaways over lapping because it takes away from the giveaways – they are not as special. I always host my giveaways on Friday and run them for one week so that they never overlap.
POST the giveaway. This is the exciting part. Use pictures and share what is being given away. Get your readers excited about the opportunity. I run all my giveaways with Rafflecopter because it is a wonderful way to organize all the links and it is free!
I’ve been thinking about hosting giveaways on my own blog lately, I’ve been a part of giveaways on other blogs before but I’m ready to start my own. Thank you for sharing. This post is super informative!
Becca,
I am glad this post is able to be a resource to you!
So many great tips! I love giveaways (well, who doesn’t?) and I think it’s great that you’re so open to sharing your tips and tricks about blogging.
p.s. This post came with great timing because I was thinking it’s about time for a giveaway on my blog. 🙂
Yes! Giveaway time with Kiki!
Perfect timing on this… I’ve been running ideas through my head of what I could do for my first giveaway. Thanks for the tips!
Wahoo! I am excited for you!
Im loving all of this amazing advice you are giving out lately 🙂
Thanks Kendra!
I really love all of your blogging tips! Thank you, Beth!! I’m totally referring back to this post for later! 🙂
Hannah!
Thank you for the encouragement and kind words!
This is really wonderfully organized and super helpful information. I feel like I knew a lot of this stuff intuitively, but it does wonders to see things in black and white sometimes. Thank you!
Yes! And a lot of this is pretty simple but when you are starting you just do n’t always know where to start!
I have been thinking about giveaways but too afraid to venture into it. “What if nobody takes part?! #horroremoticon”
HAHA! You have to start some where and you will at least get a handfull! Here is my first EVER giveaway! https://oakandoats.com/2011/01/giveaway-in-honor-of-my-new-beginning.html
We all have to start somewhere!
True that. Heh. Thanks again for this motivating article, it did help push the giveaway in my mind to happen even more!
I am so glad!
These are amazing tips and came at just the right time! Lately I’ve been thinking about hosting a giveaway but I keep getting too nervous about it! This post was that final push I need!!
I am so excited that this was just in time!
This is really helpful information!! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve just now started offering sponsoring spots and I’ve wanted to try out giveaways but have been really apprehensive about it. But this makes it sound a lot easier than I thought it was!! 🙂
It is easy! You can do it!
This is super useful! I’ve been planning to host a giveaway on my blog in the next few weeks and a bit scared of it! I reached out to an author I like and she’s sending along copies of her books for the giveaway, which is so great! Now I have to figure out how to mail them to the winners lol
I use rafflecopter and it picks a winner for me and then I send them an email! If I needed to send them something in the mail, I just ask for their mailing address!!